By Melissa Grant
OPINION
Melissa Grant
When I first met my husband it was funny watching him in the same room as kids – he couldn’t wait to get away.
He was also reluctant to hold a newborn, and if he did he was petrified he would somehow break them.
To be honest, a few years ago the thought of leaving him at home with a baby for a day was terrifying.
Don’t get me wrong – my husband has always been a great partner but I did sometimes wonder how he would adjust to fatherhood.
But I needn’t have worried. He has taken to fatherhood like a duck to water.
I have absolutely no qualms about leaving him at home every Monday alone with our 20-month-old daughter. And he has no worries about me leaving them to go to work.
He does everything I do, including nappy changes. He also does fun things with her that I don’t, including taking her out for pancakes.
My husband actually looks forward to Mondays and prefers to be hanging out with our energetic (and often tiring) girl than having a game of golf or going to the pub.
Since becoming a father, he has become a much more responsible individual who doesn’t have time for friends who are selfish or immature.
He enjoys his days at home, whereas before he would always be doing something or flying somewhere.
My husband has also become more of a planner. Although he says he misses the spontaneity of pre-kid life, he is constantly writing our plans on a whiteboard and thinks more about our long-term future.
He also doesn’t like it when the whiteboard includes work trips interstate – he enjoys those even less since becoming a dad.
When he’s gone it becomes even more obvious how helpful he has become around the house.
My husband was pretty good with the chores before our daughter came along, but now does more laundry than ever before. He has also become much more obsessed with yard and house maintenance.
However, the most dramatic change I’ve noticed is how much more patient he has become.
The man who I once joked was the most impatient bloke on earth is now in much less of a rush whether it be on the road or at the shops.
He also doesn’t complain when our daughter takes 30 minutes to eat dinner or wants to read the same book for the fifth time in 10 minutes.
Fatherhood has changed my husband in ways I never thought possible.
The changes in men when they become fathers isn’t something that is often discussed.
The changes in mothers, however, are there for all to see and are constantly written about.
While the changes in fathers are perhaps more subtle and less obvious, they are just as important.
