Empowering Young Women to Embrace Their Maternal Instincts
Edited extract from her latest book expected to be published in late 2023. During a brief one-hour interstate flight I sat beside a young man (whom I shall call Ben) in his late twenties. He was married with a seven-month-old son. He’d recently started his own business in construction but ...
The Gift of an Ordinary Day
Silly giggles, 3 am feeds, bedtime cuddles, wiped tears and heart-to-hearts. These are the moments you’ll treasure when your little one is all grown up. I reckon that if anyone ever does invent a time machine, it’ll be a mum. After all, wouldn’t you give everything you own to have ...
Investment in Marriage
Anything worth having is never free. As Francine and I raced around on a typical Saturday afternoon, we found ourselves at the local shopping village together. Never one to waste the opportunity to gain a ‘good husband’ brownie point, I declared we should have a ‘coffee date’. Naturally, Francine obliged ...
A Letter To My Younger Self
Now I’m a Nonna and have raised my own children, I can relax and watch as my son parents his little girl. I think back to myself as a young mum and I wonder what words of wisdom I could share with her. The things I know now -- hmmm… ...
Empty Days, Lonely Nights
By Bettina Arndt -- The Sydney Morning Herald, April 28, 2014 A belief that children under three should not stay overnight with their separated or divorced father has underpinned our family law system for years. Has it all been a mistake? Bettina Arndt reports. Editor’s Note: Little has changed in ...
Every Parent Needs to Know This – Dr Jordan Peterson
Psychologist and renowned speaker Dr Jordan Peterson has some home truths for parents. Parenting is certainly challenging, but it is a tremendous privilege and responsibility that should not be subsumed by competing priorities. Bette Davis said, “If you have never been hated by your children, you haven’t been a parent.” ...
Dads Are Caregivers Too
If mothers and children are to be properly supported, educators and employers must recognise the vital role of fathers as caregivers too. “Schools and companies need to understand that dads can be parents too." An article recently published by Employee Benefit News rightly argued that ‘companies need to support working ...
Seven Signs of Fatherhood Fatigue
Fatigue can be fatal. Like grief, it hits every one of us in different ways. The best we can do is work the process by way of exercise, rest, and diet, in order to manage a way through it. While maintaining a healthy lifestyle adds another chore to the dad-list, ...
Preparing for Parenting
Before we become fathers, we are free to live like children ourselves. We work towards our own ends, we engage in relationships to satiate our own needs and desires, we enjoy leisure-some pursuits based entirely on what we enjoy. Fatherhood, by necessity, changes our focus and our lifestyle. For myself, ...
Babies That Talk – Learning Your Baby’s Language
Language is a wonderful thing. Through the power of language, one person can translate the most complex and nebulous of ideas into terms that another can understand. Thus, not only the understanding but also the realisation of a new or different concept can be transposed from one mind to another. ...
My Son is Ten Weeks Old — He’ll Be Prime Minister Someday
Editor's Note: This story is so lovely, we can't help but run it again. Feel free to send in your own stories of those early days! ~~~ It’s hard to believe so much time has passed. My son, Seth, is now ten weeks old, and so intelligent he’s bound to ...
My Baby Son – A Father’s Day Present from Heaven
It was 12:00am on Sunday, the 1st of September -- Father’s Day, to be precise. There I was, frantically gathering clothes and bits 'n' pieces according to my wife’s somewhat disjointed instruction. She was roaming about the house with a hot wheat sack across her rather overgrown abdomen. I couldn’t ...
Less is More
We may become overwhelmed by our family responsibilities and job expectations. Recall the adage that less is more, and prioritise your main role, in which you cannot be replaced. “You can’t have it all,” used to be a saying to describe women juggling careers and motherhood. Mothers are caught in ...
My Unlikely Journey Toward Happiness
During the first year of my daughter’s life, I found motherhood quite difficult. I felt swamped by my new role, and somewhere along the way, I lost myself. I felt I had been transformed into a breastfeeding, nappy-changing, baby-burping robot. I had put on about 30 kilos while pregnant and ...
Science of Dad and the ‘Father Effect’
When you analyse the social science about the importance of dads, it is unequivocal. Dads are vitally important to their children’s success in a myriad of ways. As George Herbert said, “One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters.” This is not speculation -- it is reality. Joshua A Krisch ...
Making It Through Postnatal Depression
Aussie mum Fiona lives in Switzerland with her hubby and beautiful 15-month-old girl. This Q&A reveals her struggle with postnatal depression and what helped her get through it: What do you love most about being a mum? Being my own boss -- no rules to follow except my own Cuddles ...
The Power of Commitment
Becoming a man and a father requires the ability to commit to your family and to sacrifice for them. Here is a frank interview of a dad who had to learn the virtue of commitment while on the job. Benjamin Franklin said, “Honesty is the best policy.” Zig Ziglar, one ...
Hope for New Mums
Postnatal depression is real, but take heart -- support is available. We need to support new mothers and fathers in their parenting journey. Parenting is challenging, and it takes a village to nurture a family. I remember watching an ad on TV a few weeks before I had my first ...
The Art of Fathering – from Naivety to Nappies
Nappy changing is an acquired skill. Once you have mastered this fine art, you can look forward to all the following levels of fatherhood! When it comes to the art and skill of fathering, a lot has changed since the ‘wonder years’ of our father’s or grandfathers’ generation. Oh, the ...
Watching Cricket Together
Life with a baby turns regular activities into entirely new and wonderful experiences. It’s hard to believe so much time has passed. My son, Seth, is now ten weeks old, and so intelligent he’s bound to make a future Prime Minister. (Not that I’m biased!) Recently, I reflected on my ...
New Dads Can Experience Pregnancy Hell Too
My wife went through pregnancy hell. And so did I, though my issues only surfaced years later. To all the dads out there: pregnancy may be tough for you too, and that's okay. If I made it, so will you. I remember the apprehension and nerves when my first child ...
You Won’t Believe What Love and Nurture Does to Your Child’s Brain
Some parents worry that too much nurture can make children co-dependent. But the risk of too little is worse. You won't believe what love and nurture does to your child's brain. "I wish I hadn't cuddled my babies so much," said no mother, ever! It's probably one piece of parenting ...
Toileting Your Kids: My Most Embarrassing Toilet Story Ever!
Whether you're toilet-training your kids or just trying to survive an outing to the shopping mall, we all have an embarrassing toilet story to tell! We all have embarrassing stories we’d rather not re-live ... right? I have one or two that made my cheeks burn red. Okay, maybe it’s ...
Tips for Transitioning Your Toddler to a Big Bed
Here are some tips from an experienced mother on how you can succeed in transitioning your toddler from a cot to a bed. This post has been written in collaboration with Sleepmaker This year, Phoebe will be out of a cot and into a bed and I’m not sure how ...
Perpetual Discontent: A Guide to Unlocking the Prison
When extreme perfectionism becomes embroiled in a family context, it invariably leads to deep discontent. This is part 1 in a series on perfectionism and how to find peace in the midst of it. When you get right down to it, most perfectionists are searching for peace. Basically, we want to ...
How to Be a Better Dad
Orlando Battista said, “The best inheritance a parent can give his children is a few minutes of his time each day.” Orlando Battista is right. Our children don’t want things, they want us. The team at our friends at the Fathering Centre in Kansas City USA had this to say ...
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The Daily Dad is a forum for Dads to be able to express themselves and encourage other dads. Mothers write articles as well. The opinions of the various writers are not necessarily the opinion of Dads4Kids. Read More
