There is something really exciting about the Christmas – New Year period. It marks the start of a New Year and a whole host of opportunities for you and your family. New Year’s Day signals a chance for you to break with the past and start afresh. This is a day to be finished with discouragement from any past failure as a father and husband and move on to higher ground. ...

It’s always an interesting thing, gauging how much people engage with an issue or an idea. Sometimes you’d think that one thing would be wildly popular and it flops, other times you think it’s an absolute stinker, yet it grabs people’s attention and becomes a runaway success. This is especially true on the internet, a place where pictures of cats seem to rate higher than stories about real life heroes much ...

Some years ago our eldest son, 23 years old, got married to the love of his life. If the wedding was any indication, they would have had a great time together on their honeymoon in Vanuatu.  They came back glowing and it wasn’t just from the sun.  Young love is such a beautiful thing. For the record it is important not to forget it. The number of children living in our ...

I received an early morning phone call from a producer on 5AA radio station in Adelaide, wanting an interview with someone from Dads4Kids. They wanted a comment on the famous Adelaide Football coach who had been murdered by his son. I hesitantly said ‘yes’, and then quickly started a Google search to find out more about the horrific crime. It seems that there had been some form of confrontation in the ...

There is a war on men but the greatest perpetrators are the men themselves. As Walt Kelly once said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Our single greatest enemy is our own passivity – mine included. Daily, I make the decision as Robert Lewis says, to “reject passivity.” That is why you are getting this newsletter. The number one objection women have about husbands is their passivity. I ...

This week Dads4Kids launches its annual end of financial year ‘Help the Children’ Appeal. One great reason to give to the ‘Help the Children’ Appeal is because Dads4Kids is helping dads live longer than in years gone by. Last year, on 6 November 2014, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released an important news item: “Aussie males born from now on could plan on receiving a ‘Happy 80th Birthday’ card, as ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. ...

Manvotionals is the title of a book that grips you right away if your passion is to be a good father and husband. Every man knows that to be a good father you must first become a good man. Manhood matters, but herein lies the challenge. That is where Brett and Kate McKay’s book Manvotionals comes into the picture. My wife got it for me for my birthday and I read ...

War stories have always caught my attention, especially manly acts of courage and chivalry. Maybe others feel like me and that is why the Art of Manliness featured Adam Makos, the writer of ‘A Higher Call’ in a recent podcast with a fuller story about the book on their blog. Alison, my wife, knowing how much I love inspirational stories, borrowed the book from the local library over the holiday period. ...

Sun Tzu was the general of an army in ancient China in 600 BC. I have heard about his writings for over 30 years. This Christmas I received a copy of the Art of War by Sun Tzu. It was exciting to read the book for myself for the first time. Many would argue he was a great philosopher and psychologist as well as being a great general. I was struck ...

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 ...

It is that time of year again and we are getting emails from all over the world. Yes, it’s International Men’s Day on 19 November 2014. Why should we be getting emails? Well, Dads4Kids has been and still is the digital driving force behind International Men’s Day. The team behind Dads4Kids registered www.internationalmensday.com  on 13 June 2008 with the purpose of building a website and producing videos to help promote and ...

“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread” could well apply to the team behind the formation of Dads4Kids. Our dream was simply to encourage, resource and inspire dads to be the best fathers in the world for their children. Such projects are easier said than done, but nothing could have prepared us for the hostility to all things ‘father. Our first TV adverts for Father’s Day 2002 were threatened with ...

Well I got my card in the mail today, and I don’t mean a Father’s Day card. I am now, according to the NSW Government ‘a senior’. Because so much of our work is voluntary my wife put me in for a seniors card. It gives me some discounts for train travel and a few other privileges but I must admit I preferred my non-senior status, but at 60 my wife ...

Sociologist David Papenoe said that no civilisation ever survived after its family life deteriorated. But if you don’t believe him, listen to GK Chesterton, “This triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilisations which disregard it.” If three words could ever sum up the work of Dads4Kids it would be ‘father, mother, child’. These three words are the foundation for everything we know. ...

I am getting older, so my testosterone is dropping, but when I see a naked woman, it is hard not to look twice. The trouble is that these days, naked women are everywhere and they always seem to be looking straight back at me. When I go to the newsagents to buy my daily copy of the Australian, the naked women on the news stand are always looking at me.   When ...