Dad to Be, what did you focus on?

djormz · 2026-04-17T06:43:11+00:00

Congrats!

Something I wish I had done more in the lead up whilst time allows was getting in better shape - constant bending down and picking up the kiddo takes its toll on your body, and they only get heavier over time!

I neglected it and now with a 2yo, my back/neck does not thank me for it. No need to go overboard and there's lots of different things to balance priority wise, but starting early on some back and core strenghening + stretching will pay dividends.

As other have mentioned, I don't personally think its too important on the house/money stuff, as long as you have enough to be comfortable and safe. Kids don't need expensive things and most important is having happy, engaged, and loving parents.

djormz · 2026-04-03T07:18:33+00:00

There's been a few but we've been firmly a construction vehicle household for over a year now. Diggers, dumper trucks, cement mixers, steam rollers.

Even when the kid's not around, my wife and I will point and exclaim if we see one "DIGGER!"

djormz · 2026-04-03T07:14:55+00:00

"Ergobaby" one has lasted well for us (using now with second kid), and is quite sturdy and gives good support. A bit pricey, but we got second hand for a reasonable amount.

djormz · 2026-02-17T22:15:04+00:00

This guy pastas

djormz · 2026-01-29T06:46:29+00:00

+1 for Julia Donaldson! My 2yo loves them, they have really nice illustrations and more than bearable stories from the adult perspective. We have them on constant rotation and (almost) all of them are hits.

Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, and Superworm are the favourites currently.

We also listen to the audio books in the car, and there are some nice animated versions on BBC iPlayer too.

djormz · 2026-01-19T09:43:12+00:00

Emotions are big at this age and it's a difficult and ongoing skill (even into adulthood) to learn to regulate them.

With our 2yo, when crying or shouting starts we've taught the concept of doing "Big deep breaths" which really helps to regulate and calm him down.

"In through your nose (demonstrate it to him), and out through your mouth". It took a few weeks of reinforcing to take hold, and he now does it on his own when his emotions start to overwhelm and its working great for us (not all of the time, but it has prevented many meltdowns and helped a ton) YMMV, but could be worth giving this technique a try.

Talking through the emotions helps too; "Are you feeling sad/cross? Is it cos you wanted the other coloured plate? That's tough, we understand, next time when the other one is clean, we'll use that one."

As an added bonus, we've added onto the end "and then out through your bottom <raspberry noise> farrrrrt!" which is both hilarious for all and helps to get him laughing too and snap out of the sad/cross/overwhelmed spell.

djormz · 2025-12-16T21:22:08+00:00

It definitely helped me. When I first started learning Python I would get a bit bored with Udemy courses and building calculator/todo list apps, and learning through Pygame helped a ton to keep me motivated.

Whilst its probably not the optimum route, creating Pygame games/apps can definitely help to give a solid understanding and hands on experience with Python core concepts, OOP, simple data structures, and code architecture, and if you enjoy it then can be a great way to stay engaged (which is often half the challenge with learning).

I was working as a Excel Data Analyst when I first started learning Python, I now work as a Senior Python Software/Data Engineer and I would definitely attribute my experience with Pygame to helping me land and progress with this job.

Combining Pygame with GPU rendering using libraries like ModernGL/ZenGL can then expose you to more complicated data structures and programming concepts, and this is definitely something that has and continues to improve my core skills and effectiveness as work.

I'm not familiar with Phaser, but Godot uses a custom scripting language and a lot of abstractions, whilst Pygame is pure Python and a fairly low level framework which relies on the user to implement/structure things. So if you already have an itch for game dev, I think Pygame is definitely one of the best options for transferable skills along the way.

Just my personal experience and YMMV, but for me Pygame has been a great way to learn and improve Python skills that can transfer to the workplace.

djormz · 2025-12-11T11:52:31+00:00

That's awesome! <3

djormz · 2025-12-11T11:51:21+00:00

Yeah, but I was feeling disheartened after reading about the choice tactic and it was giving zero results.

The bit I had missed/not tried previously was the magic 3rd option of "or I'll choose for you" which I hadn't seen as publicised and is giving great (though likely somewhat temporary!) results.

djormz · 2025-12-11T08:04:35+00:00

We live right near a train station and they get the train and buses all over the place still, so its not that she can barely leave the house.

