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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
Relationships Matter: Keys to Be a Good Father & Build a Good Marriage
Harvey MacKay said, “The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your relationships.” MacKay knows a thing or two. Harvey is a very successful businessman, married for over 50 years to his architect wife, with three children and eleven grandchildren. Harvey MacKay has sold over 10 million books about business and building a successful life. Interviewing Steve ...
Three Ways to a Resilient Marriage
We’ve been hearing from many of our SmartLoving leaders around the world looking for help in supporting couples under stress. There’s certainly a lot of stress going around with pandemic-induced changes and uncertainty. It got us reflecting on marital resilience -- the ability of a relationship to endure and persevere through difficulties. There is quite a bit of information on ...
The Little Things in Marriage
In marriage, the little things are really the big things. In business, it is well recognised that getting the ‘big things right’ is important, but it is often the so-called ‘little things’ that make the difference between good and great companies. We were reminded of this the other day when reading about a US company that specialises in disaster restoration. ...
Unity in Couple Decision-Making
Behind every behaviour or decision that you make, is a value -- something that you hold in high esteem and is advanced in some way by the action. For example, making the choice to work back late, may reflect any one of a number of values, such as: having pride in doing a job well, reducing financial debt, avoiding anticipated ...
Love is the Greatest Force in the Universe
“Love is the greatest force in the universe”. These are the words of Dr Martin Luther King, America’s greatest civil rights leader. Dr King was assassinated in 1968 and so proved these words in unmistakable fashion. Twenty years ago, on 1 May 2002, Dads4Kids was officially incorporated as a charitable association. Our mission remains the same as it was then. ...
Discover Your Unique Love Profile
How do you and your spouse prefer to receive love, and what makes you feel unloved? Here is a quick list to help you boost the quality of your marriage by better understanding one another. Do you know your love needs and love busters? Do the quiz below to determine your top five love needs and worst three love busters. ...
The Vocation of Marriage: Called to Greatness
In marriage, we have received a higher calling, to give wholly of ourselves to another human being, exemplifying divine love. Let our marriage be a witness to our spouse, our children and others, of the marvellous love which is possible between a man and a woman. The word ‘vocation’ comes from the Latin vocare, which means ‘to call’. Our primary ...
The Science of Falling in Love
Falling in love is a common experience and a wonderful one. It sweeps us up in a euphoric passion that dominates our thoughts day and night. But is there more to it than simple emotions? Romantic love, and its impact on us, has been the subject of study for millennia. Philosophers from ancient times have mused on it, theologians have divined it and poets have waxed lyrical about it. More recently, ...
Video: A New Perspective For Mums
A lovely video to share as we celebrate mums this Mother's Day weekend. Any mother will tell you that being a mum is a full-time job. And sometimes, the job can really test you. Some feel as though they have no patience left, or that they’re somehow failing as a parent. But what’s the other side of the story? https://vimeo.com/66058153 ...
Change Reaction
Start a "change reaction" in your relationship by changing yourself first. It’s easy to see how couples get stuck when ‘being right’ has become a habit. Clinging to our ‘right to be right’ is like gangrene in a relationship -- it eats away at our intimacy by destroying our willingness to be vulnerable and open with each other. Insanity has ...
Five Ways to Build Trust
Managing each other's expectations in a relationship can be challenging, but here are five steps to building the trust required for a solid foundation from which you can grow together. Today we had a meeting. Sigh… The dreaded meeting! Being a couple and working together is complex. We’re both strong-willed and passionate about what we do, so it’s easy for ...
Two Types of Commitment
In his book The Power of Commitment, Scott Stanley (USA) provides some very useful insights into the nature of commitment. He identifies two types of relationship commitment: constraints and dedication. Constraint Commitment Constraint commitment refers to the ‘forces’ that resist the separation of a couple even when one or both partners would prefer to leave the relationship. Constraints tend to ...
Our Many Marriages
We all understand that our marriages go through their ups and downs, but we often don’t appreciate that they also go through fundamental reconfigurations over the years. We have come to realise that we have actually had several marriages already in our 28+ years together. For example, there was the ‘newlywed marriage’ where we were building a new life together, ...
A Marriage of Contention
Marriage is the coming together of two individuals, with natural differences. Loving honesty in communication helps us to grow together as one. What seems hard in marriage is often doing us good. A few weeks ago, we were invited to attend an event featuring Jordan Peterson. Curious to see this Canadian psychologist and academic, who was touring Australia with sell-out ...
Everything is Connected to Everything: The Difference Between Men’s Brains & Women’s Brains
Men and women have different ways of communicating. Once you understand how to speak your beloved's language, life will be a lot smoother! My wife asked me, “Does my hair look better?” The context of the conversation was that the COVID lockdowns had prevented her from going to the hairdresser to get her regular haircut. This is a grief to ...
Resilience of the Marital Kind
Married life, like your career, take effort and investment. For resilience in your marital relationship, don't expect your spouse to fulfil your every want; instead, learn to love them and grow with them through the ups and downs of life. A healthy and realistic perspective is the basis for a solid marriage. Let’s face it -- marriage can be a ...
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 ...
