Slinging London
From James Bond to Captain America, new fathers are taking on Piers Morgan and proving their masculinity by strapping little babies to their chests. Our writers weigh in
WHO wore i t b e t te r, Chris Evans or Daniel Craig? Chris Hemsworth knows how i t ’s h a n g i n g . Piers Morgan, unequivocally, does not. We are, of course, speaking of papoosegate, or the “dad-shaming” of James Bond, instigated by Morgan. He took to Twitter to castigate Craig’s use of a papoose to carry his child. “Oh 007... not you as well?!!!” he wrote of Craig’s babycarrying technique, adding, “#emasculatedBond.” Party lines seem largely to be Morgan vs everyone else. But is it emasculating? We asked four dads.
New dad rules
I hear stories of other parents driving their crying baby up and down the streets in the middle of the night to lull them into sleep.
Not so with our 12-week-old daughter. She rages when you put her into the car seat. The only thing that is almost guaranteed to get her to sleep is our sling, a BabyBjörn. Ignore Morgan’s disparaging tweets, the sling is an essential piece of dad kit.
It is the lynchpin of my evening operation. My wife goes to bed just after 9pm and I’m up with our daughter for the next hour to change her if she needs it, give her a final bottle, burp her and then put her down for the night.
The sling is crucial for this stage. Once I’ve strapped her in and started swaying or bobbing she will usually nod off