Dads

Won't lie. This week has been a challenge. Work has, well been horrific. And then I come home and on top of all the other things that a working parent has to put up with, my eldest has seemingly decided to make it her personal mission to make my life a living hell.

How are you guys doing?

We're going to be flying to the US soon and it's the longest trip we've done with our child. It's an 8 hour flight entirely during daylight hours, and I am slightly (read: very) apprehensive about the chaos that could unfold. Any tips or experiences?

Never really know how to tackle Halloween. I'm one of those old farts that still find it to be a bit ....well, I don't love it.

That said, it seems like I'm one of the few remaining holdouts, and my eldest absolutely loves it.

So what does your Halloween look like?

Seriously. This thing is amazing.

My daughter is approaching 3 and my wife has suggested a tablet either as a birthday or Christmas present, and I’m a bit hesitant. It’d be great for long trips, but I think as a day-to-day thing it might be a distraction. It’d get Spidey and Friends off the telly though. How and when did you handle this?

Do I tell them and risk being openly mocked by a group of kids, or do I risk one of them knocking my five year old off the climbing frame?

I went with the former. They took it well. Dignity in tact.

I don't know how Flop does it. Day in day out he gets up, spends his entire day running around after his whining giant toddler and never moans or complains.

What a hero.

Hey dads. How's your day/week/existence going?

My wife, spontaneously (actually to procrastinate), decided to start sorting through our thousands of saved but unsorted phone pictures of the kids etcetera. Kinda magical to revisit some forgotten moments through the years.

Will make it a hell of a lot easier when I finally get round to picking a handful to send to my own parents. (Specifically curated so that when my mum ends up 'accidentally' putting another one on Facebook I don't have to go too nuclear. Just regular firebombing.)

We're 5.5 years into this now, and whilst we had a pretty solid routine when it was just the three of us, when number 2 arrived the entire routine went to poop and yeah, here we are.

My eldest is 5, and for the most part (tonight aside) she's pretty good at going to sleep. All of her cousins who are younger have a small TV in their room, or are allowed a tablet whilst going to bed.

I personally think she's too young. I was 10-11 when I first got a TV in my room, and that was restricted to 4 channels that really didn't have much to engage an 11 year old at 8pm.

So yeah. Thoughts?

Sniff sniff.

Well, you made it. Welcome to Friday (okay this is going live on Thursday night but you get the point). How has your week been, what have you got planned for the weekend and most importantly, how are you going to survive a weekend with a full house all day?

Yes. My soon-to-be-toddler is awake even earlier than normal, and as such I can confirm that Ceebies technically starts broadcasting at 05:30.

Olivia Colman doing the lord's work this early.

Since I became a father some 5.5 years ago, I've realised that I've rather quickly turned into the sort of person who tells my children that 'silly games, silly prizes' and 'want doesn't mean get'.

I'm not sure I can pinpoint the exact moment this change occurred, but it did, and now I guess I'm stuck in this hell. The question is, am I stuck in it on my own, or are there more of us?

My daughter goes back to school on Tuesday, and as much as it's been nice having her around the house, I can't wait.