So, I just found out I'm going to be a dad...
 

You guys are the first people to know outside of my own family. I had to tell SOMEONE.

Backstory: I'm 33 years old. I'm married to the love of my life. We've been together for 16 years, married for 3. That's a long ****ing time.

I had a bit of a dead-beat dad growing up, and I know that I have it in me to give this kid everything I wish I'd had in my own childhood and more.

I know there are some fantastic dads here on CP, so what do I need to know? What are your best dad tips?

Spare me the "your life is over" bullshit. I've traveled the world, I've climbed mountains, I've swam in every Ocean and set foot on every continent. As far as I'm concerned, this sounds like an adventure unlike any I've ever undertaken, and I can't wait!

Congrats champ!

Thank you!

Congrats. Kids are the most difficult, yet the most rewarding life experience. Best of luck!

Parent by example.


Congrats.

Ive got a 6 year old and a 2 year old

Your life is over

In the best possible way that no one can explain to you

Its amazing

I can tell you but you wont belueve me or even comprehend that you dont even know what love really is until you meet your baby

Congrats!

Congrats

Congrats compadre.

Gay

Nothing compares to having kids. Your life isn’t over. Don’t put up with behavior you don’t like and you’ll be fine.

Congrats. I'm a dad of two boys, 9 and 6. The best advice I can give you is......

Don't listen to advice. Everybody and their brother has all the advice in the world and none of them have any experience parenting YOUR child. Be yourself. Make sure your kid(s)always know that you love them. You will **** up a million times and create a million memories. It is definitely the adventure of a lifetime. I highly doubt you will ever feel an emotion stronger than what you will feel for that child.

Congrats.

I had an asshole for a Dad. being a Dad is way better than all that other shit you listed. I was 31 when my first kid was born. Your Dad is not you. You make your own choices. Embrace this. Get involved in the PTA. Don’t go out drinking all the time. Coach the little league baseball team etc. sometimes just being present for the kid is enough.

Congratulations. :toast:

Half of the battle is knowing that you want to be a good dad. That means being a good example in how you treat the mother so a son learns how to treat women or a daughter learns how they should expect to be treated. You'll make mistakes, you'll lose your cool, you'll probably get frustrated(I know based on tonight). It's ok. Stop when you realize it, regroup and do better next time.

You don't fully understand what it means to know you'd physically fight a lion for another person until you see and hold your own kid.

Congratulations and good luck.

Congrats. Don’t listen to Prison Bitch. That’s my advice.

And I’ve got three daughters. Tom Segura said it best. You’ll never have enough time but you’ll always have moments.

Congrats man. Kids are amazing.

Thing is every kid is different. Like WAAAAY different. You just have to work to solve the puzzle.

Good post.

Godspeed young one

Just love the kid, man. That's all.

Congratulations man. In my mind it’s been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. The real fun begins when he/she can run. Consistency is key.

Give them yourself by being there while they grow up.

Congratulations

Get the test done though

The best advice I can think of right now is to take LOTS of pictures. LOTS.And print them out ,where you can put them in an album or a shoe box. Don't just leave them digital because eventually something will happen and your data will get wiped.

Hey Strongside. I'm off CP for a bit and haven't logged on, intentionally, since my stupid ass AMA.

BUT, I did now solely to congratulate you and your wife. My advice is this; just don't kill the baby. Everything else will work out fine.

I remember the feeling you are having. Soak in it.

Enjoy every second even the “bad” ones. They grow up fast.

Tell me about Antarctica.

You will be fine. It sounds like you know what to do and not. We never know it all.

Great parents raise great kids.
My kids hit the great parent lottery. Hope yours did too.

I’ve got a 4 month old. First child for us. It’s more challenging and more sleep deprived than I could ever imagine. The good moments are great though.

My wife is not working for whoever knows how long. I have no idea how we’d manage if we were both back working. Hope you can make a similar choice.

Congrats

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/JwSHPIK.gif?1" title="source: imgur.com" />

Congratulations

Nothing special about it, there are 3 billion dad's in the world today

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/ivFBbbL.gif?1" title="source: imgur.com" />

I lost like 2 years of my travels with exposed film. I learned that lesson. I saved my pictures in 2 different places on the internet now. I also fo a backup on a thumb drive. And on my current computer. I have a calendar appt. set to remind me to update yearly.

Just don't emulate the guy in your signature and you'll be fine.

This is all great stuff. Thanks, gents!

Congrats!

Everything you’ve seen, read or heard is true.

Cold. Lots of ice. Beautiful.

Next time PIIHB

Oh, and congrats

Congratulations!

As a woman, I can tell you that I can't think of a greater joy than hearing my boyfriend reading to our son, playing with our son, or giving our son a bath.

I'm not a man, but my advice to you would be to know that you're not going to be perfect. No one is. I don't know if dads compare themselves to other dads like moms compare themselves to other moms, but knowing that no one ever really has it all together helps a lot.

Be happy, be consistent, and treat his mother like a queen. Also, just be there.

Keep lots of high end liquor in the house for the age 2-3 range.

First of all congrats. I have a 3 year old daughter and 7 month old son. Here are some tips:

If you use a diaper genie, throw shitty diapers in that, and pissy diapers in the trash: it will save you money.

If you can, buy your formula and diapers from Costco, using their brand. Our pediatrician is adamant that there is no appreciable difference in the formula because of the strict requirements.

Get a bumbo and rockaroo.

Get your child sleeping in the crib as soon as possible. The longer you drag it out, the more painful it gets.

Take the binky away at 1 year.

Don't let your kids be assholes. Do not relent on your baseline principles. They are manipulative shits who will woo you with cuteness to get their way. Don't let family members try to trample on your parenting princples.

