Things you wish you'd been told or advised upon becoming a dad

Don't name your boy Danuel. It is soon to become the most overused and annoying name ever.

 

Don't bathe your baby in the toilet..... I mean, who woulda thunk that.

 

timely

 

enjoy it because it truly goes fast. our oldest graduates college this year. I was lugging her around in her car seat just yesterday.

 

It's cheaper to keep her.

 

This is all that truly matters. Try to enjoy every moment that you can. While being as patient as possible. I need to remember that myself every day.

 

Nobody puts baby in the corner.

 

Babies and children generally are not as fragile as you first fear. Sure, with an infant you have to support their head and all that, but six-seven months later they're pretty tough little buggers. Let them crawl around on the floor, outside, eat dirt, get exposed to germs. We saw a fair number of overly-protective, hovering parents over the years (luckily not as many maybe as in some other places), and I think you've really got to try to let your kid grow up to be independent, make his/her own mistakes, and grow up into an adult. And sometimes you can help the process by trying to treat them as mini-adults while they're growing up. Involve them in decisions around the house, making meals, doing chores. Give them freedom to decide on their activities at school or after school. Know when to lean on them a bit when you think that something they might not want to do is in their best interest over the long haul (homework, music lessons, sports etc).

The one thing we did with our two was we did not have television in the house (still don't), meaning no network tv. We had dvds, what streaming that was there 20 years ago, and that was it. I think that has helped them quite a bit.

 

I'm just giving some advice that I learned along the way. In all seriousness, the best advice I can give is to begin a Texas Tommorrow Fund. My son is finishing up his first year at Texas A&M, and it is not cheap. The one thing his mother and I agreed on was that we began that tomorrow fund when he was born. Saved us a huge cost today.

https://www.texastuitionpromisefund.com/

 

Be flexible. No two kids are the same. You can't hug your kid too much or tell them you love them too often. No person has ever become a serial killer or sociopath because their parents hugged them too much.

 

Don't sleep next to your baby(I was guilty of this). My friend who is a firefighter told me that he has to deal with a parent smothering their baby at least once a year. I can't imagine the grief

 

There is no off button

 

When they're babies, nap when they sleep.

It's funny, I always heard all the advice from parents before I became a parent and I pretty much wrote it all off as just being cliche. "Having kids changes everything", "you really don't know love until you have kids" etc. Yeah, yeah, yeah....I got it.

But once I had kids, I quickly figured out that all of those overused and annoying cliches parents were always throwing at me.....were actually 100% true. I can't even remember what life was like before these 2 turkeys came into my life - nor do I care to. Sometimes I'll just stare at them while they're wrestling with each other and/or jumping on the trampoline in the backyard and I'll think to myself "man........I am so happy right now. How can life get any better?"

Yeah, I'm that guy that you never want to ask about his kids. Otherwise, you'll spend the next hour getting shown endless pictures and hearing endless stories. But at least I own it.

 

hell yeah. people get all bent out of shape over a father showing affection, particularly to their sons. says more about them than they think lol

my advice is sleep when they sleep. don't be a hero. i did the 2 hours of sleep a day thing taking care of baby and recovering wife until i was so exhausted that i ripped every muscle from my back to my foot. then i was useless for 5 months. don't do that. sleep when they sleep, even when you don't think you need it or you don't think 15 minutes will help. SLEEP EVERY CHANCE YOU GET!!!!!!!!

 

True story: My son was born back in 2013 and I wanted to name him Parson(s). Thank God my wife and others convinced me otherwise. Best advice ever.

Never trust a man who takes Robert Horry's number

 

If you have twins, raise one, and drop the other off on a sand planet.

 

Make sure all of your bottle purchases are the same brand, size, series, so they are interchangable. Same with kid cups.

 

As a new father(2 week old infant), I had/have this mentality. I'm like pfft, I can work all day, help with the baby through the night, and not sleep during the weekend when she's asleep.

NOPE. I don't even know what day it is anymore.