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doyin richards

Family

Sweet video shows dad get emotional after taking his 3-year-old to the dentist

"She's just sitting there…and the water works start coming..."

Image pulled from Youtube video.

Parenting is full of surprises

True

Parenting can be a little stressful. There's no checklist for how to do it perfectly.

As the father of two young daughters, Doyin Richards has a lot of experience in that department. Like most parents, he hopes he's doing it right. And like most parents, he has a little voice in his head that sometimes makes him second-guess his choices.

What if he's doing it wrong?

On his 3-year-old daughter's first trip to the dentist, Doyin was pretty worried she would freak out about the treatment. Of course, it turns out that the only person who lost their composure that day was him — when he realized she was totally fine and able to handle things herself.

Which made him realize that despite all his fears, he might actually be OK at this whole dad thing.

Watch Doyin try to hold it together while his daughter is totally chill at the dentist in this episode of "What Dads Do":

This article originally appeared on 08.23.16

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Doyin Richards will be excited when this video becomes irrelevant.

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Doyin Richards regularly does his two daughters' hair.

Three years ago, Doyin thought it would be fun to take a picture of him doing his oldest daughter's hair and send it to his wife. So he set up a timer and took a photo.

He also shared it on Facebook.

And then it went viral:

Doyin was surprised by the reaction to it. He was taken aback by how many people thought it was amazing that a dad would take the time to learn how to brush and style a girl's hair.

To anyone who is a parent of daughters, doing their hair is not necessarily an impressive feat, Doyin says. It's just part of doing your job as a parent.

Ever since that photo went viral though, he's been on a mission to normalize the idea of involved fathers.

As much as he loves celebrating dads who are involved in the day-to-day parenting of their kids, he hopes that eventually a day will come when the sight of a dad doing his daughter's hair isn't so shocking that it needs to be celebrated and applauded.

"We should celebrate these men. We have to normalize fatherhood," he explains. "My mission is for people to see my viral picture and be like, 'It's not a big deal.'"

Dads aren't babysitters. They are parents. It shouldn't be weird to see them doing the things that parents do.

Watch Doyin doing his daughters' hair in this video from Upworthy's original series "What Dads Do" here:

"Just grieve. It’s OK."

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When Doyin Richards and his wife started trying to have kids, he always assumed they'd have a boy.

He had some misconceptions about raising girls, he says.

"I didn’t know what it was going to be like raising a girl. ... Princess and all this nonsense I’m not interested in."

Then, his wife had a miscarriage, and his anxiety around the assigned gender of his child came to a sudden — and devastating — halt.

He struggled with the idea of being able to grieve. His wife had lived through the trauma of the miscarriage, and he knew he needed to be there for her.

But he also felt a pressure to not grieve himself. It's a response often ingrained in men: to be strong, to fit into the stereotypical box, and to not address the sadness that they feel when their partner miscarries.

The miscarriage completely shifted his perspective on parenting.

"It made me realize it’s not about gender. It’s about having a child to raise," he recalls. "Anything you can do with a boy, you can do with a girl."

The next time his wife got pregnant, he knew he wasn't going to take having a child for granted anymore. He's now the proud father of two amazing daughters and has dedicated his life and his work to championing involved fathers and making a space for men to share their feelings around fatherhood and parenting.

Hear Doyin share his story and his message to other men struggling to heal in the aftermath of miscarriage:

Or, as he puts it: "Just grieve. It’s OK."

Could you let other dads know that?

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doyin richards

Sweet video shows dad get emotional after taking his 3-year-old to the dentist

"She's just sitting there…and the water works start coming..."

Parenting can be a little stressful. There's no checklist for how to do it perfectly.

Watch Doyin try to hold it together while his daughter is totally chill at the dentist in this episode of "What Dads Do":

A photo of this dad doing his girl's hair went viral. Now he has something to say.

Doyin Richards will be excited when this video becomes irrelevant.

Doyin Richards regularly does his two daughters' hair.

Ever since that photo went viral though, he's been on a mission to normalize the idea of involved fathers.

Watch Doyin doing his daughters' hair in this video from Upworthy's original series "What Dads Do" here:

His wife had a miscarriage. He wants other dads to learn from his experience.

"Just grieve. It’s OK."

When Doyin Richards and his wife started trying to have kids, he always assumed they'd have a boy.

Hear Doyin share his story and his message to other men struggling to heal in the aftermath of miscarriage:

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