Basically, biologically we're a bit crap

3. Dads are still encouraged to feel like outsiders.

Think about almost every support network available to new parents and you will see what I mean ... Mumsnet, netmums, madeformums; forums that discuss parenting issues but encourage (if by name alone) the idea that nappy changing and weaning, and all that, is mum stuff.

These support networks are crucial, of course – and mums deserve them. They still take the lioness's share of the hard bits, not least pregnancy and giving birth. But you can see how dads feel a bit like outsiders from the off, which possibly contributes to their general crapness.

4. Dads are new to all this

Women, in the west at least, have long been responsible for child-rearing. So, for millennia, knowledge and wisdom about all this stuff has been passed down the female line; men just don't yet have the generational experience of hands-on daddying to draw upon.

It's useful to remember that previous generations of men didn't set foot in the delivery room. The closest my own dad ever got to changing a nappy was shouting at my mum when he could smell something bad.

So, there are my excuses. And maybe that's all they are. Excuses. But, here's the thing: yes we're crap but we're getting better. We are an improvement on the absent daddies of previous generations. And maybe, just maybe, crappy daddies are the forerunners to the awesome fathers of the future.