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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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The Soul Mate Quest
The perfect is the enemy of the good. While it is important to have standards while selecting a life partner and future parent of your children, having an overly idealistic dream will blind you to the suitable real-life humans in front of you. Chasing ‘Happily Ever After’ It sounds so romantic: ‘Destiny’ has each of us perfectly matched with someone ...
Loving with Understanding
Everyone experiences love differently. Biology, upbringing, personality and experiences all influence the way an individual likes and needs to be loved. Being different in this way isn’t a problem. In fact, it’s one of the things that make relationships a rich and wonderful experience. Different Wavelenghts What is a potential problem is that both you and your spouse (or fiance, ...
Keys to Love Well
How can you best love your spouse? Here are some basics to identify their unique love profile and meet their needs while avoiding potential pitfalls. On a mission to love… Every couple wants to avoid divorce and get along without too many fights. A successful marriage, however, is much more than just this; it is a life-long union in which ...
Watching Cricket Together
Life with a baby turns regular activities into entirely new and wonderful experiences. It’s hard to believe so much time has passed. My son, Seth, is now ten weeks old, and so intelligent he’s bound to make a future Prime Minister. (Not that I’m biased!) Recently, I reflected on my experiences during Seth’s birth. A heap has happened since then. ...
A Little Restraint Goes a Long Way
Taking a pause and practising restraint in the midst of conflict allows you to identify how old wounds are being triggered by the current situation, and re-focus in order to resolve the conflict peacefully, repairing the relationship and deepening your love. It happens all the time -- one of us does or says something and it triggers a harsh reaction. ...
The Nature of Love
Most of us think of love as that feeling of affection and attachment we experience for another person. But is love just a feeling? Or is there more to it? The Experience of Love Every person experiences love in a unique way. Some gestures of love will more powerfully communicate love to you than others. For example, some people feel ...
5 Frugal Ideas that Fit the Budget and Honour the Meaning of Valentine’s Day
Here are five affordable yet fun ideas to celebrate the spirit of Valentine's Day with your beloved all year round. Valentine’s Day is, in many ways, a gap-filling marketing oasis for retailers to cover their bottom lines between Christmas and Easter. We buy into it probably for the same reasons. Valentine’s Day offers time to take a breath between the ...
Expanding Your Capacity
When you are juggling family and work responsibilities at full capacity, is there still room for giving back to your community? Once a month, on a Sunday afternoon, we head out to our ‘connect group’ as part of our church. Connect Group is a group of families that meet together to hang out, talk about life, pray for each other ...
Valentine’s Day Challenge
Counting your blessings by noting down things to be grateful about your spouse, is a wonderful way to transform your perspective and make them feel genuinely appreciated and loved. Yes, it is Valentine’s Day this coming Monday 14 February, and the first thing you are going to say is, this is just commercialised flim-flam, and besides, what has it got ...
From Valentine to Valen-TIME
Quality time together is ideal to keep the spark alive in a marriage, but it needs to be bolstered by "quantity-time", making the effort to do routine things together, being comfortable in each other's company and sharing everyday moments. With Valentine’s Day approaching, couples everywhere are looking for ways to mark the day with romance. From lovestruck dating couples to ...
Father of the Bride
Seeing your child grow up and get married is bittersweet, but embrace the changing seasons as part of being a parent. Being the father of the bride is an honour, a momentous occasion, a fresh opportunity to love. The first Father of the Bride movie was shot in 1950. The second Father of the Bride movie with Steve Martin starring ...
Something Worth Dying For – Saint Valentine’s Day
St Valentine witnessed to the importance of married love by his life and death. This Valentine's Day, let us celebrate true love in our marriages, recommitting ourselves to loving and serving our spouses with joy. On February 14 every year, couples around the world celebrate one of the heroes of Christian history. As the story goes, Valentine was a Roman priest who married young ...
