Hi there, I’m Writing-Dad I am the fiancée of Laura and the very fortunate father of Max. I typically play the Marcel Marceau member of the family. I’ve always been quite a timid person and usually keep myself to myself. I guess it’s frustrating since I can be very sociable and love to joke and laugh and make the most of humour. However, once I met Laura and getting to know the adventurous, outgoing woman she is, I finally got to see that being shy was pointless. And though I still can clam up as a person, I could not be more happy with her.

Becoming a dad did change me in quite a way. I stopped being so careless and started thinking more about carrying a more mature mentality. However, if anyone tells you though that parenting stops you from being childish and enjoying childish things, they’re wrong. When I learned my University lecturer was collecting LEGO for himself whilst buying his son some (I caught him at work one day), I knew there you don’t have to change entirely. You’ll always be you, you’ll just be someone else as well.

Parenting has been a real blast for me. Sure the hard times are hard, the tired times are tiring and the endless crying and screaming hasn’t helped, I’ve been warned to stop it. It’s been fun showing Max what excites us as people, such as sport, music, film and places we visited as kids. Every milestone is something that I cherish and I don’t care what people think when I kiss my son, because it’s tough to not feel proud of him.

Me and Max head off on secret little adventures or days in when Laura is at work. Trips to the park to fool around and games of hide and seek make realise that parenting isn’t a task, it’s fun and fulfilling. I love watching him throw a football, laugh so much he falls over and play nicely with kids. I hope to show him more as he gets taller and his focus improves.

I’ve never been expected to be seen as anything than a parent, regardless of age. It’s easy to think that someone so young can be seen as too young for something such as parenting. Most are more than capable of parenting regardless of age. I’ve been lucky not to receive a ‘to my face’ judgement, not that it would phase me. Judgement is something that any young parent should ignore and get on with what they need to do. The key is for you and for your child/ children to be happy.

Of course, being a young dad does have its disadvantages. The social life isn’t as electric as it is. Your energy that you put into work has to be shared with parenting. It does minimise the time and energy I need to do things. However, you learn to overlook these issues and keep moving forward. But, I wouldn’t change a thing, except maybe keeping my cool better instead of snapping too quickly. Patience truly is a virtue.

Well, I’ve enjoyed taking the time to introduce myself in this first post of Fri-Dad. I’m Writing-Dad and it’s been a pleasure avoiding writing my own posts. Have a great day.