These daddies are proud to be a dad and are not shy to show and say how they feel. We rounded up some sweet and inspiring posts from some local daddy bloggers. We hope this will be a source of inspiration to all the daddies and daddies-to-be out there!

Daddy M, The Wacky Duo, father of two

I am a quitter… and I am proud of it.

Dearest Sons,

Daddy is going to tell you a secret. A secret that even your grandparents are unaware of. I am not sure how this revelation will affect your life in the future, but I would like to be truthful to both of you. Hopefully, you may be able to earn a thing or two from Daddy’s experience.

The Secret

You see Daddy was huffing and puffing literally for over 20 years of his life. He started experimenting with a group of classmates way back when he was still wearing shorts in secondary school, at a tender age of 15. Call it youthful curiosity, it was an experiment that escalates into a habit in his days in the army. Daddy used to think that having a piece of paper burning slowly in his hands is the epitome of cool ala James Dean (ok pardon your Daddy, James Dean would probably be a relic by the time you realized what cool means).

As time goes on, the habit refused to go away. Many times I had tried to refrain from lighting up, but 11 out of 10 times ( including the one time in my dream) I failed to be strong. From one little puff a day, it becomes a habit of 10 sticks or even a packet a day, especially when stress was the perfect excuse for blackening my lungs. All these while, your grandparents are hidden in the dark…

…After a period of 20 years, to discard a perpetual habit is akin to cutting off the left arm, albeit a rotting one. The irony is that it may actually save me in the longer run, riding the rot and giving me a chance to live the life that I should. You gave me the courage to face up to reality. You gave me the will to break the mental barriers that constantly block my passage to a healthier life. You made me choose… and I choose you, I choose Life.

Thank you boys.

After nights of chills that lasted into weeks, the ordeal had ended. Miraculously after these weeks of punishment, the air became crisp, the taste buds return and I can finally breathe for hours without an accompanying palpitating heart. Furthermore, Daddy smells nicer these days, or so Mommy says. The skin also improves, but alas potholes from the past remain.

Playtime with you guys is much more fun when I can chase you little monsters around. No more big bad wolf huffing and puffing, trying to blow the house down with the unceasing coughing and wheezing. The bonus is that Daddy has saved money to the tune of $3650 per year or $73000 *over the next 20 years. A princely figure as that amount could provide a college education for you. Truth is, I had already wasted the same or more over the past 20 years. Nevertheless, I would have also saved on a huge amount that would otherwise be spent my health, or the lack of it if I had continued. So hurrah to that.

2 years and 10 kg heavier (food tastes yummier without the numbing smoky aftertaste), I am proud to say that I am a Quitter.

Daddy hopes that none of you would take the same path. Don’t be a quitter like Daddy in this aspect.

Be the person who would not start in the first place.

Extracted from The Wacky Duo. Read the full post here..

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David, guest blogs at Princess Dana Diaries, Father of one

Dana’s Dad sometimes writes on his wife’s blog, Princess Dana Diaries. A father of one, the letter he wrote below was a letter to Dana as part of a Valentine’s Day series, brought to you by Daddy Matters.

My dearest Dana,

…You’re turning 6 this year and getting quite inquisitive about the world around you. Just the other day you wanted to chart a family tree. Before we go too far-flung into the foliage of the family tree, I thought that it’s apt that we talk about the ‘root’ – Daddy and Mommy’s love for each other.

Each day at home you would’ve walked past many things but there are 3 that I would like you to especially remember.

They all belong to Mommy: her ring, her shoes and her handbag.

When you are older, you will know that these three things are quite important to all women. And hence they are too to your Mommy. In fact, each day when Daddy comes home and sees these things, I’m always reminded of what a blessed man I am. You see… your Mommy, like any woman, naturally would love to have bigger and newer jewellery, shoes and bags to match her clothes, the occasions and, yes, her moods. But… no. The jewellery that she wears today is the very ones that I gave her as part of our wedding dowry 15 years ago (what is that word? Well…you don’t need to know but your future husband will need to!).

Her shoes – the black pair that she wears to work daily have a brand that we can’t even remember and bought from a place that we have even forgotten. Her handbag, well… the only ‘branded’ item on her (that rhymes with the word ‘shade’) was bought from a factory outlet during our trip to Seattle for Aunty April’s wedding (and even that was because Daddy forced her to). Can you imagine Mommy meeting all these senior management partners and academic professors, carrying a heavily used bag that has started to peel? And yes, even that was because the bag before had weathered enough bus rides and long walks to and from work and since been retired…

For me personally, I owe it to your Mommy who stood by me when I left a lucrative accounting career and went into the civil service to pursue my ‘calling’. I owe it to your Mommy for working hard to ease the financial load so that we can provide you with a more comfortable life – to go on trips to see the world, to attend concerts and musicals and all the special experiences which will hone your potential. I owe it to your Mommy for having to sometimes knock some sense into me to see beyond the immediate…

The world believes in the ring, the shoes and the handbag. But I thank God that your Mommy is a woman who knows that any tangible possessions do not measure the value of her esteem…, life’s invaluable experiences and relationships we nurture and hold dear. This is what it means when Mommy and Daddy say we love each other. Through this love, we hope you will know how much we love you too and hopefully and prayerfully, you will also experience the same kind of love, if not a richer one, one day.

Always and forever with love,
Your Daddy

Extracted from Princess Dana Diaries. Read the full post ourprincessdana.com.

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Lee Kin Mun, aka Mr. Brown, father of three

When his eldest daughter Faith, turned 13, Mr Brown shared his experience of buying a present for her and sharing a heartfelt moment with her.

Thirteen

And just like that, my firstborn turned 13, with no fanfare, no parties, no sleepovers.

We bought her a cake that her youngest sister decorated and sang her a loud birthday song in the car ride to church. I wandered the aisles of a department store later, deciding on

what to buy her for her present. I have spent many years in the aisles meant for toddlers, looking at sensory toys that she should have outgrown more than a decade ago, if it wasn’t for her autism.

Buying presents for my two younger ones is so much easier and less fraught with emotion.

…A week after her birthday, during service, Faith suddenly reached out to me in the pews and touched my lips, as her speech therapist does with her, I suspect.

“Tooyoo, tooyoo,” she vocalized.

I smiled at her quizzically. “Yes dear, tooyoo?”

I looked at the wife, and she shrugged too, not understanding what Faith meant.

Then Faith looked away, lost in thought. And then we heard it.

She was humming the Happy Birthday song, “Doo-doo-doo-doo, tooyoo, doo-doo-doo-doo, tooyoo…”

May all her dreams, whether we will ever know what they are, come true.

Extracted from Mr Brown’s blog.

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