Prince William dropped by for a “Future Dads” meeting at Pall Mall Barbers in London, which provides support and trains barbers to recognize mental health issues and depression in their clients. The father of three talks about the fears associated with becoming the father of a newborn.
People Magazine says that even after having three children, he still clearly remembers being scared of taking care of something so tiny.
“The fear of having a newborn baby, that’s very vulnerable and that’s what you spend most of your time worrying about, thinking what do I do? And that’s the thing isn’t it? It’s very daunting of how tiny they are when they first arrive.”
The Future Dads group is tasked with instilling confidence in the skills associated with parenting like feeding, bathing, and of course, diapering or nappying as the prince would say. The Duke of Cambridge went through several of the scenarios that attendees of the course participate in, including practicing their diapering skills on dolls.
Dad-to-be Rick Karadia-Hudson handled a doll which was filled with a brown, realistic-looking substance as the prince sniffed, saying with a smile, “Is that Marmite?”
Prince William sympathises with fathers-to-be as they practice changing a nappy at a charity event https://t.co/Y7QbSJfdM2
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The heir to the throne recalled that he was intimidated when his babies were first born, saying that he found changing diapers to be scary.
“They are so fragile and everything’s so tiny, their little fingers and toes, you do feel like if you move them around too much they’re going to break almost but they don’t!”
Karadia-Hudson agreed, saying that also, newborns wiggle around so much. But Prince William joked that if he thinks that’s bad, wait until they are 9-months-old and try to take off and you are just holding an “arm and a leg!”
In chatting with the men, it was obvious that being Prince William did not allow him to dodge some of the more difficult points of being a new dad, including basic care and even the loss of sleep. The prince was helping one of the men change the clothes on a doll, commiserating, “The hardest thing is the buttons … and then the wrong leg ends up there …”
The prince talked about how stress levels rise as you become more sleep-deprived. He said from his own experience, he would try to get into the rhythm of things in order to be successful, but babies don’t fall into line to allow things to be that structured.
Prince William said that no matter how prepared you are, it will be a big change in your life.
“It’s such a change, your whole life goes one way and suddenly you’re told to stop in your tracks.”
