Related Articles from the Daily Dad
Fighting McKenzie, the Anzac Spirit, and Australian Values
Australia has produced some amazing war heroes but none so remarkable, or popular, as Fighting McKenzie from World War 1. Daniel Reynaud, author of the book ‘The Man the Anzacs Revered’ asked, “How did a wowser become an Anzac legend? And how did this legend become totally unknown today?” William McKenzie served in both Gallipoli and France and was said ...
Dads, Criminals, Easter and Australian Values
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and believe it or not, Easter celebrates a man who died a criminal’s death and became the foundation for what are commonly called ‘Australian Values’. When I was a young boy, visiting my grandmother in Edinburgh, Scotland, she used to tease me by saying, “You and your family are descended from convicts.” I deeply resented her ...
Criminals, Easter and Australian Values
Believe it or not, Easter celebrates a man who died a criminal’s death and became the foundation for what are commonly called ‘Australian Values’. When I was a young boy, visiting my grandmother in Edinburgh, Scotland, she used to tease me by saying, “You and your family are descended from convicts.” I deeply resented her comments because as a five ...
Children Feel the Pain of Marital Conflict & Divorce
Editors Note: It is not often I include a guest post on the Justaman blog but Tony Palombi is a great man with a great story and a great family. He shares the pain of growing up in a broken home and the hope within him. Divorce hurts our children. Lets not go there! Children Feel the Pain of Marital ...
The Joy of The Journey
Recently we attended the birthday of our nine year old twin granddaughters. Family members gathered from east and west. The party atmosphere, with the presence of other young children, was very much a controlled but happy riot. The new trampoline in the back yard added to the festivities. Interestingly my son and his twin girls can be seen at the ...
Love DNA
We have just celebrated the greatest event in human history, the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ split time in two in more ways than one. BC and AD and have been a measure of history for almost two thousand years. We also have the old and new Testaments, not to mention the fact that in ancient antiquity (BC), charitable ...
Best Day of the Year
Everyone has their best day of the year. For me it is Christmas which is the day this newsletter comes out - Sunday 25th December 2016. The reason that this is the best day for me is simple. Christmas Day is a time when family collides with Christ in the best possible way. Family and faith - it doesn’t get ...
A Tribute to You Dad
Dear Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation, My father died last Sunday 4/3/07 of prostate cancer aged 69. I helped nurse him in last 5 days of his life, staying overnight in hospital with him one night. The pain and agony he suffered must have been excruciating. I am writing this article for two reasons. The first is to urge all men to ...
Five Keys to a Successful Christmas
Charles Dickens' words could well apply to Christmas for many people here in Australia. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness.” From my point of view Christmas is one of the best times of the year. Christmas is a time for family. Christmas ...
Easter Family Holy-Days
Henry Youngman, a comedian who was known as 'King of the One Liners' once said, "I was an atheist for a while but I gave it up, no holy-days." Such a one liner about holy-days sums up the subject of this week's Dads4Kids newsletter - Easter Family Holidays. Most of us celebrate Easter holidays but where did they come from ...
Wise Men and Sages
Last week I wrote about the stages of the masculine journey. John Eldredge released his book, 'The Way of the Wild at Heart - a map for the masculine journey' in 2006 and it will go down in history as a must have book about manhood just like "Iron John." The “Way of the Wild at Heart” does not make ...
Christmas Joy
Christmas is a great time of the year for our families and particularly for our children. I remember as a ten year old boy, the year seemed to last forever before Christmas arrived. The lead up to Christmas went excruciatingly slow. Psychologists acknowledge that time does go quicker as you age. For me, the big marker of the year was ...
The Secret Power of Thanks
Next Saturday, 30th May 2015, we celebrate Australia’s 12th National Day of Thanksgiving. www.thanksgiving.org.au The National Day of Thanksgiving is a day we can use to say ‘thank you’ to those around us. I am ‘thankful’ to say that I have been privileged to be part of this national celebration from its earliest beginnings although I resigned from the Board ...
Courage Under Fire
Our life always speaks. Sometimes our life can speak louder in our death than in our actual living. For me, I am still working at the living part, but for Andrew Chan his death has touched a nation, and arguably the whole world, in a way that his living could not. Australia was plunged into deep sadness with the midnight ...
A Day to Remember
This coming Saturday marks the Anzac Centenary, which in more ways than one is ‘A Day to Remember’. The Centenary marks one hundred years of remembering our fathers who went off to war. Many did not return and many who did spent a life time recovering from the memory of the horrors of war. Anzac Day is bittersweet for me, ...
‘God’ Friday & the Mystery of the Second Man
One of the biggest family holidays of the year is coming up this next weekend. It is a long weekend with a purpose. Our Easter holidays start on Good Friday (originally known as God Friday), going through Saturday to Easter Sunday with an extra Monday thrown in for good measure. Yes, we will all have our fill of Easter eggs ...
Higher Call
War stories have always caught my attention, especially manly acts of courage and chivalry. Maybe others feel like me and that is why the Art of Manliness featured Adam Makos, the writer of ‘A Higher Call’ in a recent podcast with a fuller story about the book on their blog. Alison, my wife, knowing how much I love inspirational stories, ...
The Art of War – Inpiration for Fathers
Sun Tzu was the general of an army in ancient China in 600 BC. I have heard about his writings for over 30 years. This Christmas I received a copy of the Art of War by Sun Tzu. It was exciting to read the book for myself for the first time. Many would argue he was a great philosopher and ...
The Gift that Keeps on GIving
I love Christmas, but last week, from Australia’s point of view, could only be described as the week from hell. On Monday morning we learned the news that an Islamic terrorist had taken over the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD. This self-styled radical Muslim cleric was holding almost two dozen people hostage in the name of Islamic ...
#illPrayForYou
Two friends sitting together were reflecting on the tragic events of the week. One of them shared that he was due to be in Martin Place for a meeting on Monday morning 15th December and would have dropped in to the Lindt café for a coffee. The meeting was postponed and he found himself instead watching the act of terror ...
Protecting Our Children’s Future
Sociologist David Papenoe said that no civilisation ever survived after its family life deteriorated. But if you don’t believe him, listen to GK Chesterton, “This triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilisations which disregard it.” If three words could ever sum up the work of Dads4Kids it would be ‘father, mother, ...
Get Your Heart Back
We are in the middle of celebrating Easter. Our children think that Easter is all about chocolate eggs and rabbits, but of course it is really about something far deeper and stronger. Good Friday is called 'good' because it celebrates the death of Jesus Christ on a cruel cross, and Easter Sunday is a celebration of his resurrection. Many people ...
Caramello Life
The term ‘Caramello Life’ is coined by fatherhood researcher and advocate Dr Bruce Robinson from Perth, Western Australia. Bruce was nominated for Australian of the Year 2014 and was high in the running, but lost to Adam Goodes, a well known Aboriginal Australian Rules footballer. Being a good friend of Bruce’s, I rang him to ask exactly what he meant ...
The Best Start in Life
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 ...
Christmas Time – Family Time
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 ...
