Bed @ MindSay

For most men, the prospect of fatherhood jolts them out of their Carefree Romeo days. While some dads may not receive the impact during pregnancy, their world goes topsy - turvy the moment they find themselves holding the newborn. The transformation does not end there. The journey to parenthood after that continues to have a greater impact upon men's sense of purpose and meaning in life than any other transition that they face. The impact is greater on younger dads because they are still kids themselves. They are faced with this challenge when they still in the process of building their own sense of identity. Fatherhood also comes to them at a time when they are at a crucial stage of building their career and finances.

Fatherhood, therefore, leads younger dads to end up thinking about their lost sense of independence. They now feel fenced in by the responsibility of fatherhood. Secondly, because they may not have yet built a strong financial base, they are faced with the prospect of making ends meet with the increased expenses.

Older dads tend to worry before childbirth, fearing complications like autism, which are more likely for older dads. However, once the child is born and the baby is normal, older dads are better prepared to take on the role of a dad. They are at a stage when they have mastered the skills of interdependence, and therefore have no fear of losing their independence. Older dads also tend to be better off financially, having concentrated on their career in their younger days. Their focus, therefore, is usually on how they can be great dads to their kids.

Researchers have found that older dads are more involved in child rearing compared to younger dads. This provides a great advantage to kids. It has been found that children of involved dads mostly do well in life. Such kids usually have greater self-esteem, more confidence, greater sense of security, better ability to handle stress, and the ability to empathize. Older dads are also more nurturing, warmer, and more generous with affection. Some of their gentleness may be do to a drop in testosterone levels, but regardless, they are mellower, more relaxed, and appear to be much calmer in their parenting. Researchers have also found that older dads are three times more willing and more likely to share in the daily child rearing tasks, including diaper changes, feeding the toddler, and putting the kids to bed.

How come every time that dog jumps on a bed he has to rip into the covers? My son's comforter was destroyed because of that dog. Now my sheets and my comforter are demolished due to his ridiculous need to tear through my house and turn around on the bed. I try to keep the doors closed, but sometimes he gets in anyway. I have to go on a hunt for decent looking queen sized comforter sets pretty soon. *sigh*

Like most men.

I was going to go to bed but I ended up staying up on my DS for half an hour trying to evolve my Feebas. I managed it then ended up sending a few texts to people so I'm still up. No matter, any grouchyness that comes from not-enough-sleep will be gone within half an hour of me waking up, I've come to realise that only recently.

Jamie and Alan are dragging me to see Nightwish tomorrow, something I only remembered an hour ago when the former texted me with arrangements. Ergh, as much as I love live music I'm now going to stop seeing bands-who-I -just-about-like more than once. I've now seen Nightwish 4 times in the past 3 years and I'm still meh about them. Alan gets whiney though when I don't go but I'm willing to put up with that now.

On a similar note I'm still waiting to hear from Ros regarding Foo Fighters tickets, Marina's yet to give her the money but I think she's waiting til she actually receives the tickets to do that. I'm meant to be going with Christine but we haven't actually spoken since her birthday and I'm wondering if she's that bothered about it.

It all kinda sucks, the Christine thing. I haven't seen her since her birthday and we've probably spoken once since then, and she was kinda down because of stuff at home. It sucks to say it, but I think she's nothing more than an acquaintance to me now. I'm 99% sure I'm over her - the fact she's dating a prick actually helped that - but it still sucks to lose regular contact with a friend.

Oh well. At least I have work to look forward to tomorrow.

Yay.