Join The Dad Side

By Austin James  

“No, I am your father!” I find myself telling my screaming son at 4 am as he fights yet another diaper change. Is it a thinly veiled attempt at instilling the same love for pop culture I have inside his developing mind? Or is it a strange, yet effective tool for alleviating the cluster feeding frustrations of my own half-awake brain? Trick question, the answer is both!  

The 10 pm diaper change goes smoothly. The midnight diaper change a little less so. By 2 am I find myself irritated beyond measure and feeling rather bad about it. Grown Jedi should have no reason to feel angry and frustrated with their youngling during times like this, and yet, it happens.  

Setting your child down in their crib and taking a breather is a tried and true method of easing your frustration, but to me it feels like procrastination. Whatever the task may be that is upsetting your youngling, it still has to be accomplished. My son absolutely hates having his diaper changed, but I can’t have him lying about in his own excrement. So what other tools are available to me to quell my midnight exasperation? 

Personally, I have found that having a conversation with my son as he yells and screams has not only been an effective way to calm myself down, but to calm him as well. Reciting lines and doing my best impressions from a wide multitude of films and television series’ not only gives me a distraction (and something to chuckle at I must say), but it has had the effect of soothing my son on many occasions. “

” I say as I pick him up in his Star Wars sleeper and bring him to the changing table, without a fuss to be had in the world. However, if newborns could roll their eyes, I am sure he would.  

When the screaming gets a little nerve touching, being able to set your child down for a break is always a welcome back up idea, but if you can conquer those screams as a team, you’ll soon be able to “rule the galaxy as father and son”.  

May the force be with you!