Next Saturday, 30th May 2015, we celebrate Australia’s 12th National Day of Thanksgiving. www.thanksgiving.org.au The National Day of Thanksgiving 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 earliest beginnings although I resigned from the Board last year to make way for new blood. I believe in ...

Being a father carries with it some pretty serious responsibilities. That is why it is so important to learn to laugh, and that’s why we at Dads4Kids publish weekly doses of humour for busy dads. In 1979 Norman Cousins wrote, ‘Anatomy of an Illness (As Perceived by the Patient)’. Cousins had Ankylosing Spondylitis, a rheumatoid-like disorder. Considering the hospital noisy and impersonal, Cousins checked into a hotel room where he read ...

Our life always speaks. Sometimes our life can speak louder in our death than in our actual living. For me, I am still working at the living part, but for Andrew Chan his death has touched a nation, and arguably the whole world, in a way that his living could not. Australia was plunged into deep sadness with the midnight execution of Andrew Chan and his seven friends by firing squad ...

I will never forget the story I once read of a young woman in China after World War II. The country was in turmoil, there were millions of refugees and it was the middle of winter. As the woman trudged through the snow in sub-zero temperatures she hugged close her six month old baby. The little protection she had from the cold was wrapped around her baby boy. Early the next ...

It’s been an inspiring week for me in more ways than one. I was one of more than 2 million people who attended a Dawn Service on Anzac Day. All over Australia records were broken. The Canberra War Memorial Dawn Service had 120,000 people attend, three times the number of last year. That means that almost one third of the total population of the city of Canberra (385,000) got out of ...

This coming Saturday marks the Anzac Centenary, which in more ways than one is ‘A Day to Remember’. The Centenary marks one hundred years of remembering our fathers who went off to war. Many did not return and many who did spent a life time recovering from the memory of the horrors of war. Anzac Day is bittersweet for me, just as it is for a lot of Australians. War brings ...

I just rang a friend who is going around Australia on a 4 and half month adventure with his family. They are just about to cross the Nullarbor Plain which contains the longest straight stretch (146.6 km) of road between Balladonia and Caiguna in the world. He and his wife, along with his 9 and 7 year old sons and 4 year old daughter are having the time of their lives. ...

I sometimes look at what is happening in the world and I get pretty depressed. Sometimes I question even the value of our work at Dads4Kids. It seems our world is hell-bent on total annihilation. The attacks on fatherhood and motherhood are growing at an alarming rate and no one blinks an eyelid. Anyone who declares that children need a mother and a father, like me, are obviously hate-mongers and bigots. ...

One of the biggest family holidays of the year is coming up this next weekend. It is a long weekend with a purpose. Our Easter holidays start on Good Friday (originally known as God Friday), going through Saturday to Easter Sunday with an extra Monday thrown in for good measure. Yes, we will all have our fill of Easter eggs and family fun, but there is a wonderful lesson to learn. ...

The joke that our photo and humour editor, Ron Hellyer, posted in the laughter section the other week sure put a smile on my face. I am equally sure that the vast majority of men who read our newsletter each week would also be able to smile and say, “I know that man”. No names will ever be mentioned of course, least of all yours or mine. To refresh your memory, ...

Steve Biddulph says, ‘love grows the brain’. Steve is right but love is one of those commodities that is in desperately short supply in the homes that many children inhabit. Currently one in three marriages fail. The rate is higher for second and third marriages. People say that kids are better off when unhappy parents divorce, but the social sciences show that the reverse is the case. If parents stick out ...

This week Alison and I completed part one of a five week marriage called The Marriage Kit by Dr Byron & Francine Pirola . . . and you know what? It works! Every year we have always tried to find a course or a seminar to do to fortify our marriage. As Andre Maurois said, “A successful marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day”. Alison and I believe ...

Family Rules are important, but there are some that I regret. Years ago I made a rule about my own conduct, hoping that others (hint, hint) who were then 10, 8, 6, and 3 would follow my family rule. My daughter had not yet been born. The rule was: public offence means public apology. This worked admirably when my second eldest, who was making gunpowder in his mother’s expensive Tupperware, had ...

Morgan Freeman’s words boomed out across the cinema,” This is a story about love, and like most love stories, it begins with utter foolishness.” What were we watching? The latest remake of ‘Gone with the Wind’, or a romantic version of ‘Pride and Prejudice’? No, not exactly. My wife and I were snuggling up together, in the cinema seats, to watch ‘The March of the Penguins’. Snuggling was the proverbial word ...

In a matter of days we celebrate Valentine’s Day by sending a card to the love of our life, buying flowers, chocolates or a host of other things to ‘prove’ our love for our one true love. Some people hate the rampant commercialism whilst others among us go along for the ride. I myself think that any custom that provokes us to keep the flame of love alive has got to ...

Stafano Guazzo said, “Among all the abuses of the world . . . there is none worse than a negligent father”. The scriptures say, “The sins of the father go down to the third and fourth generation”. When fathers go right, families go right. When fathers go wrong families go wrong. The results can be devastating. Author Philip Carlo has written a book called ‘The Ice Man – Confessions of a ...

Home for Dinner is a new book by Anne Fishel that will change your life if you read it. That is a pretty bold statement from a guy who has not read the book yet but I have got my order in. I ordered my own copy after reading Anne’s brilliant article called “Science Says Eat with your Kids”. I have covered this subject in numerous articles over the years, collating ...

Just as today is the first day of the rest of your life, so the New Year 2015 is the first year of the rest of your life. Why not make it the best year of your life? What do I mean by ‘the best’? Well, make it what you want it to be. There are three types of people in the world. Those who ‘make’ things happen, those who ‘watch’ ...

I have been receiving calls from all over the country from happy men and even more joyful wives. The last batch of the 10 week ‘Good to Great Fathering Courses’ are finishing up for the year and I am enjoying the stories of ‘Transformanation’ coming from the men who have completed the fathering course. Let me share a few: I spoke with a father of two who works in the building ...

International Men’s Day 2014 has just been celebrated this week on 19 November. It has been the most successful International Men’s Day ever in regards  to broad media attention. Typically India really takes the lead as far as media commentary goes. It was an Indian man Dr Jerome Teelucksingh, in Trinidad, who started the day but it fell into disrepair.  Thankfully an Indian woman rescued it in 2007. It is because ...