We think antenatal classes are fantastic and would definitely recommend you attending one of these courses with your partner. But The Dad Course is deliberately different in lots of ways.

Antenatal courses tend to primarily focus on the birth, and the woman’s experience of it. That’s obviously really important but our sessions on the birth are very much focused on you, the birth partner. What will be expected and needed of you, and when? How can you be really helpful? How will you be feeling? What is it really like?

We also spend most of the course looking beyond the birth. The Dad Course will teach you all the practical skills you need to care for a baby. It also guides you through what to expect in the first months and how you can be a fantastic dad and supportive partner.

As good as antenatal courses are, we know that The Dad Course offers a lot of extra value, support and information that you simply don’t get other places. We are big believers that men can play a hugely important role as supportive birth partners and hands-on dads and The Dad Course is designed to put you in the best possible place to be both of those things.

Absolutely. Many guys have told us that they’ve watched part or all of The Dad Course content with their partner and that they have loved it! Go for it.

Yes! We have had many single dads complete The Dad Course and tell us how valuable it is. The first quarter is primarily focused on the birth so even if you’re not going to be at the birth it could be a good idea to watch anyway, as it will give you a better understanding of what mum will be going through. Of course if you prefer, you can simply skip this part of the course and go straight to the practical skills and the sessions that are of most interest to you.

There’s a few key reasons why we are ‘The Dad Course’ as opposed to a general parenting course.

First is that in my (Dave) own experience of becoming a dad, I found that there was a lot of support and groups available for my partner but nothing for me. So a large part of it was to fill that gap - I really believe that being a dad is the best and most important thing any man will ever do, and so offering a proper space to prepare for that feels really important.

The other key reason is because I believe that dads have their own unique concerns and needs in the run up to birth, that deserve to be addressed. In my experience many of us guys can find it hard to express these (especially during pregnancy when mum-to-be is going through so much!) so offering men an opportunity to put these things out into the world is also important. In our live sessions I know we often have things expressed that many would not feel comfortable saying in front of their partner, or perhaps other women in general.

I think, sadly (for both men and women alike) the parenting world is often very ‘feminine’ and ‘fluffy’ and The Dad Course is designed to be something more relateable, accessible and helpful for men. I really think that this is super important!

With all that said, we know that many women have watched and enjoyed the course too. So although it comes from a male perspective and is aimed at dads, women are very welcome to sign up and watch too!

Yes! We have had many gay men come through The Dad Course and tell us how much it helped them. As well as discussing being a great birth partner (which may or may not be relevant to you) we will give you a great grounding around attachment, practical skills, how to care for a baby and how to take care yourself as a dad.

To be up front though, The Dad Course has been created by myself, a straight male living with mum, and so this is going to come across at times. And, at times, you may need to do some mental adaptation to the material. So in modules around supporting your partner for example, the parts around physically supporting them may not be relevant while the emotional side is likely to be just as useful.

In time, we’d love to offer more specific material aimed at gay dads (it’s definitely on the agenda - get in touch if you’re interested to learn more about this as I’d LOVE to hear from you) but we are really confident that what we currently offer will be a great help to you.

We can definitely help you! Although The Dad Course has been designed by a straight male living with a female mother, and is aimed at other dads, so much of The Dad Course is still going to be relevant to you.

At times there will be parts that are less relevant, and at times you will need to adapt some of the content. For example in the sections about self-care I’m coming from the perspective of male mental health and experience. There’s still much that will be useful within that, but parts of it may feel less so.

Personally speaking, inclusion is very close to my heart and I know that families come in all different shapes and forms. I am super keen to help and support however I can. For now, as a small outfit, The Dad Course is the one offering that we have. In time I would love to work with a non-birthing partner who doesn’t identify as a male to co-create something that comes from that unique perspective. If that could be you, and it’s something you’re interested in exploring, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

In the meantime, I hope that The Dad Course is helpful if you do decide to sign up, even though it is coming from a slightly different personal perspective.

No - just that everyone can be a great dad, and a good dad is someone who loves and does their best for their child.

People have lots of different philosophies about parenting and you’ll get a lot of advice, often quite contradictary in the run up to and early days of your baby’s life. Our aim isn’t to tell you what to do or which approach is the right one but simply to prepare you - practically and emotionally!

We’ll give you enough knowledge and skills to go away and start to learn by doing - something that will never stop as a dad. We don’t believe in perfect parents or an ideal approach, we know that being a dad can be as much a challenging and messy experience as it can be joyful and fun - so we aim to give you enough confidence to get stuck in and started - not to be perfect.

We also believe that as complicated as some people try and make it, ultimately parenting isn’t that hard - people have been doing it for a very long time in much harder circumstances than ours. It’s about having a few key tools and skills - our aim is to pass those on, dad to dad. 

The Dad Course can be completed as long as you want! The Course Content runs just over four hours in length, so if you wanted to you could complete it in a half-day or in an evening - if you start early enough! The bonus content adds a couple of extra hours to this.

If you want to pace yourself a bit more we would suggest watching 60-90 minutes per week over a month. This would get you through the whole course at a very comfortable pace and give time for you to discuss bits and pieces with your partner as well as giving more time for everything to sink in.

Ultimately, The Dad Course can be watched however and whenever you want, so the choice is yours!

We are a social business and are driven by purpose, not profit. We don’t want money to be a barrier for anyone to come along so if this is you please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. All messages are private and will be treated with total confidence and without judgment.