How New Dads Can Unleash Their Hidden Superpowers!
My family was enjoying a gorgeous sun-filled day at my uncle’s farm when my well-honed daddy sense started to hum in my head… louder and louder!
I was exploring my new surroundings on a dirt bike and soaking in the breathtaking landscape, when my wife and daughter rode past on an ATV.
What I saw made the hair on my neck instantly stand at attention!
My eleven-year-old daughter was steering the ATV, and her only driving experience up until this point was puttering around on a Power Wheels toy as a toddler.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that this situation seemed ripe for an accident.
With these thoughts pounding through my head, I jammed on the brakes and spun the bike around to warn my wife, but foolishly changed my mind at the last second.
If I’m being honest, I didn’t want to be the big ogre that ruined my daughter’s fun.
However, tossing aside my instincts was a grave mistake that would come back to bite me in the ass!
The Consequences of Ignoring My Gut
I headed back to the farmhouse and did a few laps around the fields, then pulled into the garage and killed the switch. As I was dismounting the bike, I noticed my wife and daughter turning into the driveway just beyond the maze of cornfields.
Then my worst nightmare happened…
My daughter jerked the handlebars too hard to the left, causing the ATV to instantly bounce on its side! My wife and daughter were violently thrown off the ATV and went rolling like heavy tumbleweeds across the dusty pathway.
My heart popped through my chest like a scene from Alien, and I sprinted towards them screaming out for the rest of my family to come help.
Through nothing but pure luck, my daughter escaped the accident with only a few small scratches, and my wife was left with a nasty bruise on her hip (which she claimed to deserve for letting my daughter steer!).
When I first saw the tires sway and tip, I instantly regretted ignoring my gut feeling that my wife should have been driving the ATV.
There is little doubt in my mind that if fortunate had not smiled on us that afternoon, my decision would have haunted me for the rest of my life!
A Father’s Intuition Is His Greatest Asset
When you have a baby, you will start to develop and hone your parental instincts. Eventually, it becomes like a superpower that you can’t quite explain, but these gut feelings will be vital to your role as a father.
Our society makes a big deal about the power of a mother’s intuition, but sadly you don’t often hear about the wonders of paternal instincts. Believe me when I tell you, a father’s intuition can be just as strong as our maternal counterparts!
This is not meant to be disparaging toward mothers, but I want you to understand just how important a father’s sixth sense can be with his child.
I wish I could tell you that listening to your daddy sense comes naturally or easily, but that isn’t always the case. Often, when a guy has his first child, he tends not to trust his burgeoning fatherly instincts and may defer all the important decisions to his partner.
Again, it’s almost like guys are brought up to believe that moms have it all figured out (even first-time mothers).
However, allow me to let you in on a big secret — new moms are just as scared as new dads!
It doesn’t matter if you are a new mom or dad, you don’t just magically know how to take care of a baby. That is something that is learned over time, and through dedication to your child, you will develop and sharpen a parental intuitiveness that will help keep her safe.
This is why it’s so important that from day one, you help to make decisions for your baby with your partner.
Not only will this help to take pressure off your partner, but it will start the process of learning how to trust yourself and make important choices for your child.
Granted, your instincts may not always line up with how your partner may feel, but that doesn’t automatically mean you are wrong (or vice versa).
There will be countless decisions you have to make for your child that involve both a heavy gray area and comprising with your partner.
You Must Put Faith In Yourself When You Become A Father!
I can promise that the day will come when you regret ignoring the inner voice screaming inside your head.
It may be a decision that you have time to mull over, or it may be one that you only have moments to make. No matter the time constraints involved, making a really bad call can be an emotionally crippling experience for any father.
A father’s intuition can be just as strong as our maternal counterparts!
I wish I had a suitable answer why even when a father has a well-honed daddy sense, that sometimes he ignores his gut. On various occasions, I have gone against strong feelings and betrayed my intuition.
As an example, my two biggest regrets for ignoring my paternal instincts (an ATV incident and a sledding accident with my son), were done out of guilt. I felt like stopping my kids from doing something that felt dangerous to me, would have ruined their fun.
Both of my kids could have been badly hurt or even killed in either of those situations, and that would have been my fault for ignoring my best instincts.
When this happens, you feel like a shitty father that makes poor decisions, but the reality is that even the best dads among us will make some bad calls.
I know for every bad choice I make with my kids, my fatherly intuition has allowed me to make a plethora of good calls. There is no way to quantify something like that though, because generally when you make sound decisions, there aren’t repercussions to contemplate.
Ultimately, being in charge of another life is a scary business!
I’m well over a decade into this daddy thing, and trust me when I say, I understand the anxiety you may feel as a new dad. However, you can’t let that paralyze you from making decisions for your child and trusting your gut.
It takes an enormous amount of courage for any new dad to tap into his fatherly intuition and act on it. Without this leap of faith in yourself, you will never reach your full potential as a great dad.
All dads have fear, but the best of us overcome it for the good of our children!
Are you a new or expectant dad filled with anxiety about fatherhood? Do you want to empower yourself and become a better father?
Get on the right path by downloading my free guide:
“Boss Dad vs Bad Dad: Discover The Seven Parenting Secrets That Will Make or Break a New Father”
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