Mothers are important! Let’s face the facts. You cannot have a father without a mother. Dads4Kids was founded in 2002 with the main purpose to improve the well-being of children by increasing the proportion of children growing up with involved, responsible, committed and loving fathers. Whilst our main vision is to support fathers our broad vision has always been to empower families. A family is made up of a mother and ...

Most weekday mornings Alison and I get up at about 5.40AM, push each other out of bed, and go for our early morning ‘Gym & Fitness Walk Session’, at least that’s what I call it. We walk down to the gym about 2-3 minutes and hold hands as we walk. We work out together and then we take a longer route back to our home all the while holding hands with ...

I can always remember Dr Bruce Robson, Australia’s best-selling fatherhood author, telling the guys at the ‘Good to Great’ Fatherhood Course about Janis Joplin’s father. For those who don’t know her musical history, Janis Joplin was one of the great female vocalists of the late sixties. The movie ‘The Rose’ released in 1979 was based on her life story. Rolling Stone magazine has placed her in the top 30 female vocalists ...

The first week of the New Year always offers us a period of great promise. It’s like the afterglow of Christmas. As a child growing up, I was always in awe of Christmas. It wasn’t just the presents but more the mystical sense of God’s closeness or presence. I can always remember when I was about ten years of age, a rough and tumble farmer talking about how he sensed the ...

The New Year holds promise for us all. A fresh beginning, a new start, a grand opportunity to start over. We reflect on what we have done and where we have been and what we should do. Sometimes this self-reflection can be discouraging but it is an activity that should be pursued nonetheless for the greater good of all. Many years ago, after some time of reflection and prayer in the ...

To our children, Christmas is one of those special times of the year. When I was growing up it was the best time of the year and was always a long time coming. New Year was always an anticlimax, despite my Scottish heritage and the importance of Hogmanay in that country. When I was 6 years old, we lived with our mum and grandmother in Edinburgh, Scotland. Christmases were cold and ...

Recently a friend of mine told me he was going in for surgery into the hospital. I offered to pray for him. He looked at me with eager and hopeful eyes which told me about the joy of my offer to him and the fear of the challenge ahead. The prospect of going under the knife myself, sent a shiver down my back. It is downright scary. You are totally in ...

Last weekend I attended a three day ‘Wild at Heart’ Bootcamp with John Eldridge and his team at Stanwell Tops, NSW. I was joined by over 400 other men from all over Australia and all over the world. Men came from USA, England, Canada, Europe and New Zealand. In the USA, one can only get into a Wild at Heart Bootcamp by random ballot, such is the demand. I have been ...

The title of this week’s blog, “Secrets of the Superdads”, is taken from the ABC Science Show screened several years ago. It is even more relevant today than the day it was made.  You know that the fatherhood revolution is well underway when the ABC screens a great feature on fatherhood like this one. Very uncharacteristic but most welcome! The good news is that you can see most of it on ...

“The revolution will not be televised but you will see it on YouTube”. This adaptation of Gil Scott-Heron’s famous saying from the seventies might be the best way of explaining the recent November 19 celebration of International Men’s Day around the world. The colloquialism, “You can’t keep a good man down”, is coming to life as the grass roots celebration of good men comes to life in the hearts and minds ...

The unknown soldier was buried in the ‘Hall of Memory’, at the Australian War Memorial on 11 November 1993. Twenty-five years and eight days since that solemn occasion we celebrate the life and death of the unknown father on International Men’s Day 19 November 2018. How did this happen? Just last week I received an unexpected video message on my phone from my friend, Rob Day. Video Message from Rob Day ...

The past few years have been an amazing journey for me, promoting International Men’s Day around the world. I have met some amazing men who are profoundly committed to the betterment of men, families and their respective nation’s societies around the world.   International Men’s Day 2018 Promo I have had interactions with men from Canada, USA, UK, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Malta, Israel, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Singapore, Zimbabwe, ...

Our children are waiting for International Men’s Day on 19 November 2018. Now there are only 15 sleeps to go. Why are they waiting? Our children are waiting for good leadership from their Dads. To be a father is to be a leader. Men are leaders and must accept the responsibilities of leadership in society. Women are leaders too but if men don’t lead in the right way along with women, ...

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men”, are the insightful words of Frederick Douglass. These words are very relevant to our mission to support and help men. International Men’s Day on the 19 November is now only 22 sleeps away. The team at Dads4Kids are proud to announce the release of the new IMD website celebrating this year’s theme of ‘Positive Male Role Models’. See our ...

André Maurois said, “Marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day”. No truer words were ever spoken. André’s full quote is even more revealing. “Marriage is not something that can be accomplished all at once; it has to be constantly re-accomplished. A couple must never indulge in idle tranquillity with the remark; ‘The game is won; let’s relax’. The game is never won. The chances of life are such ...

As a young boy I lived at one time in an old red brick home in Sydney in a suburb called Croydon. Every night, before bed time, my little brother and I would rush dad and sing him a song: “Tell us a story, tell us a story, tell us a story before we go to bed. You said you would, you know you should, we are ready now, so please ...

Sometime ago the whole nation was moved by the story of a brave and resolute father who set out to find his little boy lost, or should I say, abducted? This same father cycled 6,500 kilometres through eight different countries throughout Europe to find his son. His son, who had been secretly abducted by his mother on 24th April 2008 and removed from Australia under false pretence. For 2½ years Ken ...

We stepped into the gym office where my wife and I work out most mornings between 6AM and 7Am. The young vivacious 22 year old gym instructor was visibly shaken so we asked her what was the matter? She poured out her tale of woe. Mary (not her real name) is a fourth year trainee teacher. She was at the tail end of a traumatic prac experience at a public school ...

Today we give you advance notice of an exciting development with Dads4Kids. As a faithful reader/subscriber to the weekly blog we also want to give you access to a very special introductory offer, but more about that later. Courageous Online Fathering Course promo The Courageous Online Fathering Course is being officially released today, Sunday 23 September 2018. The team at Dads4Kids has been working on the Courageous Online Fathering Course for ...

Life is a journey. So is being a Dad. I know so much more now than I did when my children were young, but I am still learning. People often say, “How did you raise such great children?” My wife and I look at each other with a look of amazement because we both know the many mistakes we made as parents. We reply quite seriously that our children make us ...