“The Dad Is Not A Person; It’s A Lifestyle”: 50 Pics That Scream Dad Energy, Shared By Facebook Page
Nothing changes a man's life like becoming a father. Being entrusted with the responsibility and care of another person is a huge task.
You need to help your child's development, which includes playing, being a good role model, and being warm, loving, and engaged.
But all of this effort is insanely rewarding. Not only do you see your kid grow into an adult but you also get an automatic pass to make all the dad jokes you want.
But don't just take my word for it. There's an online project called The Dad and it's dedicated to illuminating this joyful journey. One of the ways it does that is by tweeting and retweeting spot-on takes on family life and parenting.
More info: thedad.com | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
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We managed to get in touch with Joel Willis, the founder and executive editor for The Dad, and he was kind enough to have a little chat with us about his own parenting journey.
"As a parent, the only thing you can be certain of is that you will be constantly surprised by what happens. What To Expect When Expecting should just say 'Who knows? But you'll figure it out, probably,'" Willis told Bored Panda.
Every kid, family, and the experiences they share are so different, and Willis thinks it's precisely the reason why raising a child is the best challenge you can have. "Every day is a clean slate full of endless possibilities for tragedy and triumph."
"Parents should keep that in mind, and not be too rigid about what they expect to happen or how they think their kid must behave," he said. "Go with the flow and embrace the craziness. If everything went as planned, wouldn't that be boring? I'm seriously asking, wouldn't it? Please let me know. I have no idea because nothing in my life has gone as planned since my first kid was born 12 years ago."
"While every journey is different, all parents are on the same unpredictable rollercoaster. That's why The Dad content resonates with so many, because we get to laugh at the shared absurdity of it all," the man added.
Going through these tweets, the idea that a man can possess parenting instincts and is not just suited to be a provider or a hapless sidekick looks natural, but it is actually relatively new. Just a few generations ago, it was highly controversial. In the '70s, for example, the expectation that men should do more was picking up steam, but they were still considered a poor substitute for moms.
"[The mid-'70s] was the heyday of attachment theory, which, as it was incarnated then, was very much focused on the critical importance of the attachment between an infant and its mother in the first years of life," Michael Lamb, who became a forerunner of fatherhood research at the time and continues to study it at the University of Cambridge in the UK, told Today's Parent. "That went along with the assumption that it was the only [primary] relationship kids could form."
But at the turn of this century, researchers discovered an incredible detail about men: our bodies transform when we become fathers. Turns out, our hormonal systems alter dramatically when we become parents. And it doesn't matter if we're talking biological dads or adoptive ones, heterosexual or queer, the same applies for everyone.
This amazing revelation basically implies that despite the narrow role fathers have put themselves into for so long, our internal chemistry may have always been nudging us toward more involvement.
We know that oxytocin (the love hormone) plays a role in a mother's initial bonding with her child after birth but researchers have observed that the same spike in oxytocin occurs when fathers hold and play with their newborns too.
I was about 5 - so, 1960 - when I asked my mom what it was like to ride in a covered wagon.
When that love drug floods a new father, his testosterone level typically drops, making him less likely to take risks and more able to nurture his newborn. Furthermore, he registers an increase in prolactin, which is a hormone best known for helping women produce breastmilk.
University of Notre Dame anthropologist Lee Gettler explained that the presence of prolactin goes back hundreds of millions of years to our animal ancestors, even before mammals (and breastfeeding) existed. Over the past decade, Gettler has determined the connection between the hormone and modern-day dads. "Fathers with higher prolactin play with their babies in ways that are beneficial for their babies' learning and exploration, and the fathers also seem to be more responsive and sensitive to infant cries," he said. This ancient hormone increases a dad's desire to be close to their little one!
That should come as a relief to those men who are worried about becoming a father. If you put in the time and effort, you're going to be fine. You're a natural!
