Their smiles tell the story. Kids having fun camping, creating memories forever with their dads. It doesn’t get better than this!

Why are these dads and kids wearing bandanas and smiling from ear to ear? These pictures are from last year’s Dads4Kids Fun Camp, where a great time was had by all. With spring upon us and the weather here on the NSW South Coast warming up, planning is well underway for our 2025 Dads and Kids Fun Camp. Check out the video below to find out more:

As we often say here at Dads4Kids, kids spell L-O-V-E in different ways: T-I-M-E and F-U-N with dad are two of the main ones. A dads’ and kids’ fun camp is a fantastic way to mix the elements of time and fun together. As you can see in the video, kids and their dads love it!

In 2019, Dads4Kids created a Community Service Announcement TV Ad inspired by a quote from the wise Forest E. Witcraft (1894 – 1967). Witcraft was a scholar, teacher, and Boy Scout executive, so he would have known a thing or two about camping:

One hundred years from now
It won’t matter
What kind of car I drove
What kind of house I lived in
How much money I had in the bank
Nor what my clothes looked like

BUT

The world may be a little better
Because, I was important
In the life of a child.

Wise words indeed. If you need more inspiration, check out the 2019 Dads4Kids Father’s Day video here.

If you’re near the South Coast of New South Wales, plan to join us at the upcoming Dads and Kids Fun Camp. Craig Shipway, an amazing father of six (and the handsome bloke in the red shirt who speaks in the video) and the Dads4Kids team work hard to make the camp as fun as possible. My daughters and I look forward to it every year! If it’s too far to travel, get some dads and their kids together and plan your own fun camping trip.

If camping isn’t your thing, plan your own family fun day. If your kids are younger, it could be as simple as a trip to a playground (check out this website for 16 of Australia’s favourite public playgrounds). If your kids are older, ask them what they would love to do with their dad and put words into action.

The point is to be intentional. Plan to do regular, fun activities together with your kids. The memories you create together will be forever.

The 2025 Dads4Kids Fun Camp will be held from 7 – 8 November at the beautiful Coolendel Campground, located on the Shoalhaven River around three hours south of Sydney. We arrive from 4pm Friday afternoon, set up camp, meet fellow campers, have dinner and hopefully sit and chat around a campfire (pending conditions) toasting marshmallows with our kids.

Saturday morning after breakfast, we have some fun games and activities together. We wrap up the camp officially after lunchtime (around 1-2 pm) Saturday, but some campers stay a second night and return home on the Sunday. There is no age limit for dads and their kids (grandads are welcome too), however dads and grandads are responsible for their own children, so it is important that you feel comfortable with the age of the children in your care.

If you can, we’d love for you to join us! Please click here or contact organiser Craig Shipway at 0418 241 457 or via email: cashipway@yahoo.com.au for more information. Remember the wise words of Witcraft and choose to invest precious time into your children. The world will be a better place for it.

Lovework

As my friend James Harb says in the Dads4Kids Fun Camp video, ‘It’s bonding time … being able to step away from business and the phone, it’ll be memories forever.’ Do your best to plan for some bonding time with your children. Whether it’s camping, a family meal together, or a visit to your local park, be intentional about it. Put the devices away and build memories forever with your kids. You won’t regret it.

Yours for memories forever,
Nathaniel Marsh

P.S. The final Courageous Online Fathering Course for 2025 starts this week! (Thursday night 9 October) – Registrations have been extended and Now Close MIDNIGHT MONDAY 6 OCTOBER! Please don’t miss out – REGISTER TODAY!

P.P.S. If you’re encouraged by the work of Dads4Kids and would like to support us in the mission to help Aussie dads be the best they can be for their children, please consider making a tax-deductible donation here.