Daddy Stroller Social Club offers Chicago fathers a space to connect and heal

CHICAGO (WGN) — The Daddy Stroller Social Club is a growing community in Washington Park built on the bond of being dads.

“My kids are so excited,” Tramel Jones said. “They said, ‘Daddy stroll’ as soon as they woke up this morning.”

The club began in Dallas about three years ago and now has taken on a life of its own with chapters across the country. Jones leads the club’s Chicago chapter, which meets about once a month.

“I’ve seen our group in Dallas go from about five dads to hundreds and it’s a beautiful experience, a beautiful sight,” he said. “Just having tat connection, that’s something great so I wanted to bring that here to Chicago.”

The camaraderie is a collective show of support for a serious issue very often overlooked after a baby is born.

“When men have children, they’re expected to just do the same thing they were always doing but some people don’t really deal with their emotional stress that they have,” Jones said.

While moms are included in the conversation about the signs of postpartum depression and anxiety, dads sometimes are not. Yet an NIH study found that upwards of 10 percent of fathers were found to have some form of it.

“There’s kind of a point where you’re not allowed to talk about how you feel, you’re just supposed to suck it up and at least having a group of guys to chat about our shared experience, that helps a lot,” Jones said.

The Daddy Stroller Social Club is one way to move, talk and show support — dad to dad.

“It’s a brotherhood and it’s not race based. It’s a fatherhood, we’re all dads and we all have that shared experience of wanting to take care of our children,” Jones said.

For more information on the Daddy Stoller Social Club, click here.