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The resources section of the Dads4Kids website is a forum for Dads to be able to express themselves and encourage other dads. Mothers contribute resources as well. The opinions of the various writers in this section are not necessarily the opinion of Dads4Kids. Read More
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Related Articles from the Daily Dad
Forgiveness – A New Year Resolution You Can Keep
Too many New Year resolutions falter because they fail to address what really needs changing: the internal disposition that compels us into unwanted habits. A few years ago, we received a letter from an irate reader. We were tempted to point out his clear misinterpretation that led him to conclude almost the direct opposite of our intent. But we recognised ...
Good Words
It happened in the shoe section at Big W. Casually browsing through the sandals, Tyson kneeling at my feet. He dropped a heel, paused and said: ‘b@&&er.’ Mortified. Where on earth did he learn…? Oh. Confession time: Amongst my many and varied flaws is a weakness for the odd expletive. Something that seemed harmless enough… until I heard that word ...
Gratitude: The Heartbeat of Love
New research validates age-old wisdom: the simple habit of gratitude can transform a jaded marriage into a joyous encounter. By Marilyn Rodrigues A University of North Carolina study highlighted the association of gratitude with a happy marriage. Cameron Gordon, the study’s lead author, said that the goodwill generated by grateful spouses creates a “reciprocal feedback loop” of marital harmony, helping ...
The Wonder of Christmas
“Christmas is the day that holds all time together.” These are the words of Alexander Smith. To understand the wonder of Christmas, we must first understand the story. Let’s start with the facts, straight from Wikipedia. I will intermingle some of my favourite Christmas videos to keep you inspired. History of Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed ...
Christmas in “Die-Hard” Dad Mode
I’m usually a lot better prepared for Christmas. Not this year. This year, the week to trump all weeks caught us off-guard. We missed a beat or two in preparation for the only few weeks capable of slowing down the Western world. The weeks that remind the Scrooges and time-poor alike that life is more than hyper-consumerism and a dreary, ...
Defiant Hope
Advent is a season of anticipation. The birth of any child, not least the Messiah, gives us cause for hope. Earlier this week, we heard the testimony of Chris and Natalie Stefanick, a couple who had journeyed through dark seasons in their marriage. Having survived sexual abuse as a child, Natalie found she needed many years of therapy and healing. ...
Christmas for My Daughters
Joe is a mate of mine. “Mate” hardly describes our connection, yet the sporadic contact belies a relationship that holds strong meaning for me. Joe is pretty much anonymous to most, but that is of his own making. He is humble at a time when indulgence and opulence seemed to be currency. For a long time, he struggled as an ...
Real Dads are Dragon Slayers
Paraphrasing the great G.K. Chesterton, novelist Neil Gaiman wrote, “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” His words summarise the essence of an obscure essay from Chesterton called The Red Angel, written in defence of the ordinary hero, who is set against extraordinary ...
Romance and Mystery
One of the things that makes a new romance so exciting and attractive is the element of uncertainty: Is this person really interested in me? Will this person really be the one I’ve longed for? We can all relate to the thrill of the start-up relationship where the other is essentially still a stranger and quite mysterious to us. Where ...
Making Marriage Last is All in the Intention
No matter how easy it may seem to fall in love, staying in love requires attention and effort. We all start out in marriage bright in hope and full of brimming love. Yet rarely do those wonderful, euphoric experiences of early love persist unabated; for many of us, disillusionment creeps its way into our consciousness as our natural selfishness and ...
Restoring Hope in Life-Long Marriage
There’s a curious thing that happens when a divorce touches a community. Where once parents, friends and siblings believed in the power of love and the permanency of marriage, confidence gives way to cynicism and uncertainty. Instead of believing that children do best when living in the same home with both their parents, we find ourselves saying: “The most important ...
What Pixar Taught Me About Dreams
We all have dreams: to start a business… volunteer in a third-world country… write a book… Dreams are important. And then God answered: Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. – Habakkuk 2:2 (The Message) I’ve recently learnt a valuable lesson -- to not get ...
