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 ...

Mahatma Gandhi said, “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Eric Barker, it would seem, has been inspired by Gandhi’s wisdom in his science-based article called, “How to Raise Happy Kids: 10 Steps Backed by Science.”  Eric Barker is the creator of the blog Barking Up the Wrong Tree, and the book of the same name, which presents science-based answers and expert ...

In the early sixties, President John F. Kennedy said, “We need men who can dream of things that never were.” His words are still true today, as 92.8% of those who patent new inventions worldwide are men. Yes, the world still needs men today just as much as it ever did. Sadly, we live in an age where manhood is attacked publicly. It grieves me to say this, but to be ...

“Love is a many-splendored thing” is the title of a popular song from the fifties. Many people would argue the sanity of that song and concur instead with Shakespeare who said, “Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage”! Nobody would disagree with you if you said that our world is in the middle of a marriage crisis. In Australia, one in every three marriages ends in divorce. In America, it ...

We need each other. The saying from Proverbs is true: “As iron sharpens iron, so does a man sharpen the face of his friend.” Robert Louis Stevenson put it this way: “No man is useless while he has a friend.” Dr John Tickell, a specialist in the keys for a long life, talks about the importance of the Ace of Clubs. His thesis is that we all need friends and family, ...

Some time ago, a young man approached me to see if I would mentor him and his wife on how to raise a great family. I have known this man and his wife for about ten years. He is a very successful businessman who is also active in his local church. In my estimation, he is a great father and a devoted husband. As a matter of fact, I would give ...

Only a few days ago, I got a call from the eldest daughter of a dear friend telling me that her Dad had passed way from a heart attack. Ian was at his work, and without any apparent warning, he collapsed and died. He was comparatively young and in good health. After the phone call, I was in a state of shock. We didn’t see each other a lot but we ...

In 2003 the Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation rather prophetically stated,  (See footnote 1.)“The quality of the relationships between mothers and fathers and their children will determine the destiny of Australia.” Convinced that such a statement was true in 2003, the team at Dads4Kids are just as convinced today. Whilst preparing the submission, ‘Healthy Men, Healthy Families, Healthy Nation’ from Dads4Kids for the Senate Committee Inquiry into Men’s Health many years ago. I ...

It’s that time of year again.  You can go to the shopping mall and listen to carols while you shop. You can even get your photo taken with Santa.  Christmas can be a very difficult time of the year for single fathers or for children who can’t see their mothers or fathers. