Tip 10: Daddy bath time

What does a daddy do best? Just bring in the dough and money to run the house? As I think of this question - I have to admit that I like many daddies hide behind an inferiority complex behind mummies capable hands and her warm sensitive embrace for the baby. As I recollect my childhood, my daddy too did not do much for us but I fondly remember him taking us out on strolls around the neighbourhood to look at pets of other neighbours. But today, I can say I do one minor teeny weeny bit well that maybe Haruka, my baby will remember me fondly of. And thats giving her a good bath that she enjoys. A daddy needs to make it a point to set apart time for the baby each day (if possible) to make it daddy's time with the baby. Else, the role of daddy will fade away as mummy gets to be the only important person in the child's life.

Most babies like to bath and be floating on water again. But, many daddies feel awkward bathing their babies at the beginning. Before Haruka's birth, I tagged along my wife to attend a prebirth group session where the midwife doctor taught couples how to care for their future babies and I witnessed how many would be daddies would hold the baby dolls too stiffly. Its a habit that is changing in Japan where daddies spent more time to care for their babies - or at least to bath their babies compared to years ago when all these chores were left to their wives (probably one of the reasons that led to declining birth rates in Japan). I had the priviledge to help my mother in my childhood as my mother was a babysitter and in my free time, I would play with the babies that she cared for. So, when the real time to be a daddy came, I had little reservations to hold my baby and bath her well. Of course, mummy will always complain about how daddy wrongly handles the baby. But, do not let it discourage you, daddies. You still ought to make it a point to hold your baby each day. And bathing is the best time to bond with your baby. The baby can feel safe in the strong arms of his/her daddy in the bathtub. And slowly to move on to bathtub play with daddy. Mummies are usually less fun than daddies if daddies make it a point to spend fun time with their babies. :)