From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankar Vedantam.

This is my unsung hero, stories where one person reached out to help another in a time of need.

I do not know the full name of my unsung hero.

I...

She came straight up to me, she looked me in the eyes and she smiled.

So whoever you are, thank you so much.

Today on the show, we wanted to bring you a story to celebrate Father's Day.

This story comes from Darren Weyman.

In 2019, Darren's wife gave birth to a baby boy they named Hudson.

He was my first child and I was absolutely terrified of being a father. It was the biggest

barrier to me having kids because I didn't know if I was capable of being a good dad. My wife

was so sure about having kids. She seemed so ready and confident and I had no doubt that she would be a great mother,

which made me question myself even more.

There's so many books out there telling you how to parent,

particularly how to not ruin your child through their upbringing.

A lot of parents are happy to share their parenting horror stories or tips

that work for their kids that they assume will work for everyone else's kids when maybe that's

not always the case. When my son was born, I was standing in that delivery room. My mind

was on overload with all this information. Trying to get it right right trying to straighten it out in my

brain I must have been standing in that delivery room staring at my newborn son

and wife with a glazed look at my face because the moment had come and I

still felt as unprepared as ever the room was a rotating door of nurses and

...