Parenting coach Jenny Hale says that “dads are important” right from a child’s birth, and is pleased to see that a new DVD, In Your Hands, offered free by a trust called Great Fathers, is now available to all new or soon-to-be fathers.
The Parents Inc presenter says new dads shouldn’t focus too much on the feeding and changing of the baby, but rather work on establishing a bond.
“Dads can bond with a baby by holding the baby on their chest, singing, walking around with the baby,” suggested Ms Hale.
Mrs Hale says high interaction with the father can really “help with brain development and all those brain cells which aren’t connected yet”.
Funded by the Todd and Lion Foundations, the new DVD features Kiwi musicians Tiki Taane, Warren Maxwell and Sean Donnelly (SJD) playing music and talking about how having children changed their lives.
New Plymouth writer, carpenter and musician Dave Owens, 59, says he created the DVD because “there’s very little out there for dads”.
Owens says many dads don’t realise, “That a baby is a man’s thing, because there are all these cultural messages that say babies are a mum thing”.
He believes too many men were missing a vital opportunity “because a guy is really emotionally available around the time of the birth of the baby, if you can hook the guy in to the fact about how exciting it is, you have that guy and his child in a relationship for life.”
Mrs Hale says often men feel that they don’t know what to do with a baby, and that they just need to ask “what can I do to help”?
She recommends the book My little bloke for those looking for more resources.