Too Hasty to Judge
In the age of instant news, judgment falls hastily. In marriage also, we are often quick to judge each other. Like most couples, over thirty-plus years of marriage, we’ve had quite a few misunderstandings. Sadly, many of these escalated to painful arguments where hurtful things were said, and our unity was damaged. The reason? We were too quick to judge. ...
How to Raise Generous Kids
If I wasn’t there when she said it, I wouldn’t have believed it. When my boss asked his 7-year-old daughter what she’d like for her birthday, she said she didn’t want any gifts. Could everyone make a donation to the Leukaemia Foundation instead? Excuse me? After a lengthy conversation, she convinced her parents to have a ‘gift-free’ birthday party and ...
LIFEMARK: Must-See Movie
LIFEMARK is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Furthermore, it is definitely the Kendrick brothers’ greatest movie yet! That’s why I am writing to you to encourage you to see LIFEMARK at the movies this week before it disappears from the big screen. Thankfully, LIFEMARK has only dropped down from 74 screens last week to 54 screens. ...
6 Key Leadership Tips from Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II is a wonderful role model for strong and steady leadership. Her life bears lessons for all parents, who must lead their families. If you are like me, you will have been staggered by how many people loved the Queen. I have always admired the Queen’s leadership, humility, faith, courage, and commitment. I thought I was one of ...
How Senior Couples Make Marriage Better
In a culture that glorifies youth and sanctions the euthanising of the sick and elderly, it’s easy to lose sight of the gift of seniors. Here are three ways that senior couples make marriage better for all of us. Earlier this year, Pope Francis released a series of homilies on the elderly. Each one explores a theme based on a ...
Men’s Summit a Magnificent Milestone
“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” is a saying by the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle in 330BC. The fact that he came up with it must mean he attended a Men’s Leadership Summit. I am still buzzing two weeks later and still trying to figure out why the Summit was so good. The speakers were brilliant, ...
New Western is a Fitting Tribute to Dads in ‘Hostile Territory’
Hostile Territory, the latest offering from actor, director, and writer Brian Presley, has all the right dads-for-kids ingredients. Set in Missouri in the mid-1860s, the 2022 film is an award-worthy western with a crisp contemporary edge. The well-thought-out script follows battle-hardened Union army Captain Jack Calgrove, who, at war’s end, finds his kids gone and his wife dead. As he ...
Happy Father’s Day with a Bag of Love
This Father's Day, may fathers everywhere receive a big bundle of love from their children. May healing and reconciliation take place where required, and may fathers step up to their calling as loving dads and role models for their offspring. The team at Dads4Kids wishes all Dads, all over Australia, a happy Father’s Day. It is always a busy time ...
Knowing What to Love
You can’t love what you don’t know. This saying has profoundly influenced our marriage and our faith. About once a decade, we book tickets to the opera in the expectation of a romantic date night brimming with artistic delight. We have to confess though, we usually come home vaguely disappointed. Not being particularly musical, we don’t understand the technical expertise. ...
Making a Change for the Better
Change is difficult. It can also be complicated. Despite our best intentions, sustained change often eludes us. We’ve had many spouses tell us that their husband or wife promised to change, and things were good for a while, but then there was a relapse. Their good intentions were not enough to sustain their energy for change. So what can we ...
Let’s Stick Together
“For an increasing number of long-term marriages, it’s no longer a case of ‘until death do us part,’ it’s a matter of until the children depart from the family nest,” writes Rachel Browne in a Sydney Morning Herald article, “Parents wait until children go, then do the same thing.” Suddenly finding your busy life full of activities attached to children, ...
My Baby Son – A Father’s Day Present from Heaven
It was 12:00am on Sunday, the 1st of September -- Father’s Day, to be precise. There I was, frantically gathering clothes and bits 'n' pieces according to my wife’s somewhat disjointed instruction. She was roaming about the house with a hot wheat sack across her rather overgrown abdomen. I couldn’t believe it. Had the moment finally arrived? After nine -- ...
8 Keys to Live through Divorce & Separation – A Layman’s Survival Guide
As someone who has been through the very difficult travails of divorce and undertaken various versions of shared care over the past 15 years, I understand all too well the confusion, stress and sadness these difficult travails bring with them. I have, however, learned a few things along the way that I hope might be of benefit to those fellow ...
