This week, one of my bestest pals in the whole wide world announced that he is going to become a Daddy later this year. After a few hours of squealing with excitement, giggling to myself (my colleagues were giving me funny looks by this point) and generally smiling from ear-to-ear, I stopped to think about what advice I could offer a couple just starting out on their pregnancy and parenting adventure.
I could tell them to take advantage of any free baby bits and pieces they may be offered over the next few months. I could recommend they fill their freezer with lots of home-cooked meals (sans onion) to help them survive the first few days. I could scare them with humiliating stories of mummy-dom. I have lots of tips and advice on Mummy, Baby and Daddy products to buy (or not). But I don't want to overwhelm them with information at such an early stage in proceedings.
Perhaps I'll just recommend they do what we did – draw up a list of “stuff you want to do while there's just the two of you”. There's a tendency to focus too much on the birth of your first baby and to forget that up until that point you have the freedom to do whatever takes your fancy (within reason – I don't think I'd recommend bungee jumping) but that once your baby comes along, there are things you can only do with a lot of planning and/or a lot of confidence. I'll tell them to make the most of the next wonderful few months and to do all the things that they've been planning on doing for a while. For us it was:-
I could tell them to take advantage of any free baby bits and pieces they may be offered over the next few months. I could recommend they fill their freezer with lots of home-cooked meals (sans onion) to help them survive the first few days. I could scare them with humiliating stories of mummy-dom. I have lots of tips and advice on Mummy, Baby and Daddy products to buy (or not). But I don't want to overwhelm them with information at such an early stage in proceedings.
Perhaps I'll just recommend they do what we did – draw up a list of “stuff you want to do while there's just the two of you”. There's a tendency to focus too much on the birth of your first baby and to forget that up until that point you have the freedom to do whatever takes your fancy (within reason – I don't think I'd recommend bungee jumping) but that once your baby comes along, there are things you can only do with a lot of planning and/or a lot of confidence. I'll tell them to make the most of the next wonderful few months and to do all the things that they've been planning on doing for a while. For us it was:-
- go for a Spa Day
- watch a film at the cinema
- see a West End show
- go for dinner at a very posh restaurant
- go for dinner at your favourite restaurant (posh or not!)
- go on holiday, somewhere quiet and grown-up
- play computer games (that was Mr. B, not me)
I think, looking back, the only thing I'd add to that list is “read loads of books because you won't get another chance for a while”.
So, what piece of advice would you pass on to some new parents-to-be?
