Most books teach you how to look stronger. North Cork dad Sean Conran has written one about becoming more dependable, drawing on his own experience of navigating fatherhood through some of the most difficult circumstances of his life.
Based in Fermoy and with roots around the Mallow area, Sean has turned that experience into The Harder to Kill Dad, a practical field manual for men preparing for fatherhood or already trying to navigate the reality of being a dad.
Sean is a father of two, with a third child on the way, but the newborn stage with his daughter proved particularly difficult. For six weeks, she screamed most nights, leaving Sean and his family dealing with relentless sleep deprivation and the uncertainty that comes with a baby who simply will not settle.
At the same time, the family was moving house and Sean was dealing with the loss of his own father.
With all of that happening within the same stretch, Sean admits he nearly lost the plot trying to hold everything together.
Rather than simply putting the experience behind him, he began writing down everything he wished someone had handed him before becoming a dad.
Those notes eventually became The Harder to Kill Dad.
The book is deliberately different from a traditional parenting guide. It is not a fitness book, nor is it a soft parenting manual. Instead, Sean describes it as practical preparation for the physical, mental and financial capacity needed before your family needs it most.
It is built from lived experience rather than theory.
The book covers strength, stress, sleep, finances and the practical chaos of the first month, while also looking at the wider demands of the first year.
It includes real “Dad Drill” scenarios for the moments that actually test you, along with practical tools including a hospital bag checklist, night-shift planner, financial preparation guidance and an emergency reference.
But at the heart of the book is a simple idea, fatherhood does not wait for you to be ready.
Sean isn’t trying to tell men how to become the perfect dad. Instead, the focus is on building enough spare capacity that, on the hardest days, your family still gets the best of you rather than what is left of you.
That message appears to be resonating locally.
The Harder to Kill Dad has already started gaining traction through Cork Facebook groups and word of mouth, with Sean receiving messages from people he had never met who have read the book.
Interestingly, the response has not been limited to fathers.
Several mothers who have read the book have told Sean that many of the experiences and lessons apply to them too. One reader told him she wished she had something similar when she became a mother herself.
While the title is aimed squarely at dads, the wider message is about preparing for one of the biggest and most unpredictable changes in life.
For Sean, that message comes from having lived through the reality himself: a screaming newborn, a house move and grief, all landing at once.
There is also a timely opportunity for local readers to pick up the book this week. The Harder to Kill Dad is available free on Amazon from August 20 to August 24.
The book is available here: The Harder to Kill Dad by Sean Conran on Amazon
For new dads, expectant parents, mothers supporting their partners, or anyone already in the thick of those difficult early months, Sean’s book offers something different from the usual parenting advice.
An honest account of the chaos, pressure and exhaustion that can come with becoming a parent, alongside practical tools designed to help families get through it.
Most books teach you how to look stronger. The Harder to Kill Dad is about becoming more dependable.
