You see time is the single biggest gift parents can give their children. As a business coach and mentor, I have seen how lack of time from their parents during childhood has caused major issues in the minds and behaviours of some of the most successful CEOs.

I looked up the word 'feckless' in the dictionary this morning because, according to those helpful people at Netmums, us dads are too often unfairly labelled as such. Think peanut-brained Homer Simpson, any hopeless lead character in a soap opera and, my favourite, the wonderfully bemused and put-upon dad in Outnumbered.

Given that couples who share childcare more equally are actually more likely to have happier relationships and are more likely to stay together. We need a broader manifesto about what it ought to mean to be a dad in 21st Century Britain. This would complement - not contradict - the father's rights movement's aims.

As an equal parent in and out of working hours for over five years now, I've realised there's no fairytale quite so engaging, but quite so without actual substance, as the modern fatherhood myth. There's a convincing but untrue story about a huge army of fathers out there across the UK, all merrily doing their fair share of childcare, or maybe even more than their female partners. Just take a look outside. Where are the groups of dads sitting in coffee shops, or joining sing-along at the local library?

I hear all the time that the woman has chosen to stay at home and look after the children, while the man has chosen to go to work. Given all these overt and subtle pressures, I wonder whether these are really free choices at all. The only solution is for men to actively take up the mantle of childcare, right from the very earliest days of our children's life.

In five months time I am going to be a Dad and I've never felt manlier. It's an interesting coming of age moment where everyone shifts position; father becomes grandfather, son becomes father and bump becomes cute yet terrifying little human.

As we all inevitably leave our twenties and begrudgingly begin the slow pitiful march towards responsibility and self-loathing, it's important to ask the question - what next? For some it's fulfilling careers and the exciting discovery of our greatly unrecognised adult self, and for some it's children.

One of the best ways to foster creativity in children is to read to them or, better yet, to make up stories with them, and fathers in particular have an important role to play in this: it's long been recognised that the more a dad reads to his children, the greater their verbal intelligence, academic success and emotional wellbeing.

How did I walk out of my job as lecturer in Japanese to bring up one, then two, then three children, I think? How did I put up with the dirty nappies, the night feeds, the parking two children in the play-pen so as to get to the toilet - the blizzard years?

There have been some positive changes in Indonesia: the government now stresses that babies should be left with their mothers after birth and that breast-feeding should be encouraged as soon as possible. But, there's still a huge way to go.

At some point during the first six weeks you will wonder whether you love your baby as much as you should. You're not strange and there's nothing wrong with you for feeling like this - everyone does.

Throughout every employee's working life there will come a time when they need to work in a more flexible way - this could be anything from raising a child to compassionate leave. It isn't just new mothers that need and benefit from working differently.

Being a parent is hard. In fact, let's just be honest about it, it's really hard sometimes. We often don't admit it, except to our closest friends and family, but it's probably the most challenging part of our lives. A recent survey by the NSPCC reported that in the first eight weeks after birth around three in five mothers felt isolated with no one to turn to, and two in five mothers even admitted to 'getting angry' with their baby. And this is before they've even started walking and talking!

The nesting season began. There was much to be done. A certain someone was expected in the near future. I began by cleaning or rather thinking about cleaning.