Our men have to be proactive and address mental illness head-on and ensure that programs are implemented to deal with the aim of curbing suicide rates.

My heart lifts when I see my daughters cradled in healthy conversations with my parenting helpers.

Outta Puff Daddys (OPD) is a mixed bag of over-40s men from Brighton in the United Kingdom dancing to bridge the gap between masculinity and good mental health. It’s cringe for a good cause. Together as a group since 2012, they started life as a one-off way to encourage their kids. The “Boy Band” now uses dance routines, while capitalising on the comedy of dads on a dancefloor, to stem the ...

Yesterday we celebrated our daughter’s wedding to a wonderful man and family. Our daughter Kiara looked absolutely radiant with an interior joy; her now-husband Doug, was magnificent — strong, steady and adoring. Their evident love for each other lit up the church and the celebration that followed. As parents of the bride, we were afforded the opportunity to address the guests, and we thought we’d share some of our thoughts with ...

“No man is useless while he has a friend,” are the wise words of Robert Louis Stevenson. The poet John Donne said it this way, “No man is an island.” The bottom line is MEN — we need each other. Better still, we need friends for both the short term and long term. More importantly, we need to choose them wisely. Brad Stulberg is an author and high-level performance coach at ...

A recent visit to our local park turned into a day of exploring a previously undiscovered (by us) bush track along the river, complete with swimming holes, waterfalls and a ‘wibbly wobbly’ bridge. Once we started meandering, just couldn’t stop! We soon had to leave the pram wedged between bushes for this little ‘off-road’ adventure, as our curiosity kept driving us forward, the kids wildly excited at every turn. Rope swings ...

A cherished friend of mine has just died. I cried with my daughters, struggling to get the words out as I related how dear Joe has been. I love Joe for the soft kindness he delivered. He gave me a sense of being a full dad every time I saw him. He told me, “You are such a good man,” and I cry again when I feel those words in the ...

Our culture pressures us to keep working and consuming. It takes a conscious effort to step back, take a breather and re-prioritise, but doing so is really worth it for good health and peace of mind. “We have more ‘things per person’ than any other nation in history. Closets are full, storage space is used up, and cars can’t fit into garages, having first imprisoned us with debt. Possessions then take ...

There is only one of you in the whole world. Take the opportunity to hone your talents and grow where you are planted. I have always believed God places the right people at the right time in your life to counsel you and offer guidance and encouragement when you need it. Lately, I’ve been having a few chance encounters and friendships that have been placed in my life at the right ...

Parenthood is the art of making yourself obsolete. It involves ensuring as far as possible that your child has the self-discipline and character to make it through the ups and downs of life, far into the future. They learn from us the tools necessary for resilience and success. Every year, there are four questions all mums, dads, uncles, aunts, guardians or grandparents involved in child-rearing should try to ask themselves: Am ...

Coronavirus is sweeping across Australia. Here are some tips to boost your immune system — and your loved ones’ immunity — so that you will be prepared if you catch it. Your body is your best friend. You live in your body, so it is important you take care of your body. The 12 Ways to Beat Covid-19 are more based around the concept of prevention as opposed to cure. The ...

A family needs other families for friendship, support and mentoring, especially in hard times. It takes a village to raise a child, and it also takes a village to sustain a family. Be open to growing alongside other families, sharing love and care for one another. Recently my wife and I received a message from a close friend of ours, “Mum’s condition has rapidly deteriorated and she is now just sleeping… ...

Parenting can be so all-consuming that we end up disconnected from other parents who need our support and who can support us. We end up becoming a band of lonesome chiefs with no communal village. How can mothers connect and support one another more during these vital years? Do you have a village to help you raise your family? I’ve noticed a trend with many mums (myself included) that there are ...

An open letter to kids church leaders: you are doing more for our children than you realise. Praise God for your ministry! For 15 years, I’ve served in kids church or children’s ministry at different churches and denominations. During that time, I worked almost solely with 2-4 year olds. Through those years, I wondered about the impact it had on their lives – if any – apart from providing a child-free ...

American fathers have launched a new initiative in schools that provides a powerful reminder of the important role dads play in the lives of their children – and the community. To tackle rising school violence, up to 40 dads from Southwood High School in Louisiana have banded together under the banner Dads on Duty USA. Their battle plan is simple: be present on school grounds. According to CBS, “the students say ...

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, ...

Margin is a term entrenched in the financial world. Margin trading. Stock margin. Profit margin — the examples are vast. In situ, it means the sum total between a ‘product or service’s selling price and the cost of production’. In practice, margin is a buffer.   In other words, margin is whatever fills the gap between success and ruin. Margin is what’s left over after both variable and invariable costs have been ...

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 ...

“As iron sharpens iron so does the face of a man’s friend,” is a saying from the book of Proverbs. It really sums up the mysterious masculine healing power that is released when men gather together for a noble purpose. I have experienced this mysterious force in men’s gatherings at so many different levels and in so many different ways, for the last 40 years. I just love it when men ...