Rock October with us!

October is here, bringing cooler days, cosy jumpers, and plenty of exciting events for dads and families! This month, we’re proud to be supporting the Dad Shift campaign, which shines a light on the huge financial cost of having a baby compared to the very limited statutory paternity pay – an important conversation about fairness for families. We’re also standing alongside others at the Scotland Demands Better March in Edinburgh, calling for fairness, good jobs, and stronger communities. And of course, as Halloween approaches, our groups will be packed with spooky, fun-filled activities for little ones (and grown-ups too!). Check out our calendar or click the links below for up-to-date information!

We hope to see you soon!

Groups

If you are wanting to spend some quality time with your wee one(s) and chat with some other local dads, our groups are the place for you.

Most groups run every week but it’s always worth checking the calendar to make sure it’s on.

North Ayrshire: In Irvine we have weekly groups for Dads and their children on Sundays at 10.30am and the Three Towns Dads Group is on Wednesdays at 6.30pm.

Glasgow: In Maryhill we have a playgroup on every Saturday at 10am.

Edinburgh: In Gorgie we run playgroups every Saturday and Sunday at 10am. On Tuesday evening at 7pm is our Dads and Dice group - a games night for Dads with or without their babies.

Dundee: NEW** Group starts Saturday 20th September at the Boomerang Centre 10am-12noon.

You can sign up to come along to any of our groups: GroupSignUp and check the calendar to see it’s on: WhatsOn

Don’t forget our WhatsApp groups! If you’re not part of our community you can join here: WhatsApp

Trips

Edinburgh - Halloween Trail at the Royal Botanic Gardens! Sign up: Trail🎃

Edinburgh - Scotland Demands Better March! Join us: March

Halloween activities at our groups Saturday 25 and Sunday 26th October 🎃👻🧙

Workshops

We run free workshops regularly in our different locations across Scotland. There are a range of topics that we cover and this month we will be running:

Healthy Kids NEW - Just in time for the winter season come to our Childhood Illness Workshop with University of Edinburgh med students and learn how to manage sickness, prevent illness, and know when to get medical help on Tuesday 14th October 7pm at the Gorgie Mem. Mums, Dads and carers welcome. Sign up here: Healthy Kids

Hair Style Workshop – Our popular hair styling workshop is for dads to learn simple techniques look after and put up hair including pony tails and plaits. It’s on Saturday 18th October 10am at the Gorgie Mem. Sign up here: Edinburgh Hair

Dads Antenatal Workshop – Our Dads Antenatal workshops are here to support dads-to-be with practical skills, support and a space to ask any questions. You can find us in Edinburgh on 21th October 7pm, Dundee on 22nd October 7pm and Online on 28th October 7pm. Sign up here: Antenatal Edinburgh or AntenatalDundee or AntenatalOnline

You can find out more about all our workshops using the link here: Parenting Workshops

Other support

As always we’ll be supporting Young Dads in Edinburgh and Glasgow, New Dads through our PS service and families in Tayside and North Ayrshire.

September Round-up

Huge thanks to our Kiltwalkers in Edinburgh this month and to everyone who sponsored them ❤️ they raised £1,400 👏

We started a new Saturday playgroup in Dundee - thank you to our new Dundee Dads for coming along! We do hope to see you all again this month.

Thomas had his final send off - thank you to everyone who came along and Liann (one of our Trustees) for the awesome cake (see photos below). It was lovely to see some of our Dads there, past staff members and representatives from other organisations like NHS Lothian and Shared Parenting Scotland. Lots of you signed his card and it was really humbling to hear all of your amazing stories and how much Dads Rock means to you.

Thanks, as always, for your support — we couldn’t do any of this without you.

Here’s a round up of Septembers photos: