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Ask HN: Best Resources and Books for a Soon-to-Be-Dad?

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Re: Ask HN: Best Resources and Books for a Soon-to-Be-Dad?

#13

Post by dgllghr »

eimrine wrote: post #5

Thirty Million Words: Building a Child's Brain After three it's too late Children's Garden of Verse Also I am following a lot of psy* experts which specialize on kids but they are not available in English. FWIW: Catherine Murashova, Dima Zicer, Vyacheslav Dubynin.

I haven’t read Thirty Million Words but I second the idea of talking to your child. A lot. I try to tell mine what we are doing, what we are about to do, why we are doing things the way we are, etc. Also, because I don’t always succeed at explaining everything all the time, he asks a bunch of questions! So I try to answer each of his questions in a way he can comprehend as best I can. I’ve noticed that doing all of that, makes him happier, more confident, and less likely to have emotional outbursts.

Re: Ask HN: Best Resources and Books for a Soon-to-Be-Dad?

#14

Post by bjornlouser »

At first you might be scared to trust your gut for lack of experience.

Soon after, you may be afraid to embrace your newly developed intuition about baby’s needs out of respect for traditional parenting roles.

Then there will be something else… there will always be something you find to worry about, most of which won’t matter at all.

Re: Ask HN: Best Resources and Books for a Soon-to-Be-Dad?

#19

Post by Msurrow »

engineer_22 wrote: post #8

Congratulations! Father of two here. As a new dad I found that I didn't know the first thing about babies, but newborns smell great, no kidding. Based on your desire to learn about the process, you'll be a great dad. Listen to your wife, she's better prepared than you are. Just try to enjoy the ride.

> Listen to your wife, she's better prepared than you are.

Haha, truer words have rarely been spoken.

@OP: No book, podcast or anything else can teach you how to take care of your kid(s). By all means, read and listen to things but just dont tink of it as anything other than inspiration. Noone has the perfect solution, and perhaps not even the right solution for your kids.

Trust your gut (and wife) as others have said. You will know what you kid needs better than anyone while constantly feeling you have no clue what you are doing.

Re: Ask HN: Best Resources and Books for a Soon-to-Be-Dad?

#20

Post by FactualActuals »

dgllghr wrote: post #13
eimrine wrote: post #5

Thirty Million Words: Building a Child's Brain After three it's too late Children's Garden of Verse Also I am following a lot of psy* experts which specialize on kids but they are not available in English. FWIW: Catherine Murashova, Dima Zicer, Vyacheslav Dubynin.

I haven’t read Thirty Million Words but I second the idea of talking to your child. A lot. I try to tell mine what we are doing, what we are about to do, why we are doing things the way we are, etc. Also, because I don’t always succeed at explaining everything all the time, he asks a bunch of questions! So I try to answer each of his questions in a way he can comprehend as best I can. I’ve noticed that doing all of t…

I do the same thing with my girlfriend's daughter. She's 2.5 and I try my hardest to talk with her, not to her. I want her to ask questions and try to think about why I am doing the things I am doing around my house. My girlfriend encourages it because that's how she's been raising her daughter. My only pitfall is using complex words and forgetting to go back and explain what the words mean.
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