Family view - Team work
Kindly contributed by Sam
After perusing the blog, I feel I should comment on my experiences (so far) of parenting. As a first time parent, giving birth to twins was a baptism of fire (so to speak) on the parenting front. I was grateful for ALL the help I recieved from my partner, at any time of the day, but, at the end of the day when I was frazzled by my two adorable three-month-old children, it was just bliss to be able to hand them over!!
We always planned that I would return to work full time after maternity leave, and although this was a bit daunting for my partner, it was something we'd always agreed on. So, after six months I went back to work, and he went part-time so that we only had to use nursery as a part-time option, and the balance of time with them was in our favour.
Our boys are now four. They LOVE their "Daddy Days", where it's all boys together, and they get to do lots of things they probably wouldn't do with Mummy, like papier mache heads(!), looking at rocket launches on YouTube, making treasure maps for dinosaur bones in our garden(!) and countless other things.
They have a fantastic relationship with their father and he has a fantastic understanding of them, which really helps when we're all out together, but is especially noticeable to me when I see male friends, with their children, and the difference in their roles. I think for so many women it is too easy to take over, in the child-care role, and I think my experience and belief is that as parents you BOTH have something to give. You have to approach it as a team, and try to complement each other in what you can give.....even if it's just respite, and handing over the glass of wine at the end of a long day... which happens to be MY role in our house now!!