About
Since becoming a dad in April 2013, I have thought a lot about what it means to be a dad and how dads are represented in society. I have set up this blog in order to reflect on these issues, share experiences and create a forum for discussion.
I live in North West Wales with my wife, son and a pet chicken. We are bringing up our son bilingually, and this is one of the topics that I will cover here. I intend to talk about preparing for the arrival of our son, getting used to being parents and general issues to do with parenting.
I certainly do not intend to present myself as some sort of parenting expert. Instead, what I want to do here is create a place for talking about and discussing being a father and how fathers are represented.
I would love to know what you think of this blog so please feel free to leave comments and suggestions. If you want to get in touch via e-mail, there’s also a form for that below.
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Dad's the way I like it 
Jun 29, 2013 @ 10:00:04
Great blog, keep it coming. It’s so good for fathers to know their not alone and can hear what other dads are going through. I too blogged though out my wife’s pregnancy until now, our Josie is 15 months. Good luck to you 🙂
Jun 29, 2013 @ 17:48:03
Thank you so much for being the first person to comment on my new blog! I’m probably going to add a few things to the blog over the next week or so as I get the hang of WordPress again. I’ll have to check out your blog. Cheers.
Jun 29, 2013 @ 20:50:59
You’re very welcome Jonathan. I found it felt good to get your feelings out at this time, because it is such a significant life change. My blog when my wife was pregnant is http://babyinmybaby.blogspot.com/ and my new one is http://bookofmohs.com/ if you’re interested, have a great day 🙂
Jul 01, 2013 @ 08:05:07
Congratulations on being a Dad – great isn’t it?!!
I’m really looking forward to reading through your blog, especially your thoughts about raising a bilingual child. I’m an English expat in Holland so I’m in the same boat there. It’s really hard work, but I think really important. I was planning to write an article some time on how I’ve tackled it…I just hope the way I’m doing it is OK, so I’ll all ready to learn from your ideas too!
Good luck with the blog – but be warned…it can become addictive!
Paul
P.S I love your blog name!! 🙂
Jul 01, 2013 @ 16:38:46
Thanks Paul, certainly agree with you about it being great to be a dad! I can see how this blogging could become addictive and plan to space out my posts a bit so as it doesn’t get too much.
I definitely want to write something about bring up a kid bilingually in the next few weeks. With my son being only ten weeks old it’s hard to know how well it’s going yet 🙂
Glad you like the name of the blog. Every title that I could think of involving the words ‘dad’ and ‘blog’ seemed to have been used by someone else already, so I decided to go for something a bit different. I know it’s a bit cheesy, but actually quite liked that in some ways.
Jul 15, 2013 @ 23:49:54
I see you live in Wales so I expected your bilingual languages were English and Welsh but I note that you lecture in French so was wondering when you say bilingual, which are the languages you are teaching your child?
Jul 16, 2013 @ 07:31:24
We’ve decided to bring up our son bilingually using Welsh and English. This is mainly because about three quarters of the people in our area speak Welsh as their first language.
As I’m originally from Scotland and Welsh is my third language, in some ways it’s maybe a bit odd using it to bring up our son. That said, I use the language quite a lot at work and have done a few lectures and presentations in Welsh over the last year.
I’d love it if our son also became fluent in French but we’re a bit wary of throwing too many languages at him in one go. He may go to a school where Welsh is the main language, so that’s our priority. We’ll be spending a week in France this summer so fingers crossed he at least starts to get used to hearing a bit of French.
Jul 16, 2013 @ 07:40:39
I remember doing my first exam at Bangor University. The question sheet was in Welsh so I asked the invigilator for an English copy. He gave me a funny look, then turned the page over…which had the English translation on the other side! 🙂
I think learning Welsh would have stopped me looking like such an idiot!
Jul 16, 2013 @ 07:44:11
Haha! I’m sure a lot of people have done that, especially as Welsh is supposed to come first in bilingual documents.
Oct 04, 2013 @ 12:51:50
Thank you for the follow! I enjoy reading your posts – love the funny comments! Great that you have decided to bring up your son to become bilingual. I taught my eldest daughter Finnish first, then Swedish when she was five. Her dad spoke Punjabi to her, so Swedish was her third language. Switching languages wasn’t easy but well worth it – if you wish, you can read about it here: http://multilingualparenting.com/2013/05/08/pricken-the-swedish-speaking-kitten/
Oct 05, 2013 @ 10:21:14
Thank you, glad that you’ve enjoyed reading my posts! I’m always really interested to hear how other parents have gone about bringing up their children using more than one language, so will definitely check out the article that you mentioned here. I’d love to speak a bit of French to our son as well, but am wary about throwing too many languages at him in one go as I do most of the speaking Welsh.
Oct 05, 2013 @ 10:53:38
I had the same dilemma – three languages in one go seemed overwhelming and that’s why I waited until she was five. Studies have however shown that it is possible to have three languages on the go, but it does require quite a lot of commitment and enough exposure in each language. If you want to introduce some French, you could for example use a French speaking hand puppet. Your son would identify the language with the puppet and gain some early exposure, which is beneficial for a genuine accent in the language later on in life.
Oct 13, 2013 @ 16:37:40
I love the idea of using a hand puppet, it sounds like really good fun! I’ll have to start trying that when our son’s a bit older.
Oct 09, 2013 @ 16:03:13
Jonathan, Thank you for the follow! I look forward to following your newfound fatherhood as our babies are almost the same age. It will be neat to see how we, as new dads, respond to similar situations through the years. Keep up the good work!
Oct 09, 2013 @ 19:37:34
Thanks, Matt. It is cool seeing how other people are doing at the same stage with their kids, and getting an idea of what’s in store later on from bloggers with slightly older kids.
Oct 10, 2013 @ 08:44:24
Hello! I just found your blog, I love to find fathers as well as mothers on the Internet.
I’m Spanish, married to a Bulgarian and living in Sofia. We are raising our kids in a bilingual environment, and I am amazed at how easily they learn. I think there is no problem as long as the parents are native. For example, now I’ll start teaching my daughter Catalan (I’m from Barcelona), but I don’t think I will be able to teach her proper English, since I am not a native English speaker. We will see… 🙂
Now I’ll start reading your blog from the beginning. Greetings from Bulgaria!
Oct 10, 2013 @ 09:30:03
Hello! Thank you for getting in touch, I always like hearing from people in different places who’ve just discovered this blog. It’s great to hear about how things have worked well with raising your kids bilingually. As long as we expose our son to plenty of Welsh (which may well be the main language at his primary school), things should go OK (I hope!). I really hope that he comes to enjoy both languages and not just have Welsh as a language that he speaks at school because he has to. We’ll try to show him fun activities that are accessible in both languages. Greeting from Wales!