I bought the dress, and than we just walked around and talked. She asked me why am I not wearing panties, and I told her that I've got used to it. I told her the whole story about the bet with my former boyfriend, and how nervous I was the first few weeks at work, and how strange it felt when it first happened to me that I forgot for a few hours that I am naked under my dress. I also told her that after a while I started to feel that I am more self confident when I have polemics with my colleagues or with my boss. After Team GBs fantastic showing at the Olympics, and as we gear up for the Paralympics, there has been a lot of talk about getting more sport on the curriculum. Hooray! I say – but with a caveat. I think we can’t only rely on the schools: Olympians must begin at home. Attention! In your hand is an indispensable training manual for new recruits to fatherhood. Written by ex-Commando and dad of three Neil Sinclair, this manual will teach you, in no-nonsense terms, all the practical skills you need to be a top-ranking parent. Then, Sinclair says, he started to feel he wanted to contribute more financially while staying at home; he decided the best way was to train as a childminder. But that in itself presented a number of hurdles. "People just didn't get it. I had to explain time and again: Look, I have two kids at school, and a daughter still at home. I'm at home all day with her. I want to bring in money, to offer a positive male role model and to allow someone else to pursue their career. Is there really anything so terribly wrong with that?" As a PE teacher (and now as a supply teacher) I see countless notes excusing pupils from PE. Now while some of these are genuine, I’ve been in situations where nearly half of the pupils in the class have been excused from my lesson. My personal low was a pupil that handed me a note explaining he couldn’t do PE as he had lost his trainers. He was wearing them. But without the rest of his kit, and without the jurisdiction to override a note from home, nothing could be done.

The headlines here in the UK are dominated by stories of horse meat ‘contaminating’ British meat products. I have no real problem with eating horse, in fact, now I know it is cheaper and apparently indistinguishable from beef, if anything, I want to eat MORE of it. I think the real problem here is how little we know about what is in our processed foods. I may not have a problem eating horse, but do I want to eat a horse that was killed six months ago in a country far, far away? No I do not. I like the tone of the book very much. A rather odd thing to say about a book, isn’t it? I think the friendly and understanding tone used by the author really does a good job of making readers feel adequate. Accepted even. He told me that if I had any parenting questions or needed any advice, I should not hesitate to ask. I like many things about the Commando Dad book. In keeping with the format of the book, I am going to write them as a list.

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I think the book could be split into two. 50% of the book is aimed at the care of newborns and babies.

We need to provide physical support, such as taking on night feeds, keeping the house squared away, buying supplies, getting meals on the table, washing clothes and generally keeping on top of everything. But most importantly, we need to make sure that our partner has everything she physically needs, from time to take a bath to healthy food.Everything from the moon state, equipment carried by individual patrol members, route plan, timings and commanders intent are covered. So too are actions on, rest periods, and everything in between.

The NCT has a list of 10 things everyone should know about postnatal depression in dads: https://www.nct.org.uk/life-parent/emotions/postnatal-depression-dads-10-things-you-should-know And our trooper needs us too. Don’t believe that we aren’t biologically programmed to be good carers. We may not have the ‘maternal instinct’ but I can assure you that the minute my troopers were born, my wife and I both had a huge instinct to love, protect and care for them. We got the ‘parental instinct’. And in terms of physically caring for a baby, we can do everything but breastfeed. It might not seem like it at the time (well it certainly didn’t for me) but with practical experience, you will easily master the basics. Childminding, he says, taught him even more: "It's hard work. Long days. But it taught me the importance of being organised. If you can get organised, you can have fun." It's straight to the point. You don't get lost in useless text and reflections. No "comedic" side stories, or anything that will make you lose time. There are many things your troopers can get up to in their household. Children, being naturally creative, can make fun out of most things so here are a few ideas for entertainment you can provide without even having to leave your home.

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Then it was time for more one-to-one chats in the Blog Clinic, again a great experience. At this point I was starting to get a little hoarse! Another example of Neil’s empathy and kindness shining through in his writing is this hugely self-aware paragraph: “learn to understand the role of sympathetic detonation – a chain reaction of emotions set off by you. If you are positive and happy, your kids will mirror this upbeat attitude. If you show them that you are upset, angry, or frustrated, they will be too”. The other half is aimed at toddlers and older children. I’m less interested in the tips about entertaining kids in the library, and more interested in basic baby care at this point in my parenting journey.