The Dad Guide

52 WEEK GUIDE TO RAISING A HAPPY HEALTHY BABY

  • Just 10 minutes a week
  • Rooted in science
  • Easy to understand, NO JARGON
(Ahem, it’s free to start.)
The Dad Guide

Get a weekly email like this one.

Get a weekly email like this one
Week 11 of 52
WHAT to do

It's time for funny faces, a fun way to start to teach your child about how to communicate non-verbally.

Exaggerate your expressions Dad! Explore the movement of your eyebrows, cheeks, mouth, etc to show your baby the range a face has. Mix in some hide and seek and mimicking of babies face.

WHY do it

Breakthrough research in 2017 showed that infants start building their understanding of social environments as early as 2 months. Seeing more expressive faces helps the baby learn this.

The key concept here is that new research is continually finding that child development is much more complex than ever imagined. We can only give our kids what we know, so now you know!

THE GOAL

Build Strong Foundations

Create a stronger you, stronger kids, stronger family, stronger community in less than 10 minutes a week.

The Dad Guide

Guidance

The wisdom you need to be a fantastic dad.

The Dad Guide

Activities

Engagements designed to boost your babies development.

Dads bleeping love it

R

Randy Chicago, IL

Lots of charities and science jargon out there that I didn’t really understand. This program turned all that science into things I could understand and do with my baby. That’s friggin awesome.

C

Chris Jersey City, NJ

Most other sites or books are written for my wife or by some asshole who makes potty jokes because he doesn’t think being a good dad is as important to me as hearing some lame joke. Fantastic Dads is very refreshing.

L

Luis Los Angeles, CA

Teach a man to fish. That’s what this program did for me. I feel really confident in how I Dad and my wife really digs the support I provide.

E

Erik St. Louis, MO

I feel like I’m less stressed than some of my other dad friends. The info here helps me avoid getting overwhelmed since I’m more informed on what to expect, what I can control, and what I can contribute.

J

Jonathan New Orleans, LA

The guide has been great. It’s a really unique way of approaching the education. I liked the reflections and recaps to help remind me of what’s been covered.

A

Adrian Milwaukee, WI

Really love getting these emails each week. I read in the morning then set a bit of a plan for the week and just try to enjoy it all.

J

Josh Madison, WI

I’m pretty sure that being a dad isn’t my strongest skill but Fantastic dads has been great for giving insight into baby development and suggestions for fun things to try. I think the guide pretty much nails it, and helps me find ways to play with or involve our kids in whatever is going on.

A

Andy Long Beach, CA

I’d like to say that I love what Fantastic Dads is doing. Dad’s are more engaged in our generation and the one after us but to see and hear the importance of engagement from day 1…and tips on how to do it…is useful and needed. My overall feedback is that this is great, needed, and helped nudge me when I needed it. 

T

Tara Lake Tahoe, CA

My husband loves this. It’s super cute seeing him so engaged and bringing so much to our family. He gets really excited each week after reading the email.

C

Chris Miami, FL

I am thoroughly enjoying being part of this program. The activities and information are easy, but the time to time breaks for some self-reflection have been a powerful tool for me to see where I can improve in interactions with my wife and children and continuously evolve myself with to goal to become the “Superman” dad I want to be. It is very unfortunate that in today’s world many fathers (I see this personally with friends of mine) do not really know how to engage with their children most of all their families. I like what you are doing and hope this reaches a global audience. It’s needed.

N

Nate Los Angeles, CA

The short, week by week nature is a good way to keep the progression top of mind. I really liked that the information was rooted in more general terms and not in hard benchmarks and milestones. Wife sees that in the “emotional and biased mommy blogs” and she gets stressed out. I think the way most people do benchmarks is really unhealthy for moms. I like that the dad guide keeps it real and focused on the journey.

G

Gavin New York City, NY

This 100% builds better dads without feeling all self-helpy. The activities were great, but the heuristics/mental models/mindsets stuff really hit me hard – so good. New parents have nothing else to compare to, no reference points – so our minds tend to look for patterns innately – and that probably isn’t the best approach. Having some models to help stay grounded in the big picture really takes the pressure off which made the experience more enjoyable for me.

W

Wes San Francisco, CA

I found the dad guide incredibly useful, and am happy for it, but it made me realize something about our first kid and our early relationship. I don’t feel like we had that “bonding” moment, so I don’t think I had a strong engaged feeling since I couldn’t really help with feedings and things. I didn’t really feel like I could help and was game to just wait until it was a bit more clear a bit later on. The dad guide showed me all the things I could have done to help from day one and to that the bond takes time to build, like any relationship. I guess in the moment it’s hard to see. It’s a funny feeling to have because having the information has created a strong bond with our second kid, but I wish I’d known for my first. I think the lesson is that no one should have to miss out on the experiences of the first year just because they didn’t know the questions to ask. I’m glad Fantastic Dads is trying to solve this problem.

A

Aaron

Chock-full of great info coming when needed most. It kept me super present as a new dad, especially since I travel a lot. Like a weekly reminder to remember to savor the dad journey.

