HOW TO BE A DAD

When Tom Price, Stuart Goldsmith and Olly Mann discovered they were to become Dads in 2015 - Tom for the second time, Stuart and Olly for the first - they did what any three anxious, prospective fathers would do. They recorded a series of podcasts about it.

In these blisteringly honest, laugh-out-loud conversations, the three Dads compare notes on the realities, blessings and hardships of fatherhood - from supporting their wives in pregnancy, to potty-training a toddler, and preparing a preschooler for the playground…

Part 1 - November 2015

Tom, Stu and Olly are about to become Dads. What will the impact be on their respective relationships? Why does society appear to offer such a lack of support to first-time fathers? And why DO babies need to wear ‘scratch mittens’?

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Part 2 - May 2016

"Having a child obliterates the person that you were."

Three months in, what has having a baby done to our trio’s time management, sleep routines and sense of self-worth? Which gadgets would they recommend to future dads? And is there such a thing as male post-natal depression?

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Part 3 - January 2017

"You're trying to control everything. I'm just trying to get to bath-time".

How should one celebrate a one year-old's birthday? Is Baby Sign Language a waste of time? And how do you make a ‘fiddle-board’?

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Part 5 - January 2019

“I’m busy putting out emotional fires. I do not have time to reflect on ANYTHING”

How can you control a toddler with no concept of time? Should you pretend to be religious to get your kids into a better primary school? And, when Stu’s second child arrives, it’s the return of the ‘self-deleting baby years’.

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Part 6 - April 2020

“Sometimes I am guilty of inventing games where I get to lay down”

Locked in their homes with their children during a global pandemic, can our trio turn mundane household tasks into games? What kids’ TV shows are best avoided? And how DO you explain coronavirus to a four year-old?

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Part 7 - June 2021

“Who cares about the back garden? Rewild it, and go and do some Lego”

Bedtime stories, ‘social stalking’ and sugar-rationing are on the menu as the kids are now 5 years old, and the Dads ruminate on ‘world-building’, how to make friends at pick-up time, and the dangers of doing a 'Hot Wheels Hunt'…

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Part 8 - August 2022

“They learn from the mortar, not the bricks”

Videogames, testosterone and triage - it’s all in day’s work when you’ve got a six year old boy.

This year, our trio consider ‘the joy’ of morning routines, how to play ‘child Carcassonne’, and the environmental ethics of party bags…

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Part 9 - August 2023

“What Santa means to people - that’s definitely real. After that: who can say?”

Is it ok to swear freely in front of a seven year old boy? How best to deal with ‘8pm extension negotiations’ at bedtime? And how should one answer the ‘Is Santa real?’ question? In this ninth installment, the Dads discuss using Frozen 2 as a teaching device, the pitfalls of monitoring WhatsApp messages, and the foolproof way to extract young children from softplay…

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Part 10 - August 2024

“Most of what I do is to try and NOT be like he was. To NOT have the same relationship that I had with my Dad.”

Playing with knives, navigating the ‘Dad Race’ at Sports Day, and getting a ‘backstreet assessment’ for dyslexia - just some of the issues to be confronted now the boys are eight years old.

As their sons deal with TikTok addiction, grappling with the instant gratification of Amazon deliveries, and trying to hack the marble jar, the Dads are learning how to transition from ‘performative parenting’, moderating the YouTube content on their smart TVs, and facing the inevitable spectre of turning into their own fathers...

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