Related Articles from the News
Ask Your Children
Why does it seem so hard sometimes to have peace in the house? I have struggled many times over this. We pray every day, try to organise the day and set the course -- that is, we the parents. As a father, the head of the household, I should be steering the ship on the course I think we are ...
Trying to Get It Right
My life as a dad is whatever you get when you tumble excitement and pride and joy and sweet-sadness and wholeheartedness together. The heady mix of emotion had me blurt out an “I love you” to my girls on their mum’s voicemail and spontaneously add: “I am just so proud to be your dad!” My thoughts turn often to my ...
Victory for Mothers and Fathers
Believe it or not, any victory for mothers is also a victory for fathers, and ultimately for children. Sall Dover, a new young mother, after protesting on Twitter about the forced use of the Orwellian phrase "birthing parent", has scored a victory for motherhood. It takes a man and a woman to create a child, and a mother and a ...
A Single Dad’s Greatest Fear
Apparently, fear is a great motivator. To change a behaviour, people will try to move away from or avoid a fear. People will also change their behaviour when motivated by moving toward an incentive; however, it is fear that is running with me. I have ticked off some crazy mountain climbs that dulled my fear of scaling peaks. I overcame ...
Finding Our Way to Heaven
We’ve been listening to Mike and Alicia Hernon’s podcast called Messy Families. One of their recurring messages for parents is: stop worrying about getting your kids to heaven -- parenting is about helping you get there! When we first heard them say this it stopped us in our tracks. Mike and Lisa go on to explain: the reason motherhood or ...
Boys and Internet Pornography
A concerned mother reflects on how she can best protect her young sons from the lure of internet pornography. I don’t have a blueprint for this brave new online world, where just typing ‘breastfeeding’ into a search engine produces a minefield of lurid possibilities. Steve Biddulph, author of Raising Boys and Raising Girls, wrote an article in the Sydney Morning ...
100 Famous People Who Were Homeschooled
May this list of brilliant homeschooled scientists, mathematicians, inventors, writers, poets, musicians, sporting greats and politicians throughout the centuries serve to inspire parents to take the plunge into home education. Homeschooling is parent-facilitated education. Gandhi once said, “There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent.” His words epitomise the power, beauty, ...
The Art of Fathering – Butterfly Kisses
Remember when that song first came out, Butterfly Kisses -- the one about the father watching his daughter growing up? How soon the days, the months, and the years go by. My daughter is approaching 10 years old (going on 19). It seems just like yesterday I was kissing my daughter goodbye on her first day of kindergarten. My baby ...
Families – Don’t Open the Door to Secondhand Smoke
Shield your children from the malign effects of tobacco smoke, which can infiltrate all corners of a family home. The stats are shocking. Almost one Queenslander a day will die from inhaling tobacco smoke this year, without ever having smoked a cigarette in their life. The effects of secondhand smoke are so often understated -- and so alarming. Around 3,000 ...
What Guide Dog Training Taught Me About Raising Kids – Part 4: Distractions
It takes discipline to resist the lure of constant distractions, but it is possible to build good habits in both pups and children which help them stay on track. In this edition of what Guide Puppy Raising taught me about raising kids, our third pup definitely excelled -- in the wrong way. This wonderful pup’s name was Scooter and he ...
