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A COMPREHENSIVE SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THIS TOPIC

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<span lang="en-GB">The fact I’m facing is that I’m not a cool Dad.</span>
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advice

Learner Dad: My kids have spoken — you're an old man if you use the word 'cool'

They pity me in the same way I pitied my mother in the 1970s when she would describe something as ‘the bee's knees’.

<p>My daughter is a heavy metal fan. Picture: iStock </p>

advice

Learner Dad: It’s pounding guitar riffs on our playlists for the foreseeable

<p>
<span lang="en-GB">Most of the albums at my mother's place are the sticky ones, with a sheet of plastic over each page, except the stickiness is long gone and the photos just slide out and onto my lap. I like putting them back in rows, remembering cousins and aunts, some gone already</span>
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advice

Learner Dad: I might listen to my mother (for once) and get a photo album

group of children with school backpacks walking hand in hand. Holidays, back to school, summer camp

advice

Learner Dad: We need a week-long summer camp for Irish kids

Little boy lying on back and reading a book

advice

Learner Dad: Everyone in my family is a Harry Potter stan, except me

Learner Dad: The best thing about sunshine holidays is you don’t have to make decisions

advice

Learner Dad: The best thing about sunshine holidays is you don’t have to make decisions

Learner Dad: There's a poltergeist in our house who steals water bottles

Learner Dad: There's a poltergeist in our house who steals water bottles

I blame the kids for losing their bottles because that’s what parents do

Tue, 05 Jul, 2022

Meath v Sligo - GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 2A

Learner Dad: We’re a bit of a GAA family now, like those you see in Aldi and SuperValu ads

Something happens between under-7 and under-10, where they move from cart-wheels and chatting to proper Gaelic football

Tue, 28 Jun, 2022

Learner Dad: School mornings in June feel like a form of torture

Learner Dad: School mornings in June feel like a form of torture

Here’s the solution— a mid-term break in late May, like they have across the water

Tue, 14 Jun, 2022

ABC's "Modern Family" - Season Four

Learner Dad: My wife reckons I'm a classic Fun Dad

'My kids are two lovely, well-behaved people, most of the time. Any time I compliment another parent on their well-behaved child in public, the answer is always the same — 'you should see them at home''

Tue, 26 Apr, 2022

Children inside school bus

Learner Dad: I wish we’d named them Traolach and Caoimhe

"...they'd never last long in places like Australia and America, where no one can pronounce their name"

Tue, 22 Mar, 2022

Young Man in Glasses is Sitting on a Sofa and Watching TV with Live News. It's Evening and Room at Home Has Working Lamps.

Learner Dad: I get the impulse to keep our kids in the dark about war in Ukraine

"We all watched the news at 6 o’clock when I was growing up in the 1970s because there wasn’t anything else to do. The car radio was left on during the news, so we heard about all sorts of atrocities, in Ireland and overseas"

Tue, 15 Mar, 2022

summer travel illustration

Learner Dad: I might open up my own Boring Dad YouTube channel

"I get why parents are attached to their family cars - some of the happiest times I’ve had as a parent were when I was told to take a small child for a spin to help her go to sleep"

Tue, 08 Mar, 2022

Answering A Question

Learner Dad: My kids won’t always love their teachers this much

"...they’re basically making people. Good people, if it all pans out. The world is a better place because of teachers..."

Tue, 01 Mar, 2022

boy 12 years gaming

Learner Dad: An uncharged electronic device is the single biggest risk you face as a parent

"Don’t judge. Kids on screens = my free time"

Tue, 15 Feb, 2022

Dark hallway with an opened door with bright light coming in

Learner Dad: I don't believe in ghosts but I think we might have a poltergeist

I went to bed believing that our house was haunted by something with a keen interest in kitchen tools

Tue, 08 Feb, 2022

Getting away from it all

Learner Dad: The pandemic is over and it's time to plan our holidays

We're considering going on a second holiday without the children

Tue, 01 Feb, 2022

At one with the water

Learner Dad: My sad old breaststroke is just one step up from the doggy paddle

I could do with upping my swimming game.

