You and your spouse are a team. You’re either playing man or zone but never play against one another or those little fuckers will eat you alive!

Every phase of childhood brings challenges and rewards as a parent. Breathe and learn to enjoy the messes and chaos because one day soon you’ll be looking at the back of their head as they leave the nest….and that’s not the time to try to right any regrets you hold.

My son is now 29. Over the weekend I had a conversation with him about his perspective about his own childhood. I wanted to know what he thought we did right, and what we may have got wrong.

His answer(s): emotional stability (my translation) and consistency was what we got right right.

What I got wrong: "you were always working." - that changed my entire perspective.

Your kids happiness is more important than your own.

Awesome! Twice the reward! Best advice I can give for first 6 months, when you’re tested physically and emotionally is the old adage of “this too shall pass.” When at wits end, breathe and remind yourself of the above. The wins start stacking quickly once your child starts to smile and interact with you, but the first cpl months are a marathon.

Take shifts so each half can sleep, wash off the baby wipes with water to prevent diaper rash. Use the diaper cream.

I’m feeling old now, my youngest is 9 :)

Congratulations!!!

We just had our first son 13 days ago (due date was today) the best advice we got was that if we ever feel overwhelmed due to screaming or such, put the baby down and walk away for a moment to recover. The baby can handle screaming on their own for a few minutes, but to avoid accidentally being to hard on them, if we need a moment, it's really important to take it.

I love this thread with all the dads! You're all worth celebrating! Well done being awesome men, and awesome dads! I know you are because you're celebrating being dad's, and that on its own make you awesome!

Show them and be the leading exemple.

Apart from that, why do you think you have given him too much freedom ?

They’re little humans just like you….they’re testing boundaries, seeing what they can get away with. Some are more stubborn than others…later in life obstinance can be a real gift. As far as discipline…consider that human behavior responds to a combo of the carrot and the stick. Set guidelines and communicate them. Good behavior gets the carrot, bad behavior the stick. Carrots at that age are more freedom, time to play, etc. The stick…not a physical stick but a real consequence. Could be a real meaningful timeout, loss of privileges/toys, pushups/laps if you’re coaching, etc can show that there are consequences to not following the rules of the game. Finally, be consistent with the rules, rewards and consequences with your spouse.