Dads in the Limelight ( #limelightdads ) – Nick Browne ( @brownie_22 ) #dadchat

First and foremost, I’m Nick Browne. I’m a 32-year-old husband and father, copywriter, blogger, and podcaster. I’m in the limelight for my dad blog papabrownie.com, as well as my dad podcast, The Poppin’ Bottles Dad-Cast. I also blog for lifeofdad.com, as well. I started blogging three years ago, two weeks after losing my job and two weeks before my wife gave birth to our first daughter. I started podcasting with my next door neighbor and co-host Ben Mullen in October, shortly after we became neighbors. Stars aligned? Who knows, but we have a blast doing our show.

I’ve been with my wife, Sarah, since I was 19. We got married just under five years ago. We have two daughters, Sophia is just about to turn three and is a raging ball of energy at all times. She keeps us on our toes at all times and cracks us up daily. In August, we welcomed our second daughter, Madeline (Maddie) into our family. At 5-months, she’s starting to let her personality shine through and finally sleeps through the night, well most of the time. I love my wife and my girls with all my heart. They are my life.

3) What has been the largest challenge you have had in being a father?

Aside from the fact that just being a dad is a major challenge in and of itself, I have two challenges that I battle with daily: Being patient and giving in to tantrums. I’ve heard lots of people say having kids teaches you how to be more patient. That hasn’t been my experience to this point, but I’m working on being more patient as best as I can. As far as giving in to tantrums goes: my daughter is about to turn three and it seems that every five minutes is a tantrum. To avoid hours upon hours of screaming, too often I cave. Also, something I’m working to stop doing.

The best advice I can give to other dads is to just be there for your kids. Be active in the upbringing of your kids. If your married, be an equal parenting partner with your spouse. There are too many stories out there about dads not doing their part and it’s part of the bad stigma of fathers. We need to show what active dads are all about and remove that stigma from society.

I’m not sure we have come to really balance them, to be honest. Yes, we do some things away from the kids, but most of our time is spent with our family. Every now and then we’re able to do date nights, or can do a work happy hour, or something along those lines. But, most of our really good friends have kids, so when we get together with them, it’s not really “outside life” I guess.

I love talking to other dads and kind of learning how they do things, how they interact with their kids, and interact with their spouses. I know that I don’t know it, far from it, and getting advice on any topic is always great. Specifically, how they react to a tantrum, how they’ve worked on getting their kids to sleep through the night/in their own beds, and how they manage a parent/outside life balance.

Everyone says it: Being a parent is harder than you’d expect it to be going into it. But, it’s also the best thing in the world. I always knew I would have kids (always pictured having boys…), and wouldn’t change a thing about my life as a dad. While there are daily struggles and it costs a boatload of money, my girls and my wife are the absolute most important things in my life. I spent the first 6 months of Sophia’s life as a stay-at-home dad and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Having that time to bond with her and really learn how to be a dad was amazing for me. Making the choice to go back to work wasn’t easy, but those are the kinds of decisions you have to make as a parent.

The most obvious answer to that is the birth of both of my daughters. Nothing prepares you for the first time you see and hold your child. It’s truly an amazing feeling and one that I wish every man and woman could experience in their lives. Seeing the “firsts” as they happen has also been amazing. The first laugh, the first roll over, the first stand, first word, and first steps. Sophia’s first steps happened on Christmas with a good amount of our families there AND we managed to get the very first steps on video. And, honestly, nothing beats the feeling when Sophia sees me after a day at work or a night away and comes running to our arms, so excited to see us. Or, Maddie, looking at me while I’m holding her or she’s hopping around in a jump-aoo and just lighting up with a smile.