Dad Chats Live - Equal Parental Leave. Today we were joined by Rob Simpson who works for @avivauk. Aviva have scrapped paternity leave, two weeks just aren't enough - Aviva recognised this and have an excellent new policy.
At Aviva all staff are entitled to equal parental leave when they have a child. This means that fathers can take up to 6 months paid leave and up to 12 months including unpaid leave. This is a game changer when becoming a parent and listening to Robs experience it’s easy to see why. Rob tells us why this policy was so important for him, his wife, and his new born baby - especially getting through those first few weeks of sleepless nights! He also tells us how supportive Aviva were when he used the policy, not only do they actively encourage their staff to make use of the policy. They also keep in touch with their staff while they're off. Rob's manager kept him up to date with things at work so he didn't have to worry about it!
This policy is an absolute game changer, and something we think is so important for dads to be offered. We would love to see more companies making a change to support equal parental leave.
Aviva have also written us a great blog post telling us all about their policy. It's entitled How Aviva Are Changing Paternity Leave For The Better. Anthony Fitzpatrick Head of colleague Experience and Employment Policy at Aviva tells us about the change to the entitlement, and Rob shared more of his experiences of using it.
This week on Dad Chats Live we have a special guest! Talking to us about the best days out with dad for summer 2021. Susie from Wiki Places For Kids joined us to chat about the best places to take the kids this summer. And we delve into why these are Susie's top choices.
Another brilliant guest, we loved having Susie join us, and can't wait for you to see this fun and informative chat!
1. We will be talking to Susie Lodge from @wikiplacesforkids_official about the best places to take kids for days out in the UK this summer.
2. Do you have any tips for other parents planning days out for the family? These could be money saving tips, time saving tips or just advice that you think all parents should know.
3. For our lighthearted topic, we want your personal recommendations on some of the best places you’ve been with your kids!
Susie has also written a brilliant blog post about these top days entitled 11 Great Places For Days Out With Dad Summer 2021. The post gives even more information about the best places to visit, as well as links to their websites so that you can find them easily!
Check the post out for details on great days out with dad summer 2021 including:
Mr Mulligans - The indoor virtual golfing experience that is great for golf lovers to introduce their kids to the sport!
Pixel Bunker - For dads who like to get involved in games with the kids – this is a must visit!
Lego Discovery Centre - An entirely indoor venue this the ultimate indoor Lego playground – and a great option for those rainy days where dads wants to take the kids!
Forestry England - Outdoor play with kids is so important for kids and dads alike, and these wonderful forests are fast becoming ultimate destinations. Make sure you take a look at Why Outdoor Play is Great for Your Health and Happiness. A post written by Helen Stroudley who also joined us for a Dad Chat.
Dad chats live: This week we talked about baby loss, grief and it’s affect on our mental health, with special guest Gary Anderson (@gary_secure_mind_solutions ). This is another subject that is so important to talk about, and we couldn't have done it without our special guest.
Gary talked openly about discovering his twin daughters had Twin To Twin Syndrome - a serious condition that can cause life threatening illness in unborn twins. He told us about their birth, and travelling 60 miles away from his wife with one of his twin daughters, Alana, to another hospital. Sadly Alana didn't survive. But there was no time to grieve, as they had another baby, Dana, to be strong for. When their second baby lost her life, Gary buried his grief.
He told us how he pushed his grief down for 14 years, not talking about it, taking risky jobs and not caring about putting his life in danger. Although this is a sad and difficult subject, Gary's story is also inspirational. Gary is still here today because he got some help and started talking about his daughters. This really is another unmissable chat.
Gary has also written a blog about his experience. There are more than 5000 deaths of babies and infants a year. in the UK, this is a subject that needs to be talked about.
Click here to read the blog post A Fathers Grief The Impact of Baby Loss.
Gary has also written a book about his daughters and his experience of loss and grief. The book is called Daddy and the Two Bears, and can be found here.
Dad Chats Live - as pride month comes to an end, we are joined by Kate from @lesbemums. We focused solely on the conversations this important month creates with our children.
We chatted about how to talk to our children about sexual identity and gender - and when the best time is to start that conversation. Then talked about how to create an environment that makes our children feel happy to share with us. And the best books, films and TV shows that teach our children about the LGBTQ+ community.
Kate shared some great tips into how her and her wife talk to their children about gender and sexual identity - and how different these conversations are to how it was talked about when she was a child. We talk about coming out - and why one day we hope that won't be something anyone feels they have to do.
1. How and when did you talk to your children about sexual identity and gender?
2. How can we, as parents, best support our children to feel empowered and confident to share their gender and/or sexual identity?
3. For our lighthearted topic, we want to know your favourite materials that teach children about the LGBTQ+ community (books, films, tv shows or anything else!)
If you want to hear more about parenting in the LGBTQ+ community, we have two great podcast episodes. One from Jamie Beaglehole (DaddyandDad) and one from Stu Oakley (@Somefamiliespod). Both of these episodes delve into life as LGBTQ+ parents, from two dads who are fantastic advocates in their community.
Dad Chats Live - Talking about Coping with Anxiety with Saleema Davies.
Saleema is a clinical hypnotherapist and founder of Papalona. A company that creates audio recordings to support children and parents’ mental health easily and effectively. We talk about the impact of anxiety on our lives, and how to cope with it. She shares some brilliant tips like:
Use Your Body - using breathing exercises to slow the breath and signal to our minds that the threat has passed, and moving to burn off the excess adrenalin that anxiety produces are simple but effective ways to help manage anxiety.
Acknowledge the Voice - we all have that voice in our minds that tells us what we're doing wrong - Saleema teaches us how coping with anxiety means managing that voice and we loved her advice on this!
In part two, we asked you about whether you are an anxious person, and how much your anxieties affect your every day life.
