babytalk
Create a Great New Dads Workshop
Today’s fathers want to take an active role in their children’s lives from the very beginning, but new dads often have limited experience with babies and may feel uncertain and hesitant about how to jump into fatherhood.
Paternal involvement makes a big difference. From the time their babies are born, fathers play an extremely significant and invaluable role in their children’s overall health and development. Interactions with Dad can help build children’s confidence to explore what’s around them and help foster a budding sense of independence. Studies suggest that fathers who are nurturing, playful, and actively involved with their infants and young children have children with better language and cognitive skills as well as higher IQs.
A workshop for new dads is a great way to bring new fathers together and build their confidence as they transition into parenthood. Childbirth Graphics has engaging fatherhood education materials that facilitators can use with expectant and new fathers to break the ice, promote discussion, and connect new dads together to support each other as they start their journey into fatherhood.
Read on to discover great Childbirth Graphics teaching tools that are perfect to create a workshop for new dads!
Break the Ice With Group Discussion
Non-threatening, colorful, and fun, our New Dads Activity Kit is the ideal teaching tool to lead a new dads workshop. The kit features 13 objects that represent ways a new father can bond with his baby and nurture his growing family. The included full-color presentation notes detail the significance of each object. Everything comes in a convenient black carrying case, similar to the type of case often used to carry work tools.
Facilitators can select items out of the kit and present them to the group one at a time. Each item serves as a prompt for guesses and discussion about what new fatherhood activity it represents and how that activity can promote daddy-infant bonding and partner support.
Items in the activity kit include:
- Orange juice (keeping Mom hydrated and supported while breastfeeding)
- Shopping bag (shopping for groceries and meal preparation)
- Cleaning sponge (tackling household chores)
- Diaper (using diaper changing time to bond with Baby)
- Bath thermometer (bathing Baby)
- Digital thermometer (attending Baby’s healthcare visits)
- Guitar (sharing music with Baby)
- Walking shoe (taking Baby for a walk)
- Baby book (reading to Baby)
- Rattle (playing with Baby)
- Tealight candle (sharing time with your partner)
- Condom (resuming sexual activity)
- Golf ball (taking personal Dad time to rejuvenate)
New dads can laugh and share with each other as they guess the significance of each item. The items also help them think about parenting tasks in a new way. For example: Changing diapers and bathing a baby provide valuable time for a new dad to bond with his baby, and he can make that time creative and fun.
New dads may also gain insight into the physical and emotional changes his partner is experiencing during the postpartum period. As covered in the kit’s presentation notes, items in the kit are ideal for discussing important postpartum issues, such as postpartum depression, when it is safe to resume sexual activity, and how long to wait before attempting to conceive again.
Provide Valuable Take-Home Information
Topics covered in a new dads workshop with the New Dads Activity Kit can be reinforced among your group by providing them with informational tear sheets from our fatherhood education tear pads. Each tear pad is English on one side and Spanish on the other and has 100 sheets per pad.
Our How Fatherhood Can Support Breastfeeding Tear Pad helps dads understand why breastmilk is best for babies, why his support for his partner’s commitment to breastfeeding matters, and how he can work to ensure that his partner is able to breastfeed successfully.
Focusing on the so-called “fourth trimester” of pregnancy, the How Fathers Can Support the Postpartum Mom Tear Pad helps a new father understand the physical and emotional changes his partner experiences during the postpartum period and how he can help while he and his partner transition into their new role as parents.
Becoming a father is an exciting time, but it also involves major life changes that may sometimes seem overwhelming for new fathers. Both the New Dads Activity Kit and our Postpartum Depression in Fathers Tear Pad explain that postpartum depression in new dads is something that is very common (affecting about 10 percent of new dads) and can be successfully treated.
Find More Great Fatherhood Teaching Tools
Creating a workshop for new dads and helping new dads connect with each other is easier when you have the right tools! Find more resources to teach and inform expectant and new fathers in our product sections dedicated to fatherhood education materials and parenting teaching resources.
The information contained in this article is not intended to replace the advice of a healthcare professional.
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