They say that there are two things you can be sure of in life – death and taxes. Most of us run from them both for good reason. Death is the scary one, but I guess one gets more used to the idea the older they get. But it still seems to catch us by surprise. Several years ago I was surprised to learn that my good friend and colleague Jack ...

We racked our brains for weeks without a breakthrough! We knew we had a good story, but we didn’t know what to call it. Getting the name of your child right is important, but so is the name of a high impact life changing documentary. Once you have a name, you are usually stuck with it. In the world of documentaries and movies, getting the right name is everything. Think ‘Jaws’, ...

In 2009 we flew into USA on the day of Michael Jackson’s memorial service on the 7th July. It was a surreal feeling. There was a sadness on the plane that it was hard to put your finger on. Looking back I suspect many on that flight were actually going to the memorial service. Michael Jackson was extremely popular here in Australia, as he was around the world. Over 17,500 people ...

We are constantly bombarded about fatherhood and family myths by a media who live by the maxim, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story”. The end result? – the exotic and the statically minor always grab the headlines. The stories of the ordinary fathers who are providing, nurturing and caring for their children and their families are forgotten. What is even worse, fathers are maligned for ...

Before talking more about the fact that we believe Dads4Kids has saved the lives of 1,807 men over the last eight years, here’s a quick update on our progress toward the matching challenge of $23,000 … … We’re five days into the week-long matching period and we are about three quarters of the way to reaching the match amount.  REMEMBER: every gift given between now and next Thursday 30 June  — up to ...

I have a very close friend who is the managing director and part owner of a large software company with about 80 employees. Although a very busy man he is also a very committed dad, all at the same time. I was invited to his surprise 40th birthday party. His T-shirt said it all, “The first 40 Years of childhood are always the hardest”. We both played extensively with his new ...

Some time ago I received a request to speak at a Fair Divorce Forum at a local Leagues Club in Wollongong. When I first received this invitation, my inclination was to ‘not accept’ because I don’t believe that divorce can be fair. Life is not fair and neither is love. My good friend Jeff Dakers prevailed upon me to reconsider, and so I include the following excerpt from my speech given ...

We live in an increasingly bizarre world which is at War with itself, The war has been against women and mothers in particular. The war has shifted over the last several decades to be against men and fathers. Increasingly this war is being waged against our children too as this disturbing War on Our Children video demonstrates. This war is now on our doorsteps and in our schools and we must ...

Brendan Hayward is a brave young man who is again baring his soul to all my blog readers to help them understand how important they are to their children. I shared his story many years ago but good stories are worth repeating. Good stories that inspire give us all hope as fathers to “keep on keeping on” for our children and our families. Many children take their dad for granted. In ...

Next Saturday, 28 May 2016, we celebrate Australia’s thirteenth National Day of Thanks.  It is a day we can use to say ‘thank you’ to those around us. I am thankful to say that I have been privileged to be part of this national celebration from its early beginnings. For over almost two decades I have conducted seminars where I asked people to stand up and begin to say thank you ...

Music is a wonderful gift.  It can transport you to places you would never normally go.  You might say that I am a little biased, having spent half my life as a musician, songwriter and producer.  Some time ago, at a marriage retreat my wife and I attended, I heard heavenly music playing in the course breaks.  It was the angelic voice of Eva Cassidy singing Sting’s love song, ‘Fields of ...

When we were bringing up our boys in the eighties it was the vogue to suggest that boys and girls are trained to be the sex they represent by people’s expectations and gender manipulations. Almost anyone my age believed it. I carefully watched my own children’s behaviours and realised that I and my generation had believed a lie. I was both ashamed and angry at the same time. How could I ...

You don’t appreciate your own parents until you have your own children. The famous native-American quote comes to mind, “Don’t judge any man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins”. Maybe we could change the quote for Mother’s Day to something like this, “Don’t complain about your mother until you have changed two months of nappies and been woken up every night for 60 nights in a row”. Most ...

As I looked down the road into the sun, I saw the silhouettes of a man and a woman walking side by side. The man held a young two year old boy in his arms. The young boy reached and called out for his Mummy. Maybe I got it wrong though, because the next moment, when I looked again, I saw the young boy in his mother’s arms reaching out and ...

Editors Note: This is guest post from Ben Pratt good friend and a devoted father of four and adoring husband of the most beautiful woman in the world.   I love my family. Every day since my wife and I got married, I have told her that I love her. Every day since my children were born, I have told them the same. It’s a track record I want to keep ...

We must initiate the love revolution in our society by telling the truth. As George Orwell said, “In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

Henry Youngman, a comedian who was known as ‘King of the One Liners’ once said, “I was an atheist for a while but I gave it up, no holy-days.” Such a one liner about holy-days sums up the subject of this week’s Dads4Kids newsletter – Easter Family Holidays. Most of us celebrate Easter holidays but where did they come from and why do we celebrate them? Most countries in the world ...

The headline said, “Toddlers to be taught about cross-dressing in a controversial sex-ed program”. What really caught my attention was this nonsensical statement from Early Childhood Australia spokeswoman Claire McHugh. She said that the proposed sex-ed program would reduce domestic violence because ‘rigid views on gender’ were associated with violence and domestic violence. Let me paraphrase that piece of Orwellian double-speak just in case you don’t get it. People who believe ...

Brian Houston whom I would rate as a truly great leader, often says these words. “The best is yet to come.” He is relentlessly positive and is living proof that staying positive is the best way to ‘Love Live Lead’. The Warwick Marsh paraphrase of Brian’s words is there are “Better Times Ahead” but perhaps I stole them from the Black Sorrows. More on that later. If you are a father ...

Nelson Mandela said, “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” If that is the case, our society is sick beyond belief. Not only are some of our retail stores involved in promoting the overt sexualisation of our children, but government-funded programs in our schools are actively indoctrinating our children in subversive sexual ideologies. We can choose where our children ...