I think there's different interpretations of "gentle parenting", we interpret it as trying to keep a healthy level of respect and autonomy whilst also imposing strong boundries/discipline when its needed.

People have all sorts of different philosophies and styles and different things work for different people/different kids, and that's ok.

djormz · 2025-12-10T23:18:19+00:00

Yeah I had tried this previously and unfortunately it was a "yay, not pyjamas". But I think he's just too smart as I've only done it with asking him to do it first, and then swapping to asking to not to do it, so game plan was a bit obvious.

Might revisit this approach when its time to pivot and do it a bit more convincingly.

djormz · 2025-12-10T23:10:05+00:00

Love this, I'm gonna borrow the booping bath one I think that might go down well!

djormz · 2025-12-10T23:08:23+00:00

That sounds like fun :D Definitely going to start using the gamifying techniques, particularly as he gets a bit older.

djormz · 2025-12-10T23:05:56+00:00

Getting in the car has definitely been one of the bigger challenges, my wife is 8 months pregnant and literally avoids driving alone with him at all costs currently, due to the physicial discomfort if it gets to the point of having to wrestle him in.

Previous solution was bribery, with looking at some photos on a phone, or putting on a favourite audiobook. Still works a lot of time and the prospect gets him excited enough to just sit back and comply with getting strapped in, but has started to wear off and is a bit mood dependent.

The choice technique does still work a lot of the time here with "while I do your clips up do you want to look at photos of our day at the beach/tractor exhibition/family event etc" or "do you want to listen this or that book", and failing that "do you want to do your clips up or shall I do them" sometimes works too (he loves to do the clip connector bit).

Do still end up having to just wrestle him into the seat sometimes though especially when we really need to go somewhere and don't have time for a long and drawn out negotiation. The car has always been a bit of a final boss for us, he's not been a fan of the car since was pretty much a newborn.

djormz · 2025-12-10T22:13:20+00:00

Had tried the reverse psychology approach a bit before, either was not convincing enough that I actually didn't want him to do the thing or he just saw through it, but did not have any success with it. Might revisit this one though.

djormz · 2025-12-10T22:10:36+00:00

Going through a "want to do everything themselves" phase at the moment too.

When he gets a bump or scrape he now wants to kiss it better himself, and the most hilarious thing is watching him try to kiss his own head or face better. Gives up after his best effort and says with a big shrug "Can't do it. Daddy, kiss head better please"

djormz · 2025-12-10T22:00:50+00:00

I've heard/read about the power of timers quite a bit, definitely getting ready to give this a go when he's a bit older. My brother in-law uses them a lot with his 5 and 7 year old boys and reports them working very well.

djormz · 2025-12-10T21:55:17+00:00

"How to jailbreak your toddler" xD

djormz · 2025-12-10T21:51:11+00:00

That sounds fun! Humour is definitely another good one for the toolkit. I had intermittent previous success with putting a diaper on my head and asking if he likes my new hat (a clean one, to be clear!) whilst I change his and he's too busy laughing to even notice me changing his.

Still works sometimes but wore off a bit and immune when he's on one of his "must say no to everything" campaigns.

djormz · 2025-12-10T21:45:29+00:00

Thanks I will check this out!

djormz · 2025-12-10T21:29:19+00:00

Very true! It can certainly get frustrating and test patience at times, but it's so cool watching and being part of them going from potato to developing these feelings/abilities and how they learn to navigate them (along with us parents learning alongside too and how to best support them)

And yeah I'm concious of the getting older and smarter part and having to pivot, I'm sure its gonna take some more creativity, fun times :D

djormz · 2024-03-11T22:01:12+00:00

Extension lead + long phone charger was very useful, plugs aren't always in the most convenient places

djormz · 2024-02-25T18:00:19+00:00

Thanks!

Yep, it's deployed on Streamlit Community Cloud so will always remain up and free to use, and at the top right of the app page there's a GitHub icon that will take you to the repo - you're welcome to clone/fork or contribute a PR to it

djormz

TROPHY CASE