Gone are the days when the only involvement fathers had in the lives of their kids was paying their bills. Since most moms back then were stay-at-home, the whole responsibility of the child – from their education to playtime and everything in between – was on the mother. However, new-age woke dads now accept that they need to play a more active role in their child’s life to help in the development of the baby’s social as well as interpersonal skills. We asked 4 new-age dads the one thing they do to bond with the baby better and also help bring them up in a more wholesome way.
1. She’s Just As Much My Responsibility
“There is no way that my wife is more responsible for our kids than I am. After all, both of us are the parents, not just her. Our daughter was born a few months ago so my wife’s on sabbatical. But I know that with our five-year-old son and our newborn, she has her hands full all day with not a moment of rest. So, I try to take up the night duty of our baby girl as much as possible. Changing diapers, feeding her, putting her back to sleep once she starts crying in the middle of the night are just a few things I try to do. This makes my wife’s life much easier as she’s well-rested in the morning.”
– Udit Malhotra, Father Of A Newborn Baby Girl And A Five-Year-Old Son
2. There Are No Stereotypical Gender Roles
“Growing up, all I’d ever heard was ‘boys do this and girls do that’. Even though I was conditioned to believe that girls and boys behave differently, I’m going to make sure my daughter doesn’t have the same biases. She’s a little over one and I’m already ensuring that nobody forces anything on her. She doesn’t have to love pink or play with dolls. We’ve just got a bunch of toys for her and we let her choose whatever she wants to play with. Some days it is a toy truck and someday it’s her stuffed toy. We’ve started doing this right now so that she grows up believing that there is no difference between her and any boy her age. She’s just as important and she can do just as much, if not more!”
– Mohit Khattar, Father Of One-Year-Old Daughter
3. Let Them Be Themselves
“I have two-year-old twin daughters. With twins, everybody expects them to have similar personalities. But as they’re growing up, I’ve come to realize that they’re very different in their mannerisms. One is an introvert while the other is an extrovert who loves meeting new people. As a father, it is my duty to ensure that neither of my daughters feels pressured to be like the other one. They may be twins but they’re both allowed to have their own personalities. I would not want to see them have insecurities as adults because we forced them to do something that’s unlike them as children.”
– Karan Chaudhary, Father Of Two-Year-Old Twin Daughters
4. Nothing Is More Important Than Quality Time
“When my son was born, I was working with a company so, back then, the amount of time I spent with my little boy was limited. But a few months after my daughter was born, I quit my job to start my own consultancy that I run out of my home office. This gave me not only a better control on my timings but also freed up a lot of time for me to spend with my babies. My wife is still working full-time which means that currently I am the main caretaker of my kids and that’s something I absolutely love doing. I love hanging out with them and there are these little things I do to ensure they grow up to be confident and conscientious human beings. Instead of sitting them down and teaching them, I try to tell them a lot of stories so that they can learn the lessons they need from practical examples. Apart from that, I also ensure that I play with them every day. It’s amazing for their growth and it helps us bond better.”
– Nitin Sachdev, Father Of A Three-Year-Old Daughter And Seven-Year-Old Son
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