My wife said in a loud voice, “Someone’s got to take Melodie to school, she’s missed the bus”.  I immediately volunteered for a number of reasons.  Firstly, to help my wife who was working to a tight deadline in the office.  Secondly, because I needed to do something en-route to the school anyway.  Thirdly, I figured that it would be a good way to encourage my father/daughter relationship.  Imagine my surprise ...

Many years ago I received a message on the Dads4Kids answering service from a man in the middle of a marriage breakdown. It was a deep cry for help. His voice was quiet and determined and he alluded to the fact that he wanted to take his own life. I knew he was serious so I rang him back and left a message on his phone as he did not answer. ...

We celebrate International Men’s Day on Saturday 19 November 2016, but the next day, on 20 November 2016, we celebrate World Children’s Day. If you ask me which day is the greater I would say the second one because as Roland Leonhardt said, “Children bring us a piece of heaven on earth”. If you don’t trust Roland maybe you might listen to Carl Sandburg words of wisdom when he said, “A ...

Only thirteen more sleeps to one of the most exciting days of the year for us egocentric men besides Father’s Day. Don’t worry, I am only kidding about International Men’s Day being egocentric. After all, I was the guy who helped write the song, “It’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way”. Why are we so excited about International Men’s Day? Well if Dads4Kids isn’t, then who would ...

VISIT FROM THE MARRIAGE AUDITOR Imagine you received a phone call that went something like this:  “Mr & Mrs Herald, we need to make an appointment with you to do a ‘Marriage Audit’.  Can we make it 8.00pm tonight?  Thank you.  See you at 8.00pm.” Marriage Audit?  I’ve heard of a tax audit, but what on earth is a ‘Marriage Audit’?  8.00pm comes and the ‘Marriage Audit’ team arrive.  For 30-45 ...

A great poet once said, “Love is a many-splendored thing”. Whilst many of us would agree with Shakespeare, it seems that many would also agree with Eric Clapton when he sings, “Why does love got to be so sad?” Or maybe you feel more like the Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam when he sings in a song called Black  “love gone bad turned my world to black”? Several years ago my ...

What is it about us men? But maybe I am just talking to myself here. So sorry for bringing you into it. I have always had this attitude. It’s called ‘separation of duties’. Sort of like saying to my wife, “You do your job and I will do mine”. My wife only worked for the first three years of our marriage and so we tried to share home duties a bit ...

Many years ago I made a speech with my wife at a function in Parliament House, Canberra on the importance of mothers and fathers. Our goal was to encourage both the Liberal and Labor parties to value equally mothers and fathers after divorce, and not to follow the politically correct line that devalues fathers because of anti-male feminist ideology. The function my wife and I spoke at was the The National ...

Alison and I have always been passionate about having a good marriage and supporting and encouraging marriages everywhere. That passion is not getting weaker but it is getting stronger as we get older. Maybe my main motivation is the pain I experienced from growing up in a divided home: when Mum went her way for many years and Dad went his way. The trouble of course was that my brother and ...

People have said to me, “Warwick, if you could write a book about ‘How to Love a Woman’, you would be a millionaire overnight.” My problem is that every time I think I have learnt something about the art of loving a woman, and it is an art rather that a science, she changes, I change, the world changes and we are all back to square one again. The words of ...

Humour is usually the intersection of reality with the ridiculous. This can take many shapes and forms, but what I have noticed is that really good comedians are usually very good social commentators. I should have realised this the night I was doing a Fatherhood Seminar in Launceston. The title was ‘The Seven Secrets for Success”. I use the acrostic SUCCESS for the Fatherhood Seminar. When I first did this seminar, ...

By Sheila Wray Gregoire http://tolovehonorandvacuum.com/2012/07/men-heres-what-i-wish-i-could-say-to-you-about-sex/ Editors Note: This is probably the first time I have ever printed an article on my blog by a woman. But if you want to give advice to men about sex who better to ask than a woman. Only half the article is included so please go to Shelia’s great blog site to get the rest of this very timely information that will guarantee you more ...

Mark Latham, The Daily Telegraph May 31, 2016 12:00am Editors Comment: Mark Latham is a passionate father who does not suffer fools gladly. He is a very adroit commentator and his warning  at the end of the article that we are fighting for the future of civilisation is more than true. WHEN John Maynard Keynes declared “Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some ...

They sell books sometimes at the gym my wife and I go to. The other morning, always on the lookout for books for me, our readers and our grandchildren, my wife excitedly called me across to the gym book table. Look at this, she said, holding up a book of illustrated dad jokes by Katrina Germein called, “My Dad Thinks He’s Funny”. Whenever I say, “I’m hungry,” Dad says, “Hello Hungry. ...

Some time ago I came across a Tim Hawkins’ video on YouTube. Tim Hawkins is a musical comedian with a difference. He made up some very interesting new words to the Green Day song, “Time of Your Life” and renamed it ‘Things You Don’t Say to Your Wife.’ The second verse goes like this: I planned a hunting trip next week on your birthday. I didn’t ask you ‘cause I knew ...

Firstly I and the team at Dads4Kids wishes you a Happy Father’s Day! Secondly, we thank you for your support and encouragement to produce and get the Dads4kids ‘Love your Children’ Community Service Announcement adverts out to TV stations all over Australia. We have heard many reports of people seeing the new advertisement so far. Even people in Timor have reported seeing the Dads4Kids ad on Australian TV, broadcast from Darwin ...

Elizabeth Svoboda, the author of What Makes a Hero says, “New research is lending texture and credence to what generations of story tellers have known in their bones – that books, poems, movies and real life stories can affect the way we think and even, by extension, the way we act. As the late US poet laureate, Stanley Kunitz puts it in The Layers, “I have walked through many lives, some ...

Putting together the Dads4Kids Community Service Announcements is always an exciting time for me. It is an honour to film fathers in their natural habitat with their children. It is both an inspiring and humbling experience for me. The previous TV adverts would be hard to beat! In an eight-day period we videoed 24 fathers and their families in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Twenty fathers made the cut. Those ...

Editors Note: We congratulate  Anthony Albanese on his courage to share this powerful and personal story with the people of  Australia. We reprint the full article for our readers interest. It is ironic that Anthony Albanese can share such a commanding story with Australia that shows the desperate longing that each child has to know and beloved by their biological mother and father and yet deny that same right to children ...

Each week I try to be encouraging, but real. The trouble is the ‘real’ part has a way of whacking you in the side of the face when you least expect it. Many men have been whacked so many times that they just don’t want to get up off the floor and sometimes they can’t. Teaching men how to endure the fire and the rain of life is one of the ...