Three critical pieces of advice for expectant fathers....

Three critical pieces of advice for expectant fathers. Today’s post is for expectant fathers. Here are three critical pieces of advice for expectant fathers. Dads learn from each other’s mistakes however too often we don't share these mistakes. Perhaps some women might find this a bit amusing especially the ones that have already given birth. I would love to know how many of your spouses made the same mistakes I did.  Some of you men will learn from my errors and many of you will repeat my same mistakes. Women, if you are reading this please share with any expectant fathers you know. But don't share with your own husband because let’s be honest, we don’t always listen well to our spouses. Have a woman friend mention it to your spouse instead.

Now to the post.

Critical item #1: when the pregnant woman in your life says it is time to go to the hospital don’t say ‘are. You sure. I know it seems like a logical question but think about this. Of course, they are usually not sure but what the heck do you know. Trust me in this. When our first child was born I tried to stop these words from coming out of my mouth and was not successful. My wonderful wife responded with a loving ‘wth do you know?’ Which was a logical response? I didn’t know anything. For our next two children luckily I was able to contain myself and just say ‘how can I best help you?’

Critical item #2;  the helpful people at the hospital will hook your spouse up to a machine that measures contractions. This might have changed some since my three children were born. Men, when the numbers start going up here are some keys things not to say: “here comes one”, “that was a big one” “they are getting stronger”. Shockingly I found out that my wife already knew all of these things were happening even before I told here.  I wish someone had told me to just be quiet, or rub her shoulders or feet. Even “I love you” might not go over well during this time. If I had it to do over again perhaps I would just say “thank you for bearing this burden for our family.” Who else can give great advice out there?

Critical item #3; don’t let your kids grow up to be teenagers. I think the golden age of parenting is when all your kids are between four and twelve. I ignorantly thought the teenage years wouldn’t be bad because I was a cool, progressive father and my kids would see how logical and correct all of my advice and rules were. Just hold on during the teenage years and try to get to the other side. There are good times then but lots of stress. This is all part of their becoming an adult. Hopefully they will apologize later and I am pleased to report that all three of my children have done this especially my daughter whose was the oldest and gave us the most grief.

I hope this helps some of you to avoid my mistakes. Women, please share your advice for things we can do better and any dads who have used techniques to survive pregnancy and the teenage years please post about. We can and should all learn from each other.

Here are some other great articles I found for expectant fathers I hope you will enjoy:

from WebMD

What I wish I knew then

What to Expect

And if you want to claim the title of the best supportive father ever get your spouse one of our personalized journals and title it something that will mean the most to your spouse. And then write a few pages about what this baby means to you, your familym, and the future. Of course, I didn't do that but I would do this now. Perhaps when my first grandchild comes I will do this. Will one of you remind me?

Personalized Journals

[caption id="attachment_1141" align="alignnone" width="730"] personalized journal for a new baby[/caption]