We also hear stories about a times you were anxious or nervous only to realise after the event there was no need.
Saleema has also written a fantastic blog post with even more information about coping with anxiety.
It's entitled How To Manage Your Anxiety, So That You Can Help Your Kids Manage Theirs. And is a great beginners resource to learn more about the things we can do every day to cope with our anxieties. We suggest you grab a drink, sit back and read Saleema's wisdom!
Huge thanks to Saleema for joining us - welcome to the Dadvenger Community!
Dad Chats Live - This week we talked with Elliott Rae from @mff about their new book DAD. A collection of 20 stories of fatherhood from 20 real dads who are living it every day. It’s a much needed book that will hopefully help to change the narrative for modern day fathers.
Elliott chatted to us about how the DAD book came about - the stories he heard from the different dads, and how he crowdfunded the project after it was turned down. We also talk about Elliott's experience of becoming a father, and how his daughter was unwell after her birth. This led Elliott to suffer PTSD, and he realised there wasn't enough support for dads to talk about their experiences.
Elliott then created MFF - Music, Football, Fatherhood, which started as a blog, and has grown into a support network for dads.
Another week with a brilliant Friday night chat!
This important book is groundbreaking. It is bringing together a group of men to speak openly about their challenges and successes in parenting. But getting it published wasn't easy. Elliott was turned down by different publishing houses. And in the end set about to raise the funds to self publish.
Read more about Elliott and what he had to do to make this book a reality in the post Everything You Need to Know About the ‘DAD’ Book
Plus Elliott also joined us on the Dadvengers Podcast where he talked about growing up in London with his parents who had emigrated from the Caribbean. You'll hear how his how his dad was a strict parent, but he was also fair and supportive! Elliott also opened up about the difficult birth of his daughter and first few months of his daughters life. From being in hospital to a life threatening allergic reaction at just a few months old. All this had a massive impact on Elliott’s parenting journey, and also led to his starting the Music Football Fatherhood.
Dad Chats Live. This week we revisit the George Floyd murder one year on.
In the weeks and months after George Floyd's murder, everyone was talking about racial equality and the Black Lives Matter movement. One year on - we talked about whether anything has actually changed? Has the conversation carried on after the initial media focus? What has changed?
We are joined by some regular Dadvengers, and some new members, to talk about the legacy of George Floyd. We chat about what we learnt about combating racism, and whether we are doing enough to be good allies. Then, we talk about the changes organisations and governments have, or haven't made, and what we think they should do.
Lastly, we shared the best books, films and TV shows to watch to learn about racism, including great books for our children. Use the links below to catch up on this brilliant Friday night Dad Chat.
1. One year on from the murder of George Floyd, how much have you learnt about what we need to do to combat racism and do you think you are doing enough?
2. What things (if any) do you think organisations and governments have done better in the year since the protests last year?
3. Tell us about the films and TV shows that you've seen since we gave you a list of things to watch to help educate yourself about racism.
Talking to our children about race issues can be tricky, but Last year, Nigel wrote a great blog called How To Talk To Children About #BlackLivesMatter. This is a great resource with helpful advice for talking to our kids about this important topic. We highly recommend you take a look.
If you haven't heard, we also have a fantastic Podcast which is hosted by Nigel, and every week he talks to a different guest about their parenting journey. We have some great guests who talk about racism in their stories. These are from John Lashley (Brooklyn Brownie Company), Elliott Rae, Amos Hurst and Nihal Arthanayake - check them out!
Enjoyed this? Click here for more Dad Chats!
Dad Chats Live - talking about the benefits of outdoor play on our children’s development, health and well-being!
With special guest Helen Stroudley from @peeplecentre
The brilliant Helen Stroudley joined Nigel to talk about why playing outdoors is so important! It has a great positive impact on our health and happiness - and does the same for our children. Whether you just get out for a walk or plan a full outside day - Helen tells us why we need to make the most of being outdoors.
Helen also tells us how to be best prepared for getting outdoors, so that there is no stress when we're there. From simply packing extra clothes, to wearing wellies for jumping in puddles! We know our children love to get outside, but hearing an expert tell us why it is so good for us all was a really brilliant chat - Thanks Helen!
Helen has also written us a brilliant blog Why Outdoor Play is Great for Your Health and Happiness She shares some great ideas for things to do with your kids to get the benefits of outdoor play. and answers the following questions
Make sure you check it out!
Plus if you want to know Why it’s important for dads to play with their kids more Susie Robbins joined us on another Dad Chat and wrote us a blog post answering the following.
Dad Chats Live - Work Life Balance. This week, we are talking about how we balance work and life. This can be the ultimate juggling act. Especially if you have a job that doesn't support your family life. And with all the changes from the last year, so many of us are more used to being home. How are we managing with the return to work?
We talked about the ups and downs of balancing parenting and a career, The issues that we can face when needing time off for our children, and how we manage to ensure the scales aren't tipping into "all work and no play".
We also talked about how the lockdown has impacted our work lives, and how we will make changes as life goes back to normal.
For our lighthearted topic we touched on the lockdown easing - the pubs are open, has anyone been there yet - and if they had, how was it?
Topics:
1. Work and Childcare. Many of us bump into situations where work and chlidcare can become difficult. Let's hear your experiences and where we can turn for help.
2. In relation to our first tpoc, are you planning on changing your work-life balance as we move out of lckdown?
3. Our lighthearted topic - have you been to the pub yet? This week saw the lockdown restrictions ease. Have you managed to socialise? Or maybe you're doing it this weekend?
Did you enjoy this chat? Are you struggling with your life balance? We also have a blog post Is there a secret to Dads and the Work-Life Balance written by Chris Baldrey-Chourio during lockdown.
