A woman has left a screaming baby with me under the instructions that I must keep it

[Burney]

As if encouraging fathers to stay at home with their baby is in any way "progressive".

Saying that, I just managed to get mine to sleep, and as it screamed in my face I was only fleetingly tempted to stab it in the throat :competentdad:

Oh, my daughter - who is now 18 and a really excellent person of whom I am enormously proud - did very well to survive the first few weeks of her life when her mother was taken back into hospital.
Had it not been for my mother turning up like the 7th Cavalry and letting me sleep, I'm not sure I'd have given much for her chances of survival.
Anyone who tells you men are built for nurturing or the care of infants is a ****ing idiot. FACT.

[World's End Stella]

alive for the next four hours. Apparently the fact that said baby is technically my daughter should mean I take on this responsibility uncomplainingly.

I do not recall signing up for this sh*t

You signed up for it when you impregnated your girlfriend, Monty old bean. And if you hadn't realised that meant dealing with a screaming child then you were guilty of some seriously naive African parenting.

[World's End Stella]

Oh, my daughter - who is now 18 and a really excellent person of whom I am enormously proud - did very well to survive the first few weeks of her life when her mother was taken back into hospital.
Had it not been for my mother turning up like the 7th Cavalry and letting me sleep, I'm not sure I'd have given much for her chances of survival.
Anyone who tells you men are built for nurturing or the care of infants is a ****ing idiot. FACT.

So if I told you that I never once became frustrated with my children when they were babies and was always patient and understanding with them, would you accuse me of being a liar or a freak of evolution?

[Monty92]

You signed up for it when you impregnated your girlfriend, Monty old bean. And if you hadn't realised that meant dealing with a screaming child then you were guilty of some seriously naive African parenting.

For your information, I am actually part of the 1% of men in the UK to have taken up the Shared Parental Leave option and I also left full- time work to help with childcare.

[Monty92]

Oh, my daughter - who is now 18 and a really excellent person of whom I am enormously proud - did very well to survive the first few weeks of her life when her mother was taken back into hospital.
Had it not been for my mother turning up like the 7th Cavalry and letting me sleep, I'm not sure I'd have given much for her chances of survival.
Anyone who tells you men are built for nurturing or the care of infants is a ****ing idiot. FACT.

The big lie is that it frees up mothers to do other things, when the reality is that they just sit on the sidelines worrying about what other mums will think of them palming their baby off on dad.

[World's End Stella]

For your information, I am actually part of the 1% of men in the UK to have taken up the Shared Parental Leave option and I also left full- time work to help with childcare.

Nice - and utterly irrelevant to my post.

[redgunamo]

Oh, my daughter - who is now 18 and a really excellent person of whom I am enormously proud - did very well to survive the first few weeks of her life when her mother was taken back into hospital.
Had it not been for my mother turning up like the 7th Cavalry and letting me sleep, I'm not sure I'd have given much for her chances of survival.
Anyone who tells you men are built for nurturing or the care of infants is a ****ing idiot. FACT.

Monty said at the time though that not too much parental (grand-parental?) support and guidance was available.

[redgunamo]

So if I told you that I never once became frustrated with my children when they were babies and was always patient and understanding with them, would you accuse me of being a liar or a freak of evolution?

No, I'm the same. Except I mostly just ignored them and let their mother and her squad get on with it.