Being Brad

Wondering if you are going to be a decent father is a question I have asked myself plenty of times throughout this adventure, and it is a question I am sure I'll be asking myself for the next 50 years. Trying to be the perfect parents can leave many of us in despair when things don't go to plan. Just as so many young women blindly chase the Hollywood vision of what it is to be a woman, so too have I found that celebrity fatherhood is influencing my perceptions of what it is to be a father.

Brad Pitt is the perfect example. Now Brad and I don't go way back, and I'm not catching up with him for coffee THIS weekend, so all I know about his life comes from his films, the paparazzi and media. He seems to have a perfect life: Hollywood career, Ange by his side, (hey I've got Kos, no contest there) but what I have found most interesting lately is that his fatherhood is being focused on more and more. He is presented as the loving husband and caring father (I'm sure he is) to the Nth degree. He dotes on his children (how many is it now? are we into double figures?) and is regularly photographed with sons and daughters in tow heading down to the park etc. This protrayal of fatherhood will be easy to follow. Perhaps I need to work on my abs and my piercing blue eyes a bit more, but heading down to the park with kids in hand is the easy part.

The guidance, education and discipline of a child is what will make this journey all the more exciting, scary and intriguing. I'm still trying to guide, educate and discipline myself (only 3 more biscuits!) let alone a child who I'll be responsible for. I guess you learn along the way and remember all the things your parents did when you were younger to try and instill a sense of the world into your child. Who knows if Brad completes all of these successfully at home? He may just pass the kids to the au pair and head over to Clooney's pad for some poker while Ange gets some more GPS co-ordinates tattooed to her shoulder.

I think the expectations are high, but as long as father's do their best the kids will be ok. We may not be a glitzy as Brad and Ange when they walk their kids to the park or the latest premiere, with our child's bottles, nappies, and dirty clothing hanging off the pram, but the pride in our kids will certainly be just as much as any other parent's.