Tag: fathers

Categories
Design Events and Life

Soosh’s love between a Dad and his daughter

A Dad and his daughter

Snezhana Soosh has shared a beautiful series of illustrations of the love between a Dad and his daughter that are just wonderful. She published them on Instagram. A number of sites have published the images, including Good Things Guy and Bored Panda:

I love Soosh’s illustrations. Here are some of my favourites:

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• stay by me • sometimes she falls asleep holding on to my hand, i don't remove it. those nights my back hurts but my heart is blooming 🌸 . #bysoosh #illustrator #illustration #topcreator #sketch #sketching #sketcheveryday #watercolorpencils #kawai #crayons #big #papa #boho #cute #spiritual #inspiring_watercolors #art_we_inspire #daddysgirl #dibujo #artwork #365

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• bed. king size • when kiddo comes to sleep by me, that's how it looks and feels like 🙈😊 . #bysoosh #illustrator #illustration #topcreator #sketch #sketching #sketcheveryday #watercolor #watercolorsketch #watercolordrawing #big #papa #boho #cute #spiritual #inspiring_watercolors #art_we_inspire #daddysgirl #dibujo #artwork #365 #primitive

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• afternoon nap • #bysoosh #illustrator #illustration #topcreator #sketch #sketching #sketcheveryday #watercolor #watercolorsketch #watercolordrawing #big #papa #boho #cute #spiritual #inspiring_watercolors #art_we_inspire #daddysgirl #dibujo #artwork #365 #primitive

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I just want to head home to my little girl now …

Categories
Events and Life Mindsets

“The turning point was … finding out it was postnatal depression”

Having a child is an amazing experience (even more so with two) but there are aspects of the experience which are definitely not wonderful. Gina had postnatal depression after our son was born and it was a tough year before we realised what was going on and how to help her. I just came across a great video about a new father’s experience titled “Mike’s Story” which echoes many of my experiences in that year:

Mike’s Story from Mr Binns on Vimeo.

When you have a baby everything is supposed to be rainbows and unicorns farting rainbows in the sunlight so you don’t want to admit that it’s anything but that. You don’t want to admit that the family isn’t perpetually giddy with excitement about this little person who just ushered in that “family”. In retrospect, I think the best thing was moving past the shame/worry/denial and seeking professional help.

Just knowing that what Gina was experiencing was postnatal depression somehow made it easier to deal with it because we understood what was going on. Putting a name to the darkness opened the door to solutions and it made such a difference in what felt like a pretty short time period.

The more I think about what she must have been going through in that year, the more I admire my wife for her courage in the face of what must have felt like utter darkness. You can read about Gina’s experiences in her post titled “I didn’t know …“:

I didn’t know…

Postnatal depression is nasty but it can be beaten if you understand what you are dealing with and if you seek help, together. It really works better if you do it together. As Gina put it:

I hope that reading this makes a difference to someone who needs it. I hope they know they are not alone.

Categories
Business and work Events and Life Mindsets

A father's advice to his daughter about words in magazines and make-up aisles

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I came across this terrific letter Dr Kelly Flanagan wrote to his daughter in a blog post titled “Words from a father to his daughter (from the makeup aisle)” which I want our daughter to hear when she is old enough to affected by them.

Two paragraphs really stood out for me:

When you have a daughter you start to realize she’s just as strong as everyone else in the house—a force to be reckoned with, a soul on fire with the same life and gifts and passions as any man. But sitting in this store aisle, you also begin to realize most people won’t see her that way. They’ll see her as a pretty face and a body to enjoy. And they’ll tell her she has to look a certain way to have any worth or influence.
… and this next one which, aside from the bit about fingernails, is advice we could all benefit from:

Brilliant strength. May your strength be not in your fingernails but in your heart. May you discern in your center who you are, and then may you fearfully but tenaciously live it out in the world.
Thanks to Daniella for sharing this on Facebook.