Richard Johnson is a 21-year-old man who’s had a rough start into fatherhood. Just one month after his daughter’s birth, his wife abandoned the two of them with no return in sight.
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Not having a clue how to be a parent, Richard turned to the internet, spending countless hours desperate to find guidance in raising his daughter, Persephone, the best way he possibly could. That’s when he came across a Facebook page named ‘Life of Dad.’
The group is focused on single males raising kids on their own. Johnson took any advice he could get and slowly but surely, his life began to change for the better. To say “Thank you,” Richard wrote an incredibly touching note to all of those contributing to ‘Life of Dad.’
Here is that note in full:
via Life of Dad“Life of Dad,
My name is Richard Johnson, and I’m a single father to a beautiful little girl named Persephone. Her mother left about a month after she was born. We still don’t know exactly why, but we suspect postpartum depression played a part. In the first few weeks of it being just her and me, I stumbled upon your page by accident. I was so nervous and scared about being a father in general, but now I was a single father and had to fulfill two roles. I wasn’t sure I could do it.
via Life of DadI had read every ‘new parent’ book I could find and clocked in over 1,000 hours in YouTube videos from everything to braiding hair and painting nails to theories on how to deal with common parental issues. I then started to watch your page more closely and saw that there were other fathers out there who were in similar predicaments as me.
via Life of DadThe page started to turn into a major confidence booster and really helped me through all of this.
We’re both very happy now and continue to grow together every day. She’s now 10 months, and I now get asked by my friends for parenting advice constantly. We’ve come a long way, my daughter and me, and we definitely owe part of that to this page and the people within it. So, from both of us, we wanted to thank you.
Sincerely,
Persephone & Richard Johnson”
via Life of Dad
Richard and Persephone’s story is one of love and triumph. Share their story to spread awareness that there are communities out there just waiting to help out!
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