As we learned in last week’s newsletter, ‘the Joy & Terror’ of fatherhood, we can experience times as fathers when we are driven to the point of extremity and simply do not know what to do. That is when we must, as MC Hammer once said, “Pray just to make it today”. From my own experience as a father, prayer has been the key to any success I have had. It ...

If you don’t like this week’s title, it could always be renamed ‘The Sweet Insanity’ of parenthood. As a nation we have just celebrated Valentine’s Day and I trust you were able to celebrate it too. Hopefully you took the Dads4Kids Valentine’s Day Challenge and you are more in love this week than you were last week. The funny thing about falling in love with a woman is that it produces ...

Yes, it is Valentine’s Day this Friday 14 February, and the first thing you are going to say is, “What does Valentine’s Day have to do with dads?” Actually, quite a lot! Firstly it was the passion of love for the woman of your dreams that got you into being a father in the first place. Remember when you could do nothing else but think of her? Remember when the smell ...

We start the school year knowing that Australia’s educational standards are dropping and yet Australians, on a median basis, are the wealthiest people group in the world. Is more money spent on education the answer, or is something else the missing part of the educational puzzle? Educational experts in Australia have argued in favour of billions of dollars of extra government funding to be spent on education to help Australia return ...

I will always remember walking home from primary school at Blackheath in the Blue Mountains, NSW being annoyed by my mother and father’s constant insistence about saying ‘thank you’ and ‘please’. It seemed totally illogical to my egotistical young brain at the time. Looking back now, I am thankful for parents who insisted I say ‘thank you’ whether I thought it was a good idea or not. You see, all children ...

‘Equality for Men’ is a new book by Glen Poole, fatherhood campaigner from Great Britain. Glen Poole worked very closely with Matt O’Connor of Fathers4Justice. More than any other group in the world, Fathers4Justice put issues surrounding single fathers, unjust family law courts and fatherless children on the worldwide map. Who can forget Jason Hatch climbing the walls of Buckingham Palace with his banner, ‘Super Dads of Fathers 4 Justice’? Billions ...

The Prime Minister Tony Abbott, along with many others, has made a personal plea to end the epidemic of drunken street violence across Australia. But do these statements tackle the real cause? This is what he said, “As a father and as a citizen, I’m appalled by the violent binge drinking culture that now seems so prevalent, especially at ‘hot spots’ in our big cities. I’m sick of the fact that ...

In a few days time we celebrate the beginning of a new year. Taylor Swift’s words are true, “This is a new year. A new beginning and things will change”. However, the older you get the harder it is to change, but if you are a father, you have to keep on changing, for the better, all the time. It is great to see a younger generation getting interested in fatherhood. ...

It’s that time of year again.  You can go to the shopping mall and listen to carols while you shop. You can even get your photo taken with Santa.  Christmas can be a very difficult time of the year for single fathers or for children who can’t see their mothers or fathers. Mostly it’s the children who can’t see their dads who find it the hardest because of the innate bias ...

One of the joys of being in the men’s movement is meeting people on the journey. The men’s movement is filled with poets, artists, musicians and ratbags of which I am chief. My friend Noel Giblett is one of those many poetic minstrels and for the purpose of this newsletter, I am calling him ‘the musical man’. Before I tell you about Noel and his latest album, Surrender, let me tell ...

If you are like me, you care about Australia and you would like to do something to make things better, not only for your children but for the community as a whole. The reality is that in many ways we are more connected than we have ever been through social media, but less connected at a human level. As Jay Bayer points out so well in his article, ‘Social media, Pretend ...

‘Good Dads Great Dads – Footsteps Worth Following’ is the name of a fantastic book by Mal White.  The forward says it all: “I dedicate this book to my three sons; Jordan, Jesse and Josiah. You have taught me how wonderful it is to be a dad.” The ‘In Memory’ part really got to me: “To my dad, I wish with all my heart you did not die so young. (55 ...

One of the ways International Men’s Day was celebrated, on Tuesday 19 November 2013, was by holding a Men and Fathers’ Strategic Roundtable at Parliament House, Canberra. Thirty-three delegates from many parts of the men and fathers’ movement actively participated. Three of the delegates were indigenous, seven were women and a few others came as observers. During the lunch break, Carolyn Managh from M&C Saatchi released The Modern [Aussie] Man White ...

It is International Men’s Day on Tuesday 19 November. See the promo video and for a laugh check out this funny video put together a few years ago. Celebrate this day in whatever way you can. The theme this year is “Keeping Men and Boys Safe” and the five challenges are: Tackling male suicide Keeping men and boys safe to allow them to become tomorrow’s role models End tolerance of violence towards ...

Last week I made my annual mancation to the giant man cave at Hillsong Men’s Conference with 3,500 other men from all over Australia.  It is something else to hear 3,500 men singing at the top of their lungs and to receive great practical teaching from the bible on how to man up, not to mention helping raise over $100,000 to help fight sex trafficking. If what we do doesn’t help ...

Earlier this year, I was contacted by Stuart Barlo from Lismore. He asked if I would come and speak at the inaugural district Lismore Man Day Conference. Stuart has been receiving our weekly Dads4Kids newsletter to encourage dads for almost ten years. He has been reading the jokes for all that time, and still gets a laugh, which I think is good news. I was humbled by the invitation, so after ...

We have talked before about our children leaving home and the family decreasing in size and the sadness of that moment. For a big, close family, it can be a sort-of death experience for both mum and dad, but I have some good news for you. Out of death comes life. The greatest selling book of all time say, “For this reason a man shall leave his mother and father and ...

It’s hard to hold back the tears when a man starts being really honest and speaking from his heart. This is especially the case when that same man has just finished the first Good to Great Course to be completed outside the Sydney-Wollongong region. It is even more exciting when that man tells you that his whole relationship with his wife and children has been revolutionised by completing the Dads4Kids Good ...

Life has its challenges, and being a father compounds those challenges.  Someone has got to be the leader in the family.  The buck has got to stop with someone. Herein lies the challenge. I believe that fathers are called to be leaders in love.  Being a leader requires making decisions on behalf of those you lead that are open to question.  It also requires that you are prepared to take the ...