Related Articles from the News
The Quest for Adventure
‘The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure’. These are the words of Christopher McCandless, an adventurer par excellence. Maybe the cryptic words of ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody about his father, sum up our quest for adventure as men better than anything else: ‘But the love for adventure was in my father’s blood’. As men, ...
Investing in Love
I remember the day, many years ago, the door closed on our last meeting with the insolvency accountant. The sort of meeting you don’t really want to have if you can avoid it. We had just lost everything we had ever worked for, except for a few personal goods that we were allowed to keep, after a Part Ten Arrangement ...
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 ...
Ban Divorce
'What Children Want Most is a Ban on Divorce, Says Poll' was a headline in a major UK paper several years ago. The poll question was: "What rules would you make if you ruled the world as King or Queen?" #BanDivorce was the number one request. Nationwide research of children under 10 years of age was carried out by Luton ...
Valentines Day and the Key to a Woman’s Heart
I have heard so many men complain to me, “My wife is very high maintenance”. In most cases this statement shows a distinct lack of understanding of the fairer sex. The truth of the matter, from a man’s point of view, is all women are high maintenance. A man’s needs are very simple: food, s*x, sleep. OK, that’s a huge ...
Can”t Buy Love
When you Google 'Can't Buy Me Love', the famous song by Paul McCartney, first performed by the Beatles, way back in the sixties, 35 million references come up. That just shows how influential the Beatles still are today, some 5 decades down the track. I'll buy you a diamond ring my friend, If it makes you feel alright. I'll get ...
Visit From the Marriage Auditor
VISIT FROM THE MARRIAGE AUDITOR Imagine you received a phone call that went something like this: "Mr & Mrs Herald, we need to make an appointment with you to do a 'Marriage Audit'. Can we make it 8.00pm tonight? Thank you. See you at 8.00pm." Marriage Audit? I've heard of a tax audit, but what on earth is a 'Marriage ...
The Mystery of the Basket
What is it about us men? But maybe I am just talking to myself here. So sorry for bringing you into it. I have always had this attitude. It’s called ‘separation of duties’. Sort of like saying to my wife, “You do your job and I will do mine”. My wife only worked for the first three years of our ...
Marriage Matters
Many years ago I made a speech with my wife at a function in Parliament House, Canberra on the importance of mothers and fathers. Our goal was to encourage both the Liberal and Labor parties to value equally mothers and fathers after divorce, and not to follow the politically correct line that devalues fathers because of anti-male feminist ideology. The ...
Passionate for Marriage
Alison and I have always been passionate about having a good marriage and supporting and encouraging marriages everywhere. That passion is not getting weaker but it is getting stronger as we get older. Maybe my main motivation is the pain I experienced from growing up in a divided home: when Mum went her way for many years and Dad went ...
How to Love a Woman
People have said to me, “Warwick, if you could write a book about ‘How to Love a Woman’, you would be a millionaire overnight.” My problem is that every time I think I have learnt something about the art of loving a woman, and it is an art rather that a science, she changes, I change, the world changes and ...
Business Time
Humour is usually the intersection of reality with the ridiculous. This can take many shapes and forms, but what I have noticed is that really good comedians are usually very good social commentators. I should have realised this the night I was doing a Fatherhood Seminar in Launceston. The title was ‘The Seven Secrets for Success”. I use the acrostic ...
Things You Don’t Say to Your Wife
Some time ago I came across a Tim Hawkins’ video on YouTube. Tim Hawkins is a musical comedian with a difference. He made up some very interesting new words to the Green Day song, “Time of Your Life” and renamed it ‘Things You Don’t Say to Your Wife.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK2OakMoW_c&feature=related&safe=active The second verse goes like this: I planned a hunting trip ...
Keeping Love Alive
Some time ago I received a request to speak at a Fair Divorce Forum at a local Leagues Club in Wollongong. When I first received this invitation, my inclination was to 'not accept' because I don't believe that divorce can be fair. Life is not fair and neither is love. My good friend Jeff Dakers prevailed upon me to reconsider, ...
Men and Women are DIfferent
When we were bringing up our boys in the eighties it was the vogue to suggest that boys and girls are trained to be the sex they represent by people’s expectations and gender manipulations. Almost anyone my age believed it. I carefully watched my own children’s behaviours and realised that I and my generation had believed a lie. I was ...
Endangered Childhood
The headline said, “Toddlers to be taught about cross-dressing in a controversial sex-ed program”. What really caught my attention was this nonsensical statement from Early Childhood Australia spokeswoman Claire McHugh. She said that the proposed sex-ed program would reduce domestic violence because ‘rigid views on gender’ were associated with violence and domestic violence. Let me paraphrase that piece of Orwellian ...
Two Sides – Same Coin
The week from the 13 – 19 September is Marriage Week. This is a week that we can all get excited about because marriage and fatherhood are two sides of the same coin. Alison and I have always been passionate about having a good marriage and supporting and encouraging marriages everywhere. Our motivation, on my part, comes from the pain ...
Marriage – The Mystery of Fathers and Mothers
If you have been reading this newsletter for any length of time you would have realised by now that I am a self-confessed marriage junkie. In other words I am very interested in the latest research on marriage and family. Not only do I like the latest research, but I love viral videos on marriage and family just as much. ...
The Battle Field of Life
It’s been an inspiring week for me in more ways than one. I was one of more than 2 million people who attended a Dawn Service on Anzac Day. All over Australia records were broken. The Canberra War Memorial Dawn Service had 120,000 people attend, three times the number of last year. That means that almost one third of the ...
The Marriage Kit – From Me to We – Module 5
Well all good things this side of heaven must come to an end. What did we learn in the last module of the Marriage Kit, Module 5 “From Me to We”? What do we think of the online Marriage Kit? I will let Alison answer first: Alison: Initially I was surprised that Francine and Byron chose Decision Making as their ...
The Marriage Kit Module 4 – Let’s Talk . . . About Sex!
Alison: Francine & Byron have excelled in this module. Although we personally know this amazing couple, we have never yet done one of their marriage courses – until now! So we have no idea if they have always produced such thought provoking material. One of our highlights from this module was their insights on ‘Desire Discrepancy’. In most marriages there ...
The Marriage Kit Week 3 – Talking & Learning
Alison: Here is a joke about marriage education I remembered: My wife and I went to a Marriage Workshop last week: I worked She shopped. The Marriage Kit continues to widen and deepen my long education on marriage (40 years this year!). Module 3 is all about communication but it’s titled, “Let’s Talk”. How appropriate! And how necessary is talk, ...
Love Actually
The joke that our photo and humour editor, Ron Hellyer, posted in the laughter section the other week sure put a smile on my face. I am equally sure that the vast majority of men who read our newsletter each week would also be able to smile and say, “I know that man”. No names will ever be mentioned of ...
Marriage Kit Week 2 – Filling the Love Tank
The Marriage Kit just gets better and better. The Love Tank is getting seriously full. This type of online course really works for marriage couples because you can do it together. Love Deconstructed, the title of the second module of the Marriage Kit is full of interesting information. The interactive questions provoke some very deep and profound soul searching. The ...
Love Grows the Brain
Steve Biddulph says, ‘love grows the brain’. Steve is right but love is one of those commodities that is in desperately short supply in the homes that many children inhabit. Currently one in three marriages fail. The rate is higher for second and third marriages. People say that kids are better off when unhappy parents divorce, but the social sciences ...
