Men Who Whinge About Fatherhood - Give It A Rest

Men Who Whinge About Fatherhood - Give It A Rest

A guy called Michael Lewis has been all over the newspapers recently, whingeing about how hard it is to be a father.

He's written a book called "Home Game, An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood". And I'd warn any potential fathers out there, it doesn't sound like it's very encouraging.

He told the Guardian: "I usually wind up the day curled in a little ball of fatigue, drowning in self-pity."

Presumably while his missus is doing the laundry, putting the baby to bed, and washing up.

Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh here. He's just being honest. But if he was my husband, he'd get a good kick up the backside.

He says for the first six weeks of his daughter's life, he felt nothing more than "detached amusement".

Well I'm sorry but I reckon if he'd been pulling his weight properly during those six weeks he'd have been too knackered to mope about having some kind of existential crisis.

I think it's good for men to talk about their feelings and I know bonding can be difficult for some fathers.

But it's the complaints about fatherhood being "boring" that really irritate me. Yes, caring for a small baby can be dull much of the time. Do you think you're the only one that would rather be reading the newspaper than singing Nellie the Elephant for the 375th time? Suck it up.

But it's only if you put in the time and effort that you reap the rewards. If you've been sitting there with your baby daughter shaking a rattle at her for weeks on end, when she finally reaches out to grab it, you'll be delighted. If you haven't, you'll think "so what?".

Lewis reckons there's "a great conspiracy of silence" between men about the "potential misery of fatherhood".

I'm not sure there is. I know of plenty of blokes out there who confess that they find small babies boring. Plenty of mothers, too, if truth be told. And it's a lot less socially acceptable for mothers to admit it than it is for fathers.

But there are also a lot of men out there who like babies. And lots who would give their right arm to be a father.

What do you think? Is it good that men like Lewis are breaking the "conspiracy of silence"? Or is he just a moaner? Are you a dad who disagrees with him?

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