Dropbar to dadbar – xdadbike

Been long time lurker and finally decided to pay my contribution to xdadbike.

I believe it's a 1994 specialized hardrock. $30 local pick up before pandemic happened. It was a fun grocery/burrito/donut/singletrack drop bar ripper.

When my little guy turned 1 yr old, it was time to dad mod the bike. It was very weird and awkward relearning how to stop with a child seat in front. No dropper post for the awkward sized seatpost so went with the HiteRite. Still funky reaching down to open the QR when coming to a stop. The only solution is to build another bike with standard 27.2 seatpost option. Project xdadbike 2.0 in the making..

Question for other xbikers with front child seat, do you think a rigid fork is too harsh for the little guy or should I look into a suspension fork?