Pebble pet painting

and mate-free; it’ll give you the weekly reset you need.

Your Wife You two have been through a lot already, and if you’ve got young children, a lot more to come. No one is expecting you to be Romeo, but little things you do and say in the early parenting years go a long way to keeping the love alive in your relationship. Simple tasks like taking the kids out so she can have a sleep, cooking her favourite dinner and telling her she’s doing a good job at 2am after she’s been up feeding the baby, all make a world of difference when she’s tired, hungry and tired (again). Pencil two weekly spots for her. The first gives her a break from you and the family and the second gives you a chance to spend some time together over dinner, a movie or a quick walk on the beach.

Your Mates Here’s the truth – if your mates don’t have kids, they won’t get it. They’ll hassle you to join them for a surf trip, beers on a week night or a session at the gym. Mostly, at least in the initial years of being a Dad, you’ll have commitments at home with your family. Don’t be ashamed of these commitments. If you constantly ditch the family to make time with the boys a priority, you’ll pave the way for hardships with your wife and kids at home. Instead, make a regular catch-up once per week for the lads for a surf and a coffee. You won’t feel guilty for constantly declining their invitation to catch up and they’ll appreciate your commitment to a weekly hangout – they’ll also probably stop hassling you (as much). You need their support, friendship and jovial banter so keeping your mates close as a new father is pivotal to your happiness. If you’re looking for like-minded Coastie Dads that share the experience of fatherhood, the boys from Central Coast DILF CLUB

meet weekly for a coffee with the kids in various locations.

Everyone else If they don’t fit into one of the criteria above, they’re not really worth your time or energy. In my (very blunt) opinion, you need to stop sharing yourself with people who rob you of your spare time. That’s it. Put simply and to recap: FOUR hours. One for you, one for her, one for you and her together, and finally, one for your mates. If everything else in life could be so simple…

Luke is a 29 year old father-of-two from Wamberal. He’s the founder of DILF CLUB, which runs Australia’s largest network of Father’s groups. A former Officer in the RAN, Luke now works a fly-in, fly-out job and spends much off his off-time at regular Dad catchups with his two little girls’.