R

Ryan

The Dad Guide is great because it’s easily digestible and based in the real world. It’s not overwhelming like 200+ page books. We are on kid #2 so we’ve gone through this once, but really appreciate how it breaks things down into the key concepts and delivers those in the developmental window in which they occur. I think this makes it a much more practical and lower stress way to learn these tools. I feel like this helps set everyone up for success.

A

Adam

The Dad Guide helped me feel I was making the most impact on my child’s development while being the best Dad I could be. I think this is important because Dads want to do it on their own, but that’s just a male tendency that shows up again as fathers. Men typically don’t ask for help or proactively look for parenting help to the extent that women do. The Dad Guide made this all easy.

D

Daniel Santa Monica, CA

I tried the apps that my wife uses. They just didn’t speak to me. I think the journey for moms and dads is different and The Dad Guide feels precisely tailored for dads.

J

Jordan

Loved the mix of practical applications and scientific backing. Loved the brevity of the emails and that most things were easily applied. My wife has a couple apps and still learned a few things and the things she already knew she was impressed I knew too.

M

Michael

This is the pro league of activities that new dads can do to bond and stimulate their new babies. My wife has so many resources (phone apps, Facebook groups, mothers, sisters, friends). She liked me having my own things to bring to the table. Worth the price in gold and bitcoin and all the things!

J

Joren

The ease of use was super important. I felt (feel) like I have no time for anything that doesn’t include holding a baby so being able to process the activity and information fast was super helpful.

A

Adam

5 Stars – The exercises were simple to execute and the background information was super helpful in knowing how it impacted the baby’s development. My wife was into it as well, win-win!

N

Noah

I like that it’s delivered in bite-size chunks. It’s easier for a new dad to take in than other methods (like books). I liked the exercises the best. It felt like the best kind of bonding experience and my son was really into it.

J

Jake

Fathers need guidance just as much as mothers. It’s naive to think otherwise. The Dad Guide is a program for dads to better understand how to play a role in their child’s life from day one and build a shared understanding with the spouse. I also really enjoyed that it was science-based while being laid back. It never felt overbearing or stressful.

G

Gus

The Dad Guide is simple, easy to use advice arriving regularly. I used it with my second kid and found it valuable in getting Dads and Mums to bond a bit over good child rearing tips. Dads need help and support too! I wish I had had this with my first kid.

D

Digo

I loved the program and its ideas. And I really liked learning some of the background on the information. I especially appreciated that it was written like an adult talking to another adult and not like a maxim magazine article. And it was very easy. Brevity is the name of the game and it did that. 

M

Mike

Lots of dads feel like they are going into a massive pool of unknown. The Dad Guide gave me the most important guidelines to not only build your relationship with your little one but help him develop at the same time. It also made the journey easy and fun.

T

Trevor

I loved sharing these with my wife each week. She reads a ton and the fact that much of the information was new to her made me feel good and encouraged me to do even more with our son. There were even a few “ha I told you!” moments that landed me in the dog house. So 4 of 5 stars because I got in a tiff with the wife, tho that’s probably more my fault than yours. Hope that doesn’t hurt the overall rating. Every Dad should use this, just don’t hard drop the knowledge on your partner :-p

O

Omar

I want to be a good dad, but the reality is there is never enough time now to learn. Feels like we mostly have to make it up as we go. At this point, treading water is all we are doing and having something so simple and quick and actionable has given me the hope that at least we’re probably not giving our kid reason to need a shrink someday! That’s a win in my book.

J

Jeff

Quick note – I am loving this experience. I’m loving it because it’s things I knew a little about, but not in detail so it’s incredibly fun getting to go deeper and actually build understanding.

J

John

The Dad Guide is almost too easy a method of becoming a better father. I highly recommend it.

J

JC

The Dad Guide was just so easy. I like that I can get all the information I needed by listening to the audio during my commute, but I also liked that I could reference the text and links when I had a moment to myself – usually in the bathroom, hahah, let’s be honest. Great product guys!

D

Dave

Really like the pace and quality of information. The tone is good, it feels really friendly, like FD has your back, is there for you. I didn’t feel talked down to or preached at. Feels nice to just be informed and to know why.

D

Dan

As a dad of 3 under 3, I’m wise enough to know that I don’t actually know it all. The thing I really liked about The Dad Guide was that they were almost always in the process and moment we were in, with a little glimpse ahead. This took a lot of pressure off of research and allowed us to be more proactive and in the moment. The information also worked with our middle kid.

J

Jon

Just did some of the visual tracking activities and it was incredible to see my kid react to me that way. My wife reads everything and even she hadn’t seen anything like some of the activities in Fantastic Dads.

A

Adithya

The Dad Guide got me through the first few months. It’s such an awkward time for being a Dad with all the Mom-Baby bonding and feeding. Helped me feel less lost.

B

Ben

I just got the engagement on how talking to babies changes around 6 months. My mind was blown – so helpful. Felt the need to immediately stop what I was doing and send a thank you note for putting all of this together like this. It’s so useful. Easy too.

D

David

Always seems to be the exact info I need when I need it. I’m really digging this. So simple and intuitive.

These dads all loved it and so will you!

Learn about the Science behind Fantastic Dads


More on Our Science

Ready to be a Fantastic Dad?