If there is just ONE THING you have on hand to give to new dads, I encourage you to have the "Help Me Grow Guide: The First Year". It’s an easy way to bring dads into the wonderful life of their child and encourage their participation right from the start.

Encouraging your kids about good behaviour is one of the most effective ways to train, or disciple, your children.

The toys my 14-month-old chooses to play with confirms my suspicion that girls and boys are born with in-built predispositions towards different activities and skills.

Twelve weeks ago, my wife, my 12-month-old daughter, and I packed up our apartment in the United States for Squish’s biggest adventure yet — three months of travel, missions and adventure from the Great Lakes to Sydney, Australia and the jungles of Indonesia.

Loving needs to be unconditional. That’s what we’re all called to do as husbands and fathers. When a family member has a need, we take action. Even if it’s inconvenient! Love is more about commitment than feelings. But thankfully, the loving feelings will often follow the loving actions.

One of the highlights for us has been watching our little Squish enjoy her time in the Early Learning Centre — a school we initially built for other children, but that our own daughter now attends!

The West’s fertility crisis is ultimately an identity crisis. If Western civilisation is fundamentally oppressive, why would we want to perpetuate our existence? If we Westerners are destroying the planet, why should we continue populating it?

Three years and three months after we began trying, Angie is finally pregnant! In the end, Angie and I cannot take credit for this miracle of pregnancy. There are no silver bullets, but there were three things that seem to have made a big difference in our case.

With so many rapid geographical and cultural changes, the learning curve has been steep, both for us as parents and for our 13-month-old daughter. Here are three tips from our travels so far for navigating cross-cultural travel with your baby.

This weekend, Squish met her Australian cousins for the first time, and the experience was as fun as we had anticipated, for babies and parents alike. To set the scene, let me tell you a bit about my family.

Over the course of this guide, we'll break down the different areas of your baby's development and what to expect by the time you have a three-month-old.

Disagreements and tension with our children’s mother can’t help but spill over into how we relate to our kids. Our words and actions (or our inaction) can have powerful consequences for our families and children.

The lesson we learnt is not to worry too much about our child’s milestones, especially if they’re within the broad, acceptable ranges. Every child is different and might bring their various skills together at odd times and in odd combinations.

Being the father of a toddler came at me fast. Before the next big phase arrives, it’s time to slow down and reflect on four simple things I have learnt during Squish’s first year about some parenting basics.

Fatherhood is an incredibly rich and thoroughly immersive experience. It’s important to spend a little time to develop habits that will keep you healthy; this is something that can pay big dividends for you and your family in the long run!

It happened so quickly, I barely noticed the change. But all of a sudden, our little bundle of joy needs to be disciplined. Every moment of the day, she is finding ways to test boundaries and assert her independence.

Our little Squish is fast closing in on her first birthday. Where have these last 12 months gone? My first year of fatherhood has been better than I imagined. It comes with plenty of challenges, of course, but so does every path we choose in life.

For the last two weeks, Squish has been surrounded by all four of her grandparents. It was the first time Squish had met my mum and dad, who flew in to the United States all the way from Australia.

How do you maintain your motivation and commitment as a dad? According to our own research on fatherhood, high commitment is the number-one sign or predictor of an effective father. But there’s a problem… our commitment level erodes over time.

For most men, being a new father ignites some new feelings that don’t really come from any other experiences in life.