Five Strategies to Improve Your Marriage
Even if your marriage is going through difficulties, taking these small steps can work wonders in reigniting your love and smoothing out communication. A lot of people feel trapped in a dissatisfying or troubled marriage. They feel powerless to ‘fix’ it because their spouse refuses to join them in counselling or a marriage enrichment course. Yet in truth, there are ...
We Married Too Young
Were we too young to get married? Would it have been better to wait till later? Lots of people told us so. Neither of us had really experienced life: Byron at 27 had at least lived out of home for three years. On the other hand, Francine at 21 was still studying, had never had her own bedroom, let alone ...
Five Wedding Anniversary Dos and Don’ts
Anniversaries aren't just for reminiscing about a past event. They are an opportunity to forge new memories together and cherish one another with expressions of true love. As critical as I am about New Year’s resolutions and the feckless sentimentalism attached, I am not averse to using January to prepare for key anniversaries. These key calendar events spark hope in ...
Men & Chores: Why We Do Them
Research shows that religious men tend to do more chores than non-religious, progressive men. What is the reason behind this? And what other reasons might men have to delve into the thick of housework? While housework is not the most glamorous of duties, research from the University of Utah suggests that some men are holding their own, both in the ...
Five Ways to Help a Struggling Marriage
We’ve all been in that situation. A friend or relative confides in us that they are having some marriage trouble. We want to help but knowing what to do that is genuinely helpful is tricky. Here are a few tips to keep in mind. Use your best listening skills: give your full attention, validate the thoughts, emotions and needs expressed: ...
The Perspective Check
Nobody is perfect, and familiarity breeds contempt. It is far too easy to resent family members when they fall short of our expectations, especially when we are under stressful conditions. Pausing to examine your negative thoughts and put them in perspective can save your mental health and your marriage. There’s nothing like the turnover of the year for stimulating lifestyle ...
Spare the Leftovers
Our marriages deserve our very best, not just the dregs of ourselves. Take the opportunity this Christmas season and New Year to establish better habits and re-prioritise your loved ones. It’s that time of year again -- the season of joy and gluttony. By the time Christmas Day is over, our refrigerator will be filled with yummy, delectable leftovers. Unfortunately, ...
Our Family is a Mess!
God stepped into the messiness of humanity through His very human family, full of scandalous forebears. This Christmas, let us imitate Jesus and love our family members despite how annoying they may get! The Christmas Vigil Mass features the Gospel of Matthew (1:1-25). Depending on whether you get the long or short version, you might hear the genealogy of Jesus ...
New Dads Can Experience Pregnancy Hell Too
My wife went through pregnancy hell. And so did I, though my issues only surfaced years later. To all the dads out there: pregnancy may be tough for you too, and that's okay. If I made it, so will you. I remember the apprehension and nerves when my first child was born. She was on time, and her arrival – ...
Be the Change You Want to See in Your Marriage
Are you facing conflict in your marriage? Make the first move. Change your mindset, respond with compassion, dwell on the positives. Change begins with you. All changes in our relationships should start with ourselves. It may be comforting to blame our spouse for the inadequacies of our marriage and expect them to change and meet our demands. But this approach ...
International Men’s Day is Making a Difference!
The celebration of International Men's Day is saving men's lives by the tens of thousands every year that it is celebrated. Read about some of the awesome events that took place this year. International Men's Day is exploding around the world. So firstly, thank you for your support for Internationals Men's Day and Dads4Kids. Without your help, we could not ...
Yesterday was International Men’s Day – and Gender Reconciliation is in the News
International Men's Day was celebrated on the 19th of November, 2021. Its message was stopping the gender war and bringing men and women together. This theme was a welcome change to the media provocation of the tensions between men and women. For so long, the cultural elites and some strains of feminism (and masculinism) have fuelled the divisions between the sexes ...
The Daily ‘I Do’ When You’d Rather Not
Think about your “I do” and make it a daily one. Ask, what will “I do” for my marriage today? It’s a powerful strategy for both the good times and the bad. At a recent business conference, a speaker made an offhand remark about having to recommit to her marriage vows every day. It was in the context of a discussion ...
