deaf dad | The Limping Chicken

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Deaf Dad: Becoming a name hunter – to help my daughter settle in at her new nursery

April 11, 2013

Things are settling down now after our move in the new year. We’ve spent our weekends exploring the Yorkshire Dales, walking around the streets of our new town and learning that, like the song says, you really are taking your life into your own hands if you go up on Ilkley Moor without a hat […]

Deaf Dad: Why fathers should read to their children

March 14, 2013

I read to my children every night, but many fathers don’t. Here’s my article for parenting website Yano about why fathers should read to their kids. Every family has a bedtime routine, and we are no different. At around 6.15pm every night, it begins. Our daughters have their bath, brush their teeth, get their pyjamas […]

Deaf Dad: The importance of knowing where your child’s favourite cuddly toy is

February 22, 2013

When I was a child, another Deaf family came to visit us one day. They had two daughters, and the youngest never let her favourite cuddly toy – a tiny pony – out of her reach. At the end of a long day of play, the family decided it was time to go home. Cue […]

Charlie Swinbourne: From being called ‘Poo Daddy’ to a traumatic plane journey – My 10 most embarrassing dad moments

January 4, 2013

‘Becoming a dad has given me some of the most beautiful moments imaginable,’ says Charlie Swinbourne. ‘But there have been some very, very embarrassing moments too.’ Here he tells us his top 10, gathered over the past four years since his first daughter Martha, arrived, followed by Edie, who is now two.There are exquisite moments […]

Deaf Dad: Settling in oop north… and watching our kids change

October 12, 2012

It’s been nearly two months since we decamped for the North. In tabloid headline style, we’ve realised the following, utterly shocking pieces of news in South Yorkshire: LOCAL SHOPS SHOCK: PEOPLE CHAT TO STRANGERS DEAF COUPLE IN COUNTRYSIDE REVELATION: “THERE ARE LITERALLY FIELDS EVERYWHERE” YORKSHIRE VILLAGES VERY VERY PRETTY, SURVEY SHOWS But as fun as […]

Deaf Dad: 50/50 theory

July 6, 2012

One of the most difficult things about becoming a parent is finding out, rather abruptly, that your time is no longer your own. Where once, you’d spend a Saturday morning in bed, before making yourself a very unhealthy fry-up then wondering from cafe to cinema to pub before collapsing on the sofa to watch Match […]

Deaf Dad: The digital world vs the real world

June 21, 2012

I’ve been combining looking after my two beautiful daughters with freelance writing for nearly ten months now. Looking after my kids on my own has been a learning curve at times (not least when I couldn’t find a darn thing) but what it’s given me has been priceless. I wouldn’t say Toddler and Baby see […]

Deaf Dad: How my kids surprised (and outwitted) me

June 14, 2012

Parenthood is all about the little moments. Sure, there’s the big stuff. Your kid reaching out and grabbing something for the first time. Standing up. Taking their first steps. Signing their first word. Saying their first spoken word. The milestones we bore other parents with and record religiously in our baby books. What’s more important […]

Deaf Dad: Moving on

May 18, 2012

Three years ago, when our first daughter was born, we were living in a two bedroom ground floor flat. Despite the fact that newborn babies are barely more than a foot long, the flat, which we thought would be perfect, quickly seemed far too small. Perhaps the fact that she came along in the middle […]

Deaf Dad: What changes when a baby arrives?

May 3, 2012

Recently I was asked a question by a friend of mine who is about to become a Dad: what changes when a baby arrives? My initial answers focused on the obvious – the sleepless nights, nappy changing and so on. Then he asked me a very different question. How does your relationship with your partner […]

Deaf Dad: The ‘ill day’

April 20, 2012

Yesterday, something strange happened when I woke up. I just woke up. Naturally. I’m used to being woken at around 7am by the vibrating buzz of a pager designed to alert me to Toddler and Baby’s cries, or by a thump on the wall behind my head (Toddler sleeps on the other side). But yesterday […]

Deaf Dad: Discovering vinyl music with Toddler

March 29, 2012

I grew up in a deaf family, and aside from a children’s tape recorder we would sometimes record our voices on, we didn’t have anything that could play music in the house. So I only discovered music at the age of 11, when a friend gave me his second-hand record player. Our next door neighbours […]

Deaf Dad: Our ‘deaf’ baby is becoming ‘hearing’

March 22, 2012

Both our daughters – Toddler, three, and Baby, 16 months old, are hearing. That said, being brought up by deaf parents, using both spoken English and sign language at home, it’s inevitable that they’ve picked up a few ‘deaf’ traits. For instance, like Toddler before her, Baby learned to sign a full six months before […]

Deaf Dad: Flindy Dondy and Tinky Tonky

March 14, 2012

One of the best bits of being a Dad is being a bit random (or more accurately, silly) with Toddler and Baby as often as I can. Kids love it when you take a step back from being a serious adult in order to pretend that they can push you over with the mildest shove, […]

Deaf Dad: Deaf fathers need equal access to pregnancy information

March 8, 2012

There’s a bit of a departure from the usual column this week, because I want to tell you about a friend of mine, who recently got in touch to say he was going to be a dad. I was so pleased for him – since I became a dad myself, I’ve become a bit of […]

Deaf Dad: Finding the monkey

February 29, 2012

I’m slowly settling into the daily routine of being a stay-at-home Dad. In just a few weeks, my life has become scarily organised. I now wash Toddler and Baby’s bottles last thing at night so I don’t need to rush around in the morning. Whenever I get a spare moment, I pile any dirty clothes […]