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News

Real Men Change Nappies

Baby in fresh nappy. Image courtesy of photostock at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
Baby in fresh nappy, hopefully changed by daddy. Image courtesy of photostock at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

I read with interest the article by Kasey Edwards, “French fathers don’t change nappies” that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald. Why is it that a woman is saying the following?

“Men have more important things to do than change nappies.” Valeire Pecresse, French conservative politician.

When you decide to have children you do it as a couple not as an individual, well that my point of view. I for one don’t think that a woman would want to not have help with the baby and if the father decides they are above changing a nappy how does this helps the mother take a break away from the child?  If the other parent cannot handle this duty then it is not fair to the mother and of course other help might be needed.

My husband helped out and changed his fair share of nappies, although I do agree in the article from Edwards that I did do more than hubby but that was due to him working and me being home more often with the twins.

That said, he did step up and care for his girls and make sure that a new nappy was in place no matter how terrible it was to deal with the old nappy. I am proud that he is a man that can deal with this.

I am not understanding why in 2013 this talk about men being more important to help their family and their new child. Why are men considered more important than the woman? Why is the man not wanting to help their child and give their lovely wife/partner a break?

Other women have been noted in this article saying that their men did not help with nappy changing duties, Madonna said that Guy Ritchie did not change a nappy as it is not a man’s job, interesting. A man can get you pregnant and a man can claim that he is helping and supportive but cannot change a nappy. Well helping with a nappy and child care is manly in my book. What about you?

According to the article it also lists Carla Bruni-Sarkozy mentioning her husband Nicholas Sarkozy did not help due to the fact that he is ‘a Latin Man’, not sure why this is something that makes you not help but he used it and it worked for him. Could the same be used the other way, I am ‘a Latin Woman’ therefore I cannot do certain things. Not sure why it would help you get out of doing personally. If you know please let me know.

Honestly if you tried that on me it would not pass and you would be so much strife your life would not be worth living. Dealing with twins as my first kids you can imagine the amount of nappies I changed and that we were faced with. Hubby had to help whether he liked it or not. He, as I mentioned was on board and loved being with his girls, and nappies was part and parcel of this.

Did your husband/partner help with changing nappies? Have they helped with all things baby and child? Or has it been just you? Send in your comments.

Categories
News

Chocolate Makes You Brainy

Chocolate for an improved you!
Chocolate for an improved you!

If you looked at the heading of this post, you would say “really does chocolate make you smarter?” Well according to “The New England Journal of Medicine in the October issue contains a paper written by Franz H. Messerli M.D. on the relationship between the per capita number of Nobel Laureates that a country has produced and its level of chocolate consumption.” Yes there is a relation to how much chocolate a nation eats and its cognitive performance as a population. Interesting right!

I know it is hard to believe but it all comes down to flavanols. “Flavanols have been shown to slow or reverse the drop in cognitive performance that often accompanies aging. It so happens that cocoa is a rich source of flavanols.” (Kasey Edwards, How chocolate makes you smarter)

Don’t think that Australia is up there as a huge chocolate consumer or even having the highest number of Nobel Laureates, we have 13  and as you can imagine Switzerland has the highest chocolate consumption and of course nobel laureates. Maybe eating more chocolate high in flavanols is a good idea.

In Kasey Edwards article, “How chocolate makes you smarter” she asks how much more chocolate do we need to eat to make us smarter? Well…

‘The minimally effective chocolate dose seems to hover around 2 kg per year, and the dose–response curve reveals no apparent ceiling on the number of Nobel laureates at the highest chocolate-dose level of 11 kg per year.’ “In short, the good doctor is telling us that the more we eat, the cleverer we get.”

So when you are eating chocolate this holiday season or at any time during the year, you are improving yourself by eating the chocolate and each bite will hopefully make you smarter and maybe younger.  So don’t panic when offered another choccy.

Categories
4 years and beyond

More Kids?

I for one have been guilty of it. Have you? What I am referring to is asking the dreaded question, “Are you going to try for baby number 2 or anymore kids?” It really is up to the family and the individual if they want 1, 2, 3 or more kids. Some people have issues when it comes to having children so asking this question might cause stress and angst and it is best avoided.

In The Sydney Morning Herald today there is an article about The baby number 2 question, and it got me thinking. I have been asked this very question by a variety of people, sales assistants, waitresses, other mums, men and other family members. As I have an instant two children I am fine that we have enough at the moment. However there is a part of me that would like another one, however we are not at the point that we can accommodate a new baby.

Our place is small with no storage; the twins sleep in a small room and will eventually need to move to the room where we have the study and spare bed. Our study would need to move to the small room that the girls are currently in and then no room for guests or anything really. Currently we are in dilemma about what to do with some furniture to have this move happen, both hubby and I are unsure what to do with these pieces so the move has not occurred.

I must say that it would be nice to have another baby but if it does never happen I am thankful and very grateful that I got twins first go. It was and is a blessing and has been so wonderful having the girls. When they are nice and behaving which is most of the time they are a delight, however there are those times where I think why would I want another baby my girls are so all over the place and an extra would just add to the chaos. Although I do think that one extra would not cause that much extra work as I did do two at once so if I had one it would be easier than dealing with two babies at the same time. I know it is just a thought and currently it will remain until we can figure things out to make it viable and if we decide we want to do it at all.

Maybe by the time we come round to the idea we might be over it and too old to worry or do anything about it. So then decision made. As I said, we are very happy with our wonderful girls.  So in regards to the more kid’s question, we are thinking about it but at the moment we are happy with our lot in life. I will do as Kasey Edwards suggested in the The baby number 2 question article and not ask anyone unless they bring it up. It is a personal issue and who knows what someone’s circumstances are, I don’t want to cause upset or pain.

Has someone asked if you are going to have any more kids? Has this upset you? Why is it their business?

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