Tue, 25 Jan, 2022

Watching cartoons can entertain and educate kids during these times

Learner Dad: Put on the telly when it all gets too much. Life is too short for non-stop listening

My realistic parenting goals for 2022.

Tue, 28 Dec, 2021

Lunch box set of Ham cheese sandwich with carrot and mixed nuts, apple in box, banana and apple with orange juice. Kid bento pac

Learner Dad: I’m officially giving up trying to get my girl to eat fruit for lunch

"...chopped fruit isn’t exactly attractive after four hours in a lunchbox, so I wouldn’t blame her for sending that back untouched, in fairness..."

Tue, 23 Nov, 2021

happy father and son playing on sky

Learner Dad: Why do some people sign up for everything? Good things happen in free time

The golden rule of parenting is that you can slot three different activities into a four-hour slot if you try hard enough. And if you don’t try hard enough, you’re not doing right by your child, you terrible parent

Tue, 19 Oct, 2021

Small retro car with baggage, luggage and beach equipment on the roof, fully packed, ready for summer vacation, concept of a roa

Learner Dad: Give me the mountains over a beach any day

"Don’t believe everything you see on Instagram - a day at the beach is no walk in the park."

Tue, 15 Jun, 2021

child in sweet shop

Learner Dad: Pick'n'mix makes me nostalgic for lemon sherbets and fudge of my childhood

The walk up to school this morning was all talk of lemon bonbons, sour snakes and chocolate mice

Tue, 01 Jun, 2021

Organic free range chickens

Learner Dad: We’re thinking of moving to the country

"My initial reaction to everything is to say no, so I said no. Apparently, that’s not a great way to run a relationship, so I’ve taken a step back and wondered if we could hack it as culchies."

Tue, 25 May, 2021

DragonBallZ and Pokemon trading game cards

Learner Dad: A lot of the chit-chat is about Pokémon trading cards - it’s hardly new

"The upshot now is that after school the old bandstand in the park is like the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, with kids talking up their Pokémon collection and trading surplus cards."

Tue, 27 Apr, 2021

Beach bucket and spade

Learner Dad: Our kids are drawn to sand as if it’s sugar

We all got in the car after dinner and headed for the beach. Five minutes after we arrived, my son was sitting in a large hole he’d dug for himself in the sand

Tue, 20 Apr, 2021

Learner Dad: A 20km limit would allow us to broaden our horizons with a trip to Kinsale

Learner Dad: A 20km limit would allow us to broaden our horizons with a trip to Kinsale

We did McDonald's and a bunch of other things to make up for a cancelled birthday party that our son didn’t want anyway

Tue, 30 Mar, 2021

Toddle Foots

Learner Dad: Will I be calling to my son’s house on his wedding day to help him put on socks?

I’ve no patience, so trying to stand back and let my kids do anything at all for themselves isn’t great for my sense of calm. We’re not helicopter parents – we're more cattle-prod parents, where it's, “Come on, come on, get a move on, why haven’t you done it yet?”.

Tue, 16 Mar, 2021

Learner Dad: It turns out that lice thrive on clean and shiny hair

Learner Dad: It turns out that lice thrive on clean and shiny hair

My wife has gone to war. It all started when we got the news that no parent wants to hear — there is a case of head

Tue, 28 Jan, 2020

Learner Dad: They want a fresh stash of plastic toys in the front room on Christmas morning

Learner Dad: They want a fresh stash of plastic toys in the front room on Christmas morning

Our kids are refusing to ask Santa for a Nintendo Switch. We’ve made it clear he’d be open to bringing one, but no, they want a fresh stash of plastic toys in the front room on Christmas morning, and there is nothing we can do about it.

Tue, 03 Dec, 2019