Dad Chat – Dad Blog Uk

I’ve recently decided that as part of my efforts to publicise and support Dad bloggers as much as possible (as I have been in my Dad Blog Posts of the Week feature) I could try and share their voice and help us all to get to know them a bit better away from the blogging scene. A bit more about ‘the Dad behind the blog’.

Up first is John at Dad Blog UK. This is a well known blogger who has done some fantastic blogs on a variety of topics. He has also been in my Dad Blog Posts of the Week feature a few times.

You’ll find links to his great blog at the bottom of the interview.

Please read on, enjoy, and check out his blog and social media.

1. Tell us about yourself and your family

I am John Adams and live in the South East, not too far from London with my wife Gill and daughters Helen, aged nine and Izzy aged five. Back in 2011 I gave up my career to become the main carer for my kids and run the household.

In those seven short years I would say, anecdotally, this has become a lot more popular and acceptable. We’re far from living in a perfect world, but I have noticed a change where being male and the main carer for your kids is simply normalized.

I started blogging about my experiences at https://dadbloguk.com back in 2012. What started as a hobby I now run as a small business and fit blogging around my kids’ school hours.

2. Have you always wanted to be a Dad?

Yes, I have always felt paternal and always wanted children.

3. What’s the best thing about being a Dad?

There are many awesome things about being a dad. I think passing on general knowledge is one of the things I love most.

At the moment, I am trying to impress the importance of reducing the amount of plastic we use at home. I’m talking to my kids a lot about the impact on fish stocks and marine life. Very often when having these discussions there will be a lightbulb moment and the kids will realise the importance of what you’ve been saying. I love that a lot.

Then again, the simple things are also great fun. A trip to the library, for instance, is always great entertainment!

4. What’s the most challenging thing about being a Dad?

At the stage of fatherhood I have reached, it’s dealing with friendship issues. With Helen, the friendship issues, when they occour, are becoming more serious. With Izzy, I feel she hasn’t had the opportunity to make as many friends as she perhaps could.

This is a downside of having a dad as a main carer and I saw it with Helen as well when she was younger. Mums form tight social bonds at NCT and parentcraft long before their kids are even born.

As a result, their kids socialise together and go to nursery together. The mums make friends and so do their kids. I am afraid stay at home dads don’t get invited to interact with mums, certainly not as much, and so their kids don’t get the opportunities to socialise with each other either.

5. If you became a Dad again would you do anything differently? If so, what?

I would have been a lot more careful with my money. You think the early years are expensive but wait for the school years. It’s not just uniform but tech. Helen basically needs a lap top for her homework.

School residential trips for her will begin next year. The other day I saw a mum on twitter querying why a two-day residential trip for her kid was going to cost £500.

Helen’s only nine but I’ve got one eye on higher education fees. I did some back of an envelope calculations once and worked out that if my wife and I were going to pay for three years’ worth of higher ed fees and put away about £20K as a deposit for a first property for each child, we’d need to save about £90,000. That’s before we take account of our own pensions. It simply isn’t going to happen.

6. What advice would you give to new dads?

Don’t let anyone tell you that looking after children is women’s work. This is an attitude that persists but there is nothing, save for gestation and lactation that a man cannot do with his child.

7. Social media links…

Blog: https://dadbloguk.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dadbloguk

Instagram: https://instagram.com/dadbloguk

Facebook: https://facebook.com/dadbloguk

YouTube: https://youtube.com/JohnAdamsDBUK

There You Have It…

I hope you enjoyed reading that, some great insight from John there and tips for new dads too. It’s fantastic to have John take part in this series of mine. Thanks John!

Look out for another interview next week.