The householder described the decision to disconnect his electricity on aesthetic grounds as "blatantly unconstitutional"
"Don't try to be perfect," Joel Willis of The Dad said. "There's no such thing as a perfect parent. We all make mistakes. Our kids will grow into adults, and even if they're happy and successful and independent, they'll certainly resent us for something. I tell my kids this sometimes and you know what? The thing they'll resent me for is probably telling them they're going to resent me for something someday."
Willis divides parenting mistakes into big and small. According to him, if you try to avoid the big ones as best you can and don't worry about the small ones, you should be fine. "They build character," he said.
For more similar content, follow The Dad using the links in the introduction. "I just want to mention that while I am the founder and editor-in-chief, The Dad is made up of a team of talented, creative, hilarious folks who create the best parenting content on the web, day after day," Willis added. "They are the best."
Set him straight or he'll never have a profitable career in insurance fraud
Roo's are fckn cray cray , they will actually fist fight the fck out of you using their tails to balance on as they kick you in the nuts double footed
They have a special technique of chocking people as well, my mum was nearly the victim of one when she was a child!
Load More Replies...Ohio resident, can confirm our crushing defeat at the hands of the Roo invaders. All hail our new, bouncy leaders.
I wouldn't even risk it! Ask Aussies how did the war with emus go!
That was the first thing that popped in my mind after reading the post 😂
Load More Replies...Someone, somewhere scared the shite out of me with an equally terrifying fact about little feckers taking over Ireland! People, I'm old & very tired .... take your 🐧 & 🦄 & just let me be
Have you seen what humans have done with the world. Eff it, let's give them a shot. All hail our marsupial overlords.
We actually have 11 million people... so our odds are increasing :D Can we employ the assistance of local critters to help us in our battle, or will the critters join the 'roos? If all else fails, I'll get in my car, I hear kangaroos' biggest predator is a car, much like the deer here.
We'll probably never know but I have a feeling the local critters will not side with the people or the cars.
Load More Replies...Dear God, we've got enough to worry about in reality without fantasising about kangaroos invading Idaho
I think there are less people in Idaho than Ohio so the the kangaroos would definitely win...
Load More Replies...It is mainly the Big Red Males who are the most cantankerous, the others are not too bad.
I'm across the river from Cincinnati... I'll move to Ohio just so I can have an army of kango's
I can't believe there were an "emu war' in 1932 in Australia and not a kangaroo war XD Maybe they know better than to mess with a buff Roo
I live in Ohio's capital as my name implies, and we have 11.69 million people, not 8 million. But yes, we would lose to kangaroo invaders. I have seen them at the Columbus Zoo and they seemed pretty friendly though, so friendly you can see them in an enclosure w/ no real barrier between you and the kangaroos!
Lol I am one of the 8 mil but the kangaroos I met where super friendly.
Yeah, if you don't attack them then you are probably fine
Load More Replies...About 40% of the state owns (officially) at least one firearm.
Load More Replies...As an Ohio native I can say that at least 2 in 5 of us own real firearms with no magazine capacity limits. So theoretically 1 could take out anywhere from 30-100 of the Australian invaders.
Well I certainly hope every Ohioan with no magazine capacity limits is a very calm reasonable sort with excellent eyesight then.
Load More Replies...And if there's a world record for fastest time to fully unclothe yourself, a toddler that can barely crawl will shatter it.
Even worse: "This idiot once got so drunk he kissed the maid of honor"
My husband on 1st January: Hey, we have to go for a run, because the previous run we did was last year...(yesterday)
Honestly I quite often feel like a last-century kind of dinosaur, and I'm not even 40
And this is why some people think f***y packs are cool...never mind how old the picture is.
Increasing the costs of our weekly grocery shopping with at least €100 is why I got to stay at home.
'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a device was in use, not even the mouse. The phones were all hung up with chargers galore, while a 3d printed wreath was displayed on the door.
My FIL used to snap his fingers before sneezing because he sneezed to loud. I jumped so high the first time I heard him sneeze because they forgot to warm me.
.... and then wake up early for work for another 50 years... and then when you are retired and don't need to wake up early any more, you can't sleep any more and still wake up early!
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