As a man, I can speak to this deficit of male friendship. Many of us can say hello in passing, talk about the weather, and maybe discuss the latest sports news, but how many of our connections truly care about us and would be there when we need them?

Who are your marriage role models? The number of couples choosing to get married is plummeting. Good, solid marriages are less common than they used to be. Maybe YOUR marriage has been a role model for others – or maybe you would like to be.

When I speak to groups of dads, I often bring up generational family issues to try to help them gain a better perspective on their own challenges. I ask a series of questions to bring these issues regarding their fathering heritage to the surface.

Poppy prevailed and received custody, becoming the first man in Australia to win custody, and therefore, setting the precedent for the future of men’s rights in Australia.

Since 2004, Dads4Kids founder Warwick Marsh and a fantastic team of volunteers have hosted the annual Dads4Kids Fun Camp. As the name suggests, it’s all about dads and their kids camping together and having fun.

When your children have their own children, you get a promotion and join the elite group known as grandfathers. This elevation provides you with a whole new set of responsibilities, opportunities and joys.

“No generation knows better than ours the terrible consequences of growing up without a father. Fatherless boys are far more likely to grow up and commit violent crime, mistreat women, and act out against society in every other way. Girls who do not have a father to honour — and, hopefully, to love as well — are more likely to seek the wrong men and to be promiscuous at an early ...

2018 was a breakthrough year for me. The preceding few years had been particularly difficult, thanks to some bad decisions on my part, both in business and in my relationships. Looking back, I had fallen into passivity and failed to see the warning signs around me. Even when I was paying attention, I was slow to take action, and came close to losing my marriage and everything I had worked for. ...

Grief is like being “concussed, or slightly drunk”, C.S Lewis mused. It is, he added, an “invisible blanket between the world and me… her absence is like the sky, spread over everything”. Imagining marriage as one ship, C.S. Lewis wrote, “the starboard engine has gone. I, the port engine, must chug along somehow till we make harbour. Or rather, till the journey ends.” Vulnerable and mourning the loss of his wife, ...

Recently I caught a Diamond Python on my daily prayer walk in the rainforest at Mt Kembla, near where I live in Wollongong, Australia. Someone asked me, “Why did you catch it?” That is a good question. If the truth is to be known, I cannot help myself. I love snakes. Think of it as an unusual addiction. It is part of our Marsh family heritage. It must be embedded in ...

I’m a first-time Nonna — however, my relationship with my new granddaughter is a long-distance one (my son and daughter-in-law live in California). But last week, they came home on vacation! I got to hold her tight against my chest and hear her breathe, I got to feel her soft skin, I got to smell her and listen to her voice. I got to look into her big blue eyes — ...

I’m usually a lot better prepared for Christmas. Not this year. This year, the week to trump all weeks caught us off-guard. We missed a beat or two in preparation for the only few weeks capable of slowing down the Western world. The weeks that remind the Scrooges and time-poor alike that life is more than hyper-consumerism and a dreary, soul-sucking 8-5 existence. A rushed Christmas is not really Christmas at ...

We remember sitting with a young couple who were locked in combat. She was prone to reactive outbursts and he was mystified as to what he was doing to trigger it. As we probed her about her family of origin, the penny dropped: she was repeating a relationship pattern that she had established with her mother. With this new insight, the couple was able to identify her conflict preconditions which equipped ...

Research shows that there are some basic habits that combine to make a winning formula for families with successful, well-adjusted children who will flourish in life. “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated,” are the wise words of Confucius. Albert Einstein said it this way: “Everything should be made as simple as possible but not simpler.” And one final word of wisdom from Steve Jobs is, “Simple ...

In a culture that glorifies youth and sanctions the euthanising of the sick and elderly, it’s easy to lose sight of the gift of seniors. Here are three ways that senior couples make marriage better for all of us. Earlier this year, Pope Francis released a series of homilies on the elderly. Each one explores a theme based on a significant figure in the scriptures, including Naomi, Joachim and Anne, Simeon ...

This Father’s Day Chocolate Plane Craft is easy for kids to make as an edible gift for Dad! Am I the only one who sometimes struggles to find the right gift for Father’s Day? Whether it’s for my dad or my husband, they both like practical gifts, but sometimes I want to give them something a bit more special. I asked my dad while we were working if he wanted anything ...

An inventive dad from the UK is using an FV106 Samson tank as the family car. Father-of-three Gary Freeland purchased the armoured recovery and reconnaissance vehicle for £20,000. Ever since, the light track FV106 has been the family’s favourite errand runabout. He told The Sun, “The tank is the best way to get the kids to go somewhere. They can’t wait to help me with the shopping when they know I ...

As fathers, we will leave a legacy for our children, whether good or ill. Start working on your legacy today, that your children may have a brighter tomorrow. I can remember, as if it were yesterday, the last day I spent with my Dad. We had an enjoyable day together meeting with business leaders in the Sydney CBD. Three days later, the police knocked on my door to notify me of ...

Fatherless father-of-two Rob Kenney has earned the “internet dad” title after millions tuned into a dad-help YouTube channel he created in April 2020. Kenney’s simple “Dad, How Do I?” vlog now has 3.83 million subscribers with over 18.4 million views. The 58-year-old social media “influencer’s” 30-year-old daughter Kristine Ponten attributes his popularity to COVID-19 lockdowns, stating,  “I don’t think it would’ve gone viral in another circumstance. It is definitely pandemic-specific regarding ...

Field trips bring lasting benefits for fathers and their children, providing life lessons and character-building opportunities. If like me, you were a kid in the 1980s, chances are you remember watching The Waltons. The two-story white house, Mary-Ellen, John-Boy, the sawmill, Ike and the general store; the yellow rumble-seat car, the ‘recipe,’ the Baldwin ladies, and John Walton Snr calling out “Good night, everybody” at the close of every episode. There ...