April 2003

The launch coincides with enactment of legislation giving working fathers two weeks paid paternity leave at £100 a week, plus new employment rights for parents and extended maternity leave for mothers.

Best-selling authors Tony Parsons and Miriam Stoppard are among Dad contributors that include poet John Hegley, designer Wayne Hemingway, psychologist Oliver James and novelist Maureen Freely. Pierce Brosnan, father of five, offers tips for fatherhood, while Dad also spends a day out with David Beckham and his son, Brooklyn.

The first edition of Dad magazine is available from Fathers Direct, price £2.00 a copy (£3.90 incl post and packing). You can purchase any number of copies of it on-line with a credit card – click here Or send a cheque made out to Fathers Direct for £3.90 to Dad magazine, Fathers Direct, Herald House, Lambs Passage, Bunhill Row, London EC1Y 8TQ and we will send you a copy of the magazine. If you wish to buy multiple copies by cheque then click dadmag@fathersdirect.com and we will send you a price list for multiple purchases which are sold at a reduced rate. If the publication does not meet your needs, please return it and we will refund the full cost and the cost of mailing it back to us.

The 56-page magazine reflects a social revolution in the UK, where one third of parental childcare in the UK is now done by dads, according to latest research published by the Equal Opportunities Commission (details: search for "fathers" at www.eoc.org.uk)

Dad magazine has been developed by Fathers Direct, the national information centre on fatherhood, working with Show Media Ltd, a publishing house recently founded by Peter Howarth, former editor of Esquire and Arena magazines.

It is designed to provide new and expectant fathers with crucial information about pregnancy, the birth, breastfeeding, paternity leave, child and maternal health, family financing, balancing work and childcare, sleep, sex, decorating, managing relationships and a host of other issues facing fathers.

This first edition of Dad, priced at £2, is supported by Marks & Spencer, the Children’s Mutual, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Scottish Executive Health Department. The Health Education Board for Scotland independently tested the magazine on new fathers, who welcomed the development of a publication aimed specifically at dads.

The magazine will be delivered to new fathers – or their partners – at the initial ante-natal scan three months into the pregnancy when typically they first see an image of their baby on a screen. Nine out of ten new fathers attend this appointment with their partners.

Jack O’Sullivan of Fathers Direct and editor of Dad said:

"There is virtually no information currently available to fathers in an appealing form. Yet dads want to be fully informed so that they can care confidently for their children and for their partners. Dad is a bold attempt to tackle the real lives of real men in a world where fathers play a crucial role in family life."

Peter Howarth of Show Media Ltd said:

"There are 22 million men of fathering age in the UK, but to read the current men’s magazines you would think that none of these men is thinking about having children. With Dad we are targeting men who feel ignored and want entertaining information that neither patronizes them nor preaches at them." 

Publication of Dad magazine has been supported by advice from a series of experts in child and women’s health, including the Royal College of Midwives, the Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association and the Equal Opportunities Commission.

Anna Daley, Professional Officer (Scotland) for the Community Practitioners & Health Visitors Association, said:

"The tenacity shown to get this initiative started and the quality of the finished product can only be of benefit to mums, dads and children. Hopefully professionals will see this magazine as a highly useful resource that can be integrated into good practice. It should raise awareness among professionals about the contribution that dads can make to improving the quality of life for mums and children."

Dr Miriam Stoppard, writer on pregnancy and parenting, said:

"Kids need dads. The involvement of fathers in childcare has a huge impact on the well-being of children and should start right at the beginning. Currently there is no easily accessible information catering for new fathers and they must have it. A guide for fathers is a very important new development."

A research paper, What Good Are Dads? (2000) by Charlie Lewis, Professor of Developmental Psychology at Lancaster University, found that where fathers are involved, breast-feeding is more successful, post-natal depression reduced, children are more successful at examinations at 16 and are less likely to have a criminal record at 21.

Fathers shown proofs of Dad magazine pre-launch in independent trials said:

"Breastfeeding is a taboo subject – it’s not the sort of thing I would come out and ask about. It’s easier to come and read it in a magazine."

"This is the first I knew about paternity leave."

"Information-wise, it’s good right through to the birth. It means you are ready, getting insight into what you need to do."

"It’s good to see different perspectives on how your organise things. It doesn’t just have to be a man working his guts out and the missus at home with the kids."

"You learn that if the wife doesn’t want to have sex, it’s normal, it’s not you. That’s not the sort of thing you ask in the pub but you’re picking up that everyone else is like this too."

Notes to editors:

Copies of the first edition of Dad magazine are obtainable free at selected UK hospitals and from www.fatherhoodinstitute.org at £2+p&p. The second edition, out in October 2003 will be 132 pages long and available additionally from WH Smith’s at £2.50 per copy.

Fathers Direct is the national information centre on fatherhood. A charity founded in 1998 by a group of fathers and mothers, it supports good relationships between men and their children. It is financed through professional training and publishing as well via grants from public, private and charitable sources including the Home Office.
Fathers Direct, Herald House, Lambs Passage, Bunhill Row, London EC1Y 8TQ. 020 7920 9491 www.fatherhoodinstitute.org enquiries@fathersdirect.com

Show Media Ltd is a new magazine publishing house, headed by Peter Howarth, former editor of Esquire and Arena magazine.