The Shelf
This is a story about my bookshelf. Not usually that important, but all my special mementos, significant memories and special people are displayed on it.
Father’s Day Tribute to a Wonderful Dad and the Story’s Fourth Side
Editor’s Note: Last weekend, Tony Miller attended the Dads4Kids Men's Leadership Summit, where he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his lifetime service and sacrifice for the men, families, and children of Australia. See the photo above. He did not know it was coming. It was our secret. He was happily surprised. Tony's 27-year-old son Cassidy Miller had encouraged him to come. We are so glad he did. ...
I Know This Bloke
I know this bloke: he is an old fella, but a single dad. He has been through the mill before; the ‘family court mill’, I mean. Anyway, he now has a 9-year-old little girl who is living with him. She is a beautiful, vibrant, loving, caring little girl. He has no court orders, hasn't been to the courts, hasn't applied, just has an agreement with his wife, and the child is ...
Psalm of a Single Father
Dear God, help me to write when I am looking at an empty page. Dear God, help me to be a better person, a better father, a better friend, a better husband. Dear God, help me to become whom You want me to be. Dear God, help me to like Spongebob Squarepants reruns. https://youtu.be/TKmaDtXc0vc Dear God, help me not to get cranky when my daughter leaves a mess wherever she ...
Chips and Gravy
It's Friday night and I have just come home from the fish-and-chip shop up the road. I went up earlier with my 9-year-old daughter Angel. While we were waiting for our order -- chips and gravy -- she was telling me with much conviction that if you spit chewing gum onto the footpath, some people will come along and pick it up, and because it has your tooth-prints in the gum, ...
What Dads In Distress Does
Dads in Distress hold weekly meetings to enable fathers who are affected by relationship and custody issues to come together in an atmosphere geared toward practical support, progress and healing. We don't denigrate woman at our meetings, in fact we encourage men to look in the mirror to understand what part of the blame they own, if any. We simply guide men to become the cause of their future and not ...
How Dads In Distress Began
The DIDs story, Part 1. My name is Tony Miller, and I am the founder and national coordinator of a group called Dads in Distress, a dedicated support group of men whose immediate concern is to stem the present trend of male suicide due to the trauma of divorce or separation. Current statistics indicate that 5.3 males per day or 37 males per week (ABS Information Paper, Suicides 2001) will take ...
A Christmas to Remember
As Christmas is once again upon us, I would like to share a story that I guess explains what Dads in Distress is all about. It happened a few years ago in the very early days of forming DIDS, and certainly inspired me to continue the work. I was sitting in a DIDS meeting sharing my story. It was early days into separation, then divorce. It was coming up to Christmas, ...
With Thanks On My 50th Birthday
A lot has happened over the past year. I am about to celebrate 50 years on this planet. We had a party last Saturday and it was awesome to be surrounded by my friends and family, my five beautiful children and my new grandson. Life does seem to turn around. There were many times I thought I would never make it to 50, let alone have all my children gathered around ...
I Just Got Off the Phone
I just got off the phone from another dad: devastated, crying, sobbing, absolutely gutted. "How can the mother of my children be so hurtful? I don't understand it”, he said between the tears. "I just want to see my kids. How hard is that?” Yesterday I was counselling one of our guys not to react. He was receiving abusive SMSes on his mobile that were particularly distressing to him. Not onem ...
