At Gallipoli on the morning of 9th August 1915, with a small party of soldiers, Aussie Dad and soldier Alfred Shout  charged down trenches strongly occupied by the enemy and personally threw four bombs among them, killing eight and routing the remainder.

In the afternoon of the same day, from the position gained in the morning, he captured a further length of trench under similar conditions and continued personally to bomb the enemy at close range, under very heavy fire, until he was severely wounded, losing his right hand and left eye. Alfred Shout did not recover from his wounds.

For his courageous action, Captain Alfred Shout received a posthumous Victoria Cross which read

“For most conspicuous bravery at Lone Pine Trenches, in the Gallipoli Peninsula.”

Hopefully we can take courage as fathers from Captain Shout in the battle against fatherlessness. In many ways this is a much harder battle to fight because the war against fatherlessness is largely unseen and requires our constant attention. Our first challenge is to “turn our own hearts toward our children”. As I said in a recent article, “I have met the enemy and the enemy is us”. Becoming the change we seek is the hardest part of winning the war.

The second part of the challenge is “helping to train and equip other men to turn their own hearts towards their own children”. That’s what the Dads4Kids Train the Trainer Summit 16 -18 May 2014 at Stanwell Tops, NSW is all about — training fathers to facilitate the Dads4Kids ‘Good to Great’ ten week Fathering Course.

In the battle against fatherlessness, our children are the victims. Fatherlessness has been shown to be a major contributing factor to adverse outcomes for our children in the following areas: health, education, IQ, social skills, employment with increased likelihood of drug abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, self harm, suicidal behaviour, criminal behaviour and prison incarceration.

Children with involved and committed fathers tend to do better in every way and in every measure. That is why this battle is such an important one to win for our children’s sake, because our children are our future. It is time to be inspired to Courageous Action on behalf of our children.

There are three ways to take Courageous Action to help Dads4Kids help the children of Australia.

GO, GIVE or SEND.

1. GO — Come yourself. Dads4Kids needs trainers to help change Australia, one father at a time. Training is FREE to approved Applicants. Read the below information about the Dads4Kids Train the Trainer Summit 16 -18 May 2014 at Stanwell Tops. Make your application — Click here.
2. GIVE — Dads4Kids offers the training for FREE. This intensive High Level Training costs thousands of dollars. Help us train other Dads. Even $20 can make a difference. Donations are Tax-Deductible: DONATE NOW.
3. SEND — You might be unable to come yourself, but you probably know several dads who want to help the children of Australia by training other fathers to be great dads. Please forward this invitation to them so they can make their own decision. They won’t GO!  if they don’t know.

Yours for our children

Warwick Marsh