Three things fathers fear
All parents have fears. Be it an insignificant bump on the head, or something more serious – they all play on the mind.
Here are some of the things that bother me about being a father on a daily basis. A great many of them, no doubt, are shared by other parents too.
1) The running topple
Watching your child go from rolling over, to walking, through to running is one of the most satisfying parts of being a parent. But no sooner have they started to totter along slightly faster than their normal walking pace to you start worrying that totter will turn into a tumble.
Any parent will tell you, you never forget a bad tumble. It’ll stay with you for a long, long time. For Jack – who insists on running with his arms outstretched behind him – his first major topple resulted in a grazed chin, grazed knees and bruised cheek. Fortunately though, there were no broken bones.
2) Refusing a cuddle
Being shunned by your own child is a horrible, dreaded scenario. But nonetheless one that can occur quite a lot during the tumultuous ‘terrible twos’.
In the case of Jack and myself, I’m most often refused a cuddle and a kiss when I first get in from work. It sounds terrible, but I assure you, this is generally short-lived and doesn’t happen with any real regularity.
I think for the most part, Jack is at his most tired and grumpy when I get in from work. Either that or he’s halfway through his dinner. Despite the fact that he’ll tend to come and give me a hug anyway after half an hour, I always feel a little heartbroken when my request for a hug when I walk in through the door is refused.
3) Not being around when they’re upset
This is definitely a bigger fear for working parents, although it tends to strike me worst after I’ve put him to bed. As children spend more time out of your care, it’s only natural that you’ll start to worry about whether they’ll have an accident at nursery, that someone has upset them, or that they’re being picked on.
However, when it comes to Jack, I’m most scared about not being able to make it upstairs quick enough if he has a nightmare.
On very few occasions – although far more than I’d ever wish for – we only hear the most distressed cries, arriving after he’s worked himself up into a state when we’ve not heard him the first time. Generally, this makes me feel worse than anything else.