There are no "jobs". Clean up the shitty diapers, take turns bathing, and take turns waking up ever hour.

Always make time for each other at least once a month. This is almost more important than anything. Your kid needs both of you sane and happy.

Best thing that will ever happen to you.
You will not be able to remember what life was like before you had kids.
Congrats...you will do fine.

Don't raise your kid to be the next David Hogg

Congrats, dude. Yes, your life, at least how you've lived it until now, is over. No more spur of the moment trips to Vegas, no more unplanned sex romps whenever you feel like it, and you will wonder where all your money went.
But there's some good tips in this thread. I'll tell you to get involved, but don't be a helicopter parent. Step up when your kids need it. Be a man, those dirty diapers don't change themselves. If you have a son, show him how to treat women by how you treat your wife. If you have a daughter, show her what she should look for in her own mate by how you treat your wife. Oh, and buy a shotgun, you'll need it sooner than you think :)

You will find important advice for dealing with any extremely critical issue of child-rearing here

...you just became a better man.

Trust me on this.

First off, Congratulations!

Second, I'm right there with you. My first little one is due in October and I absolutely cannot wait!

And maybe even propose to her.

Congrats! Your life is just beginning. A few initial tips:

1. Don’t use baby talk or talk down to your kids.

Okay that wasn’t a very big list. If I think of anything else I’ll check back in.

I've got an 8 year old daughter and a 1 year old son. It's awesome, terrible, awesomely terrible and terribly awesome all at once.

My only real parenting "advice" is to love your kids and don't withhold love and affection just because they misbehave. A lot of my generation was raised on bullshit Skinner behavioral psychology in which parents withhold love until kids obey/behave. This has created a full generation of people that constantly need validation through extrinsic sources like FB, Instagram, etc.

I think just being around is the most important thing. Be a good person and do things for the right reasons and kids will pick up on it.

He said they've been married for three years. Maybe work on your reading comprehension?

(PS. Yes, I know this was an attempt to slam me. However, I'm perfectly fine with my life. Thank you for your concern though.)

I've been trying to think of a really simple way to explain parenthood.

A year from now, you'll be holding two little feet, the size of the end of your thumb with one hand, elevating a tiny bottom into the air so you can slide a clean diaper under a freshly wiped little butt. You're probably going realize the new diaper is going to be loaded before you've even strapped it on and you'll catch yourself slipping your hand under the butt and catching a palm full of tapioca.

In short, in a few months, another human might shit in the palm of your hand, and you won't even care. Once you learn about choking you'll be more afraid of an uncut grape than a shady guy in a dark parking lot.



Also, all new parents please do this one thing for me...Go get certified in child CPR.

You don't want to be married to your live in boyfriend?

You're the first woman I've ever heard say that.

You must not know very many women.

Love 'em, feed 'em and keep 'em clean. The rest will work out on it's own.

The number of women who live with their boyfriend/baby daddy and who DONT want marriage is approximately zero.

Nobody cares. Stop shitting up the thread with this.

Prepare for the best thing that’s ever happened to you.

Exhibit patience when you want to hurry them.

Smile at them whenever you get mad.

They see things through a prism of innocence. Let them enjoy that for as long as possible

I realized something powerful when our first daughter started to mimic me: You aren’t only raising just this child, but your grandchildren and great grandchildren. Your children will raise their kids with what they’ve observed from you.

Congratulations! I hope you've learned enough from this site that you'll send the kid to long snapping camp every year and invest all you can in developing his (or her) long snapping skills.

I'm not sure where you get that, I personally know a number of women who are quite content not being married to their baby daddy.

I've experienced nothing in life that's as good as being a dad. My daughter absolutely makes my life the best it's ever been.

Being a parent is also the hardest thing you've ever done, and the most rewarding. Enjoy, and congrats!!

Oh yeah, prepare yourself now to realize you don't know shit. And all parents are making it up on the fly. Sooner you figure that out the sooner you're going to realize you're not as bad at being dad as you think you are sometimes.

I know you love her but you have to be smart about these things.
First thing you do is get a maternity test, make sure it's hers.

ROFLROFLROFL Leave it to Rainman to offer the most practical advice so far.

One other thing I forgot to mention. If things get sideways with your wife, never, ever bad-mouth her in front of your kids. She is their mother and they love her.

That could be. I might live in a higher SES neighborhood than you.

People who feel the need to point out that they're "better" than others only do so for their own edification.

Perhaps you have some advice for the dad-to-be?

Luv....take my above advice.

Congratulations, man!

This is sound advice that I need to remember

this is all very true, and i should know. mine are 21, 17, 13, and 5

This man ****s.

Haha

"Study the above numbers, and find which is different than the others."

Congratulations. It's the best every step of the way. Kids force you to be present and put your own bs aside, so even if you had a crappy day, you have to come home an be with your kid and not dump any of your crap on him/her. That can be a great relief. Watching them grow and learn and take on new stuff like reading, riding bikes, or swimming is just incredible and will make you more proud than anything. Just make sure you do your fair share around the house too because no matter how hard you work, your wife is going to be working even harder, so don't make her feel like she's in it alone. Enjoy.

So you're going to be a Dad but who is the father?



JK.. congrats!

The best quote on parenting - "It's a hundred times harder than you ever imagined it would be, but a thousand times more rewarding than you ever dreamed it could be".

Congrats, man

Oy man, if that's whatcha want then good on ya. The child-rearing thing scares me to no end but I'm always happy for the folk out there who want to be parents.

Dilly dilly!

I would be the worst dad ever. That is why I don't do it. I'm glad you are pumped about it, I'm sure that is more than half the battle and a good sign you will be a good dad. If I had a kid, I feel like I would resent him/her's existence because I could never do whatever I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it, ever again.

ROFL