There’s a lot of focus on moms and their experience with baby sleep, but less attachment based conversations focusing on the dad experience. While I’m fortunate to get to support many actively involved dad’s through my work, I’m also a mom , not a dad. So when I wanted to talk about the dad experience I reached out to Adam Angel, a licensed social worker  with a specialty in working with new dads. We talked about some of the common themes that come up in his dad groups and my sleep support, and there was a lot of overlap. We touched on:

• Parent preference and how to think through dad’s role in shifting that pattern. 
• How parents may hold differing values and importance when thinking through baby care decisions. 
• The importance of communication and agreement on a minimum standard of responsiveness/care so that differing parenting tools or approaches isn’t very different levels of responsiveness.
• The need for community for dad’s specifically and new families as they navigate this identity shift. 
• A tendency for dad’s to be more outcome focused in their parenting. 

This was a great wide ranging conversation, and I really appreciated Adam’s insights. I think there’s a lot for both moms and dads to take away from it. 

About Adam

Adam is a clinical social worker with 20 years of experience working with youth, adults, and families. Adam is a licensed social worker and his specializations include postpartum mood and anxiety disorders and developmental trauma. Adam completed his undergraduate at the University of MD and obtained his MSW at Howard University. Over the last 5 years he has led multi-stage fatherhood groups to provide fathers with the support needed for their personal growth and improve the wellness of their families. Adam lives in Silver Spring with his wife, two kids and their dog. 

Connect with Adam

www.dadswithwisdom.com

www.facebook.com/dadswithwisdom

Adam Angel (@dadswithwisdom)

Connect with Kim 

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Facebook:  facebook.com/intuitiveparentingdc

Learn more about working with Kim: https://intuitiveparentingdc.com/