To greet you just as my son would, Hiya!

I’m Hamish, a one-and-done dad to an increasingly confident and cheeky little monster. Let’s call him ‘T’ for now. T is nearly 2 and, despite being small for his age, is already too big as far as I’m concerned.

This is all a bit of a crazy experiment really. It might not seem that ridiculous to write about the ups and downs of parenthood – especially the relatively early stages. When you consider that I committed to the idea of this having had just one full night’s sleep in about a month, I assure you it feels a bit bonkers.

Why?

In the months before, and increasingly since T came along, I discovered the wonderful world of being a dad and a small fraction of the weird sh*t (sometimes quite literally) that comes at you while navigating the path of parenthood.

By sharing a glimpse into my sleep-deprived world, I hope you might find some comfort in knowing it’s not just you! I certainly found it helpful reading about other people’s experiences. And if nothing else, writing about all my dad-related mayhem will probably help me make sense of my ever-changing world.

I also want to use this as a platform to speak up about the societal issues facing parents and would-be parents. Parenting is of course brilliant and a privilege, but it can be so hard at times. Sadly many don’t get to experience it, much as they might hope to. At all stages, sometimes things are made needlessly harder.

It’s all too normal for other people to make assumptions and assertions when you’d rather they didn’t. So oneanddad.com is as much about highlighting what could be better as it is about celebrating the bizarre but wonderful life of being a working dad.

Mums, you rock!

Finally, I want to be clear that I don’t go through any of this alone. My wonderful wife and full-time working mum to T also helps keep our little monster alive, having heroically brought him into the world. So while this will all be from a dad’s perspective, hers may not be the same!

Come back very soon! In the meantime, follow my little self-indulgent experiment by following me X, BlueSky and Instagram.