Image: karan9198/Instagram
Remember the time when we heard that a mom’s duty was to bring up children and a dad’s duty was to earn a living? In today’s times, these age-old beliefs and stereotypes seem to be getting blurred with each passing day. Of late, women are donning the bread-winner hats whereas men seem to proudly flaunt their kitchen skills while also balancing their own careers. Most of us have been part of this transition phase and it seems like this is already bearing fruit. This little role reversal has begun reflecting in parenting skills of couples too. And now, even celebrity couples (read: daddies) are not shying away from flaunting their daddy-duty talents. One such celebrity who seems to be over the moon and enjoying his daddy duty is none other than popular television star – Karan Patel!
The Yeh Hai Mohabbatein star recently became a dad when he and his wife, Ankita Bhargava welcomed a beautiful baby girl on 20 December 2019. The couple aptly called her “Rabb Di Mehr”, meaning “blessing of the Lord”. Ever since then, the couple has been enjoying their parenthood to the T. While it’s new territory for both parents, it seems like Karan is doing great learning new skills on the job!
Image: karan9198/Instagram
Recently, in an interview with a leading publication, Karan opened up about how it was like being a dad to little Mehr. He talked about his new diaper-changing and swaddling skills. He was quite proud to reveal that he was now able to help his wife Ankita in swaddling the baby. He rightly pointed out that swaddling involved wrapping the baby in a muslin cloth. He was also adept at changing the baby’s diapers whenever Ankita was not around. Even on occasions where Ankita was around but caught up with something else, Karan usually pitched in to help her. Apart from helping Ankita, Karan said that these gestures were his way of saluting all the mothers of the world. Karan further elaborated on why he felt so. After getting a first-hand experience of seeing his wife attending to his daughter, he says he did not see pain and effort in it, but rather how strong a mother is from the inside. He found it commendable how a mother is willing to go the extra mile to bring up her small child, especially during the first 4 -5 months or at least until the time that the child starts crawling. Not to mention, the sleepless nights and the tremendous physical stress that a new mom faces. Having seen it all, Karan says that all men should just be thankful that they have their spouses or better halves doing one of the toughest jobs in the world.
Image: ankzbhargava/Instagram
In an earlier interview, soon after Mehr was born, Ankita had shared details about the early bonding between the father-daughter duo. She revealed how within days of her birth, Mehr had already become a ‘papa’s princess’. At that point, Ankita elaborated, Karan would often spend time playing with Mehr which made her responsive toward him. So much so that Mehr would fall asleep when Karan would ask her to! In fact, Karan was even able to calm her down whenever she got hyper. Since Ankita was unable to step out much, it was Karan who routinely shopped essentials for Mehr. From the day Mehr was born, it was only Karan who went on a shopping spree for her. Going by these revelations from Ankita, we can safely assume that Karan was always the ‘daddy-dearest’ in the making.
It is always heartening to see how the tides have changed in parenting nowadays. With more and more papas becoming involved in baby care – something that was considered a mommy’s bastion, we can only see the trend take a positive curve. And we can’t wait to hear more such great stories of it – just like Karan’s!
