It’s that time of year again.  You can go to the shopping mall and listen to carols while you shop. You can even get your photo taken with Santa.  Christmas can be a very difficult time of the year for single fathers or for children who can’t see their mothers or fathers. Mostly it’s the children who can’t see their dads who find it the hardest because of the innate bias ...

If you are like me, you care about Australia and you would like to do something to make things better, not only for your children but for the community as a whole. The reality is that in many ways we are more connected than we have ever been through social media, but less connected at a human level. As Jay Bayer points out so well in his article, ‘Social media, Pretend ...

‘Good Dads Great Dads – Footsteps Worth Following’ is the name of a fantastic book by Mal White.  The forward says it all: “I dedicate this book to my three sons; Jordan, Jesse and Josiah. You have taught me how wonderful it is to be a dad.” The ‘In Memory’ part really got to me: “To my dad, I wish with all my heart you did not die so young. (55 ...

One of the ways International Men’s Day was celebrated, on Tuesday 19 November 2013, was by holding a Men and Fathers’ Strategic Roundtable at Parliament House, Canberra. Thirty-three delegates from many parts of the men and fathers’ movement actively participated. Three of the delegates were indigenous, seven were women and a few others came as observers. During the lunch break, Carolyn Managh from M&C Saatchi released The Modern [Aussie] Man White ...

It is International Men’s Day on Tuesday 19 November. See the promo video and for a laugh check out this funny video put together a few years ago. Celebrate this day in whatever way you can. The theme this year is “Keeping Men and Boys Safe” and the five challenges are: Tackling male suicide Keeping men and boys safe to allow them to become tomorrow’s role models End tolerance of violence towards ...

Last week I made my annual mancation to the giant man cave at Hillsong Men’s Conference with 3,500 other men from all over Australia.  It is something else to hear 3,500 men singing at the top of their lungs and to receive great practical teaching from the bible on how to man up, not to mention helping raise over $100,000 to help fight sex trafficking. If what we do doesn’t help ...

Earlier this year, I was contacted by Stuart Barlo from Lismore. He asked if I would come and speak at the inaugural district Lismore Man Day Conference. Stuart has been receiving our weekly Dads4Kids newsletter to encourage dads for almost ten years. He has been reading the jokes for all that time, and still gets a laugh, which I think is good news. I was humbled by the invitation, so after ...

It’s hard to hold back the tears when a man starts being really honest and speaking from his heart. This is especially the case when that same man has just finished the first Good to Great Course to be completed outside the Sydney-Wollongong region. It is even more exciting when that man tells you that his whole relationship with his wife and children has been revolutionised by completing the Dads4Kids Good ...

Life has its challenges, and being a father compounds those challenges.  Someone has got to be the leader in the family.  The buck has got to stop with someone. Herein lies the challenge. I believe that fathers are called to be leaders in love.  Being a leader requires making decisions on behalf of those you lead that are open to question.  It also requires that you are prepared to take the ...

My father gets a faraway look in his eye that’s unmistakeable.  As his craggy face turns towards the horizon and his eyes seek out the glint of snow-capped peaks, we all know what he is thinking.  Mountaintops have always had that magnetic effect on him. The feature story in a Reader’s Digest began with the above quote.  It was a most interesting article about Edmund Hillary written by his son Peter ...

The Dad Dilemma is the title of an article in The Age about the challenges of child birth. Thea O’Connor, the writer, says, “Most Australian men are present and active at the birth of their children. But not everyone believes this is a good thing.” Having been present for the births of my five children, I quickly asked my wife for her opinion. She matter-of-factly stated, “You helped make the baby, ...

It is so hard to explain fatherhood and the many emotions it entails, but Andrew Lansdown, from Perth, has done a cracking job. His new book of poems called ‘Gestures of Love – the Fatherhood Poems’ is full of moments and emotions experienced by fathers the world over. Les Murray, arguably Australia’s greatest living poet, writes: “Many of Andrew Lansdown’s poems have to power to bless, to unsettle now with mysterious ...

On Australia’s federal election night (7 September 2013), I received an excited phone call from James Adams, one of the fathers behind Fathers4Equality. As I missed his call, he later expressed his thoughts in text: “Did you hear Abbott’s acceptance speech?  Of three aims he promised to support ‘our forgotten families’. F***king really great news! We have worked long and hard to protect children and return honesty and balance between the ...

I can remember getting off the boat at Circular Quay, Sydney. I was 8 years old and my brother was 6 years old. My mother had ‘taken’ us away to Scotland because of marital disharmony, and we had lived with our grandmother for two years in Edinburgh. This was the second time. When I was young I thought all children lived with their grandmother and apart from their father. Normality is ...

Father’s Day really is one of the great days of the year, along with Mother’s Day. Dads should not be afraid to enjoy their fifteen minutes of fame. Whatever you do this Father’s Day, make sure you appreciate your children. They should be the major benefactors of your Dadness, and I don’t mean just the Dad-jokes. If you would like to help out with our Box of Kisses Father’s Day Appeal ...

I know many men who feel uncomfortable with the attention that they get on Father’s Day. I guess for many years as a father, I was one of those. I was very hesitant to celebrate Father’s Day. Many years ago I had the same negative attitude to Christmas Day, because of all the crass commercialism. I changed, you can too. As a man once said, “When you eat the chicken, make ...

Men are leaders. They will either lead goodly or badly. For almost 40 years men have been demonised by radical feminists and a compliant media because the radical feminists have rightly observed that almost all of the world’s problems have come from inerrant men. Look at the long list of dictators responsible for the deaths of 153 million people in the 20th Century. All of them (top 36) are men. Mao ...

I had a call this week from a female Sunday Telegraph reporter, doing a story on Father’s Day, which is celebrated in Australia on 1st September 2013.  The Sunday Telegraph is Australia’s biggest selling newspaper. She asked me two questions. The first was: What is the state of fatherhood in Australia? My answer to this sort of topic always finds me quoting the Charles Dicken’s novel, “It is the best of ...

We recently moved house. The house we had been renting for 13 years was sold, and there was no other option. According to the USA Employee Relations Council, moving house is the third most stressful event in life, following death and divorce. Other lists put it lower, but whatever the case, it usually makes the top ten of life’s worst events. Moving house is stressful because you have to make decisions ...

We recently moved house. The house we had been renting for 13 years was sold and there was no other option. According to the USA Employee Relations Council, moving house is the third most stressful event in life, following death and divorce. Other lists put it lower, but whatever the case, it usually makes the top ten of life’s worst events. Moving house is stressful because you have to make decisions ...