Whether you’re going back to work, having a day out or are headed out of town on an adults-only trip, leaving baby behind is never easy.
You hire a babysitter, enlist family member’s help and cringe as you have to leave your little one.
It’s never easy to leave your baby with someone else, even if it’s only for a few hours. Any mum knows that walking away that very first time means a tear-soaked face and possibly muffled screams of sheer sadness (yours, not your child’s). But, it’s not only mums who get a bit crazed over their first day out without baby. Dads feel just as anxious, sad and scared as us mums do.
Case in point, dad Bryan Elliot recently posted an old email that his wife dug up on Reddit, detailing his epic list of instructions for babysitter.
Leaving a list of instructions for the first-time sitter doesn’t exactly sound out of the ordinary. She’ll need emergency contact numbers, baby’s feeding schedule and info that you deem must-have. But, this dad went over-the-top when it comes to what he typed up.
While this dad is getting laughs around the Internet for his, let’s just call it over-zealous, primer on caring for baby, this mega-list is much more than a source for sarcastic remarks. Yes, we all tend to over-parent when we’re new at it. This lengthy list of down-to-the-detail infant care tasks is something that probably seemed necessary at the time. But, in retrospect seemed kind of crazy. That said, it puts the overwhelming feelings that parents often have the first time that they leave baby in someone else’s care in the spotlight.
Sure, this dad did write things such as, “Poop will have a distinct smell” and the binky is, “Also known as the “Baby plug”, it’s meant to give the impression of breast feeding without all the overfeeding.” Um, duh. Okay, but it just shows how much he loves the little one he has to leave. While we joke and poke fun at our helicoptering hover times, we also know that it’s all done out of love.
As you read this list to end all lists, keep in mind – every uber-obvious detail and in-depth step is a little piece of love that this dad is showing to his baby!
