I don’t know how many times I have looked at the clock since becoming a mum and have willed those handles to spin a little faster. There have been many a day when I have wished for nap time to come sooner and for bedtime to be brought forward. I’ve always contemplated why time feels like it goes forever when stopping and playing with kids on the floor, yet when life ...

The young boy said in awed tones, “Is it a bird? Is it a plane?… No, it’s my father”. There are numerous types of fathers and dad jokes to suit them. Check out some of my favourites! The Sporty Dad: Seems to be always in gym clothes. Has a bright cheery attitude every day. A can-do attitude. Why did the scarecrow win an award? A. Because he was outstanding in his ...

Tossing up on whether to go with a car that has more seats? Here’s why we chose a 7-seater SUV over a 5-seater sedan.  When I found out I was pregnant with Phoebe, I knew a new car was on the cards for our family. The surprise pregnancy was the catalyst for us making a decision on whether to purchase an SUV or another sedan. The SUV won in the end, ...

It was a sunny Saturday morning; I was dining alfresco at a restaurant on a busy street, casually sipping my coffee, when I noticed a little girl wander past our table and down the street. Her mother was deep in conversation and didn’t notice. I didn’t want to cause alarm by yelling at her to watch her child from across the busy tables, so I walked toward the little girl. She ...

Health-hindering lockdowns are by no means fun. The routine COVID-19 “stay home” decrees were agreeably necessary when little was known about the virus. 19 months on, government decrees are less about preserving health, and more about governments serving themselves. There’s little doubt that keeping people scared, helps an increasingly militant bureaucracy keep emergency powers firmly in their hands. It’s with this in mind that I’m reluctant to give out ideas for ...

Dr. Seuss said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” This famous children’s book author was certainly across his subject. Here are 10 good reasons why you should read to your children. Hopefully you are inspired. 1. Dads Bring Something Special to the Reading Equation. Harvard-trained Dr Elisabeth Duursma said, “In most families, mothers are the ones ...

There was a time where I was anti-women getting into trades. I was an end-of-third year apprentice, had just finished my Diploma in Fashion Styling and I was about to complete my last block of TAFE for my plumbing apprenticeship. I was over plumbing. Over male tradies. Over male apprentices. I was over having to prove myself when I worked. I was over TAFE teachers who read from the Standards, rather ...

Oprah Winfrey said that you can’t have everything and do everything at the same time. Was she right? Today we unpack work-life balance and ask if it is still possible. And if it is, then how? When the term work-life balance is raised, it usually stirs some sort of emotion in you. There are a few who don’t desire ‘work-life balance’, but on the whole, most men I speak to have ...

Can you be overly protective of your wife and kids? How do you walk the balance between care and responsibility? That is the topic of Real Talk 4 Real Men episode #27. Are you confident that you are preparing your young adults well for handling the responsibilities that come with adulthood? Have you prepared your wife to be able to live well without you, should you suddenly be taken off this ...

Albert Einstein said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” Albert Einstein is 100% correct. And that is the exact challenge I felt when I was trying to create our new Dads4Kids TV Community Service Announcement. Although we have done it every year and have done it successfully since 2002, imagining new things is often hard. When you take that into account (we are now ...

If there was ever a time to support local businesses, now would be it. And I have no doubt many of us have been doing what we can by ordering takeaway from our local restaurants or buying from online Australian stores. But the difficulty many face with supporting local is having the income to do so and for a lot of families, it’s a really tight request to ask. The impacts ...

When a crisis hits you out of nowhere, what do you do next? When Guy faced nearly losing a child, he learned 13 lessons before the crisis was even over. Sometimes in life you have experiences that profoundly and permanently change you. Experiences either solidify your existing beliefs, assumptions and expectations, or they challenge and change what you thought you knew. Some are so small you don’t even notice them. Some ...

One of my most favourite things of all time is when one or both of our boys have a day out with dad. Partly because it means I get a day out with myself that usually consists chocolate, girly movies and/or pampering, but also because I notice a distinct difference in my boys every time they return. As if they’ve grown up a little bit, and for the next few days, ...

“Can you help me?” These were the words I first heard when I picked up the phone. “I can’t see my kids and I don’t know what to do. I feel like giving up and I am thinking about killing myself to shut off the pain.” The matter-of-fact way he said these words told me that this was no veiled threat, but a carefully considered option. Men don’t usually tell you ...

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, ...

Avoid “good cop, bad cop” parenting as much as possible. In fact, ditch it altogether. A system that elevates mums over dads, or dads over mums, doesn’t work. Good cop, bad cop parenting’s long-term costs negate any short-term benefits. The system is a recipe for favouritism, resentment and parental neglect. Potentially even divorce. Good cop, bad cop is a poor metaphor for parenting. It’s even worse as an instruction manual for ...

Listen to author Annette Spurr’s interview with Focus on the Family Australia here. ‘While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.’ ~ Angela Schwindt Nothing can truly prepare you for parenthood. The tears and tantrums, toilet training, sleepless nights, the worry that you’re not doing it right, or the indescribable love that changes everything. As soon as I found out ...

Rod Lampard, father of five, says in a recent article in the Daily Dad, “Technology is a tool, not a toy. It’s a horrible baby-sitter. A terrible master. Tech is no substitute for hands-on, old-school dad and mum counsel, comfort and conviction.” That sums up my feelings exactly. For many years of my younger life, we did not have a TV in the house. Looking back, it was a good thing. ...

Video games can be great bond-builders. With the demise of couch co-op, options for split-screen adventures are few and far between. Computer games are not the community-building tool they once were. Companies like DICE, EA and even Mojang followed the Silicon Valley maximum profit trend by limiting customisable consumer options. Buy an Apple product, for example, and they lock you into paying for their expensive branded accessories. Console-makers, game developers and ...

Create a visual journal of crafts made with your kids at home in isolation. The corkboard craft display will be a tangible visual reminder of the fun you got up to with your kids. We’ve had our first week and a bit in isolation… Some have been doing home-school. It’s been a crazy juggle for parents as they manage working from home, while ensuring kids are… occupied and learning. It’s not ...