Daddy’s children
When Daniel Watt read his two children bedtime stories, he became increasingly aggrieved by the noticeable absence of fathers in picture books, so much so that his journalist wife, Vanessa Lees, decided to see if she could remedy the situation. A new book was born. “Whooossshh” is a book about a little girl who goes on a magical journey to the Milky Way on her daddy’s shoulders.
Vanessa says: “Nothing makes me melt more than seeing my children enveloped in my husband’s arms and the protection and unconditional love that he gives them. It’s gorgeous. Dan is such a hands-on dad and is pretty reflective of all the dads I know, including my own. I find it frustrating that the dads depicted in children’s books are figures clutching briefcases breezing out of the door.”
M&D Magazine has teamed up with TheOddSock .co.uk to offer you a chance to win this lovely book. It is a feel-good fairy tale; funny, endearing, beautifully illustrated and encapsulates the bond between father and child.
To enter the competition, please tell us your thoughts and experiences. Are you a dad who feels that his efforts in bringing up the children are not recognised, or do you believe that you are doing enough for your family as a bread-winner and that it’s your wife’s job to look after the kids? Maybe you are a mum who agrees with Vanessa that dads spend a lot of time with their children but are not recognised by society? Or maybe you think exactly the opposite – they don’t do enough and it’s frustrating and unfair?
Write your comments on our website or publish them on your blog/website. If you are blogging make an indexed link to this post and in the comments field let us know the URL of your story, so we can put a reciprocal link.
Closing date: Monday, 12th November 2012
Whooossshh is available in selected bookshops and at http://www.theoddsock.co.uk/
Some fathers do a lot, others do nothing. It is all individual and depends on the person? Before becoming fathers they became husbands, our husbands, chosen by us. Surely we could predict, at least to some extent, what dads they’d make. So if it all works well, good for us; if it doesn’t, who is there to blame?
“mum” in jeans and hoody! There’s nothing daddy wouldn’t do for his little girl and ..er have more patients that mummy most of the time!
Yes, in jeans and hoody he is and adores our little girl too, but he doesn’t know what to do with her… She is not a Tom-boy. He wants to play football, she wants to draw pictures, he prefers Spiderman and she likes Tweenies. I know he loves both our children but he seems to be more comfortable with our son then our daughter
As a mum of 5 their dad is just as involved in the childrens life as I am, we both share the trauma and joy of parenthood and I agree that society doesn;t appreciate men like my husband, he was looked at like he had two heads when he dared to set foot in the ‘mother’ and toddlers group and felt so out of place he never went back, but on the other hand I have many single mums as friends who do a fantastic job without a partner but in my opinion children need their dad in their life as their growing up and shame on the men who don’t step up, also shame on the many mothers who refuse to have their children’s dads in their kids life. In the long term children need both parents.(this is my opinion anyway :))
I wish we had more men like that 🙂 And I wish we’d hear more stories like that to inspire other fathers to be more involved in bringing up the children.
I thought I was being a great mum by playing nursery rhymes and silly songs on my car stereo on every car journey we went on, to the point that I got a little bored of them, til we were in my husband’s car one day and my daughter said “I love it when we go in Daddy’s car ’cause Daddy’s music is great”. He would lay down his life for her but his rule is ‘my car, my music’. I learnt a valuable lesson that day – your kids will appreciate you for what you are, not what you try to be.
In my experience daddy’s are the ones who show love in a practical way, reading stories, going swimming, down the park or out on bike rides. They are the ones who get emotional when their child gets a good mark at school, or scores the winning goal at school football. They are the silly ones who make their children laugh and not take things to seriously when they don’t need to be, but teach the child to be strong when life doesn’t go their way. I know how wonderful my husband is at being a dad to our son, because our son has become just like him and I love them both very much 🙂
My husband is a stay at home dad and therefore takes on the role of mum a lot! I think what distinguishes him though is his time for ‘rough and tumble’ play with our boys! I think as mums we can sometimes be too over cautious (laughing will come to crying springs to mind!) and my boys just love being thrown into the air or doing a back flip off the couch with dad to catch them!
Whilst I hide my eyes might I add!!
When my children were small I felt that my main job was to earn money to provide for them. But I wish now that I did not realise that time with me was as valuable to them as things I could buy.
My husband is brilliant with our boys.He does so much for and with them despite long working hours. He’s been a hands on dad since the day they were born.
I love to see them together,he adores them and the feeling is obviously mutual!
Children really benefit from having two parents who share the duties of parenting. There is different bits that each parent do better but working together is definately the key 🙂
My fiance is very hands on with our son and i think that is vital….men need to experience the ups and downs of parenthood just as a mother does. Our little boy has his nappies chaged by both of us, we both get up in the night to see to him if he wakes, he both mop up the sick and we both share the kisses,cuddles and watching him grow and learn. My partner works full time from 8am-5pm but he still shares the parenting.
Humm, my husbands philosophy is to leave it to mum. Which it fine with me as I have the best job in the world. And my husband supports me and the kids excellently. We make a perfect team!
I have 3 boys, i feel it is my job to protect them, give them advice, teach them right from wrong and how to enjoy life. They all tell me they love me every day so i must be doing something right 🙂
Thanks to everybody who wrote comments on the article “Daddy’s Children”.
We thought it would be fair to award the prize to the only man who entered
this competition. Congratulations Shane! The book is on its way to you and
we hope your three sons will love it.
The competition is closed now, but do keep your comments coming, as we are
always delighted to receive and publish them.
Just received the book, thankyou ever so much,i can’t wait to read it to them tonight my boys will love it.
You are very welcome Shane!Do let us know what your boys think about the book. Their comments will be as much appreciated as yours 🙂
They all loved the book, we took turns reading a bit each to my youngest the first night it arrived and he has asked for it every night since. Thanks again 🙂
That’s great! Thanks for letting us know, Shane. Do keep in touch. And look out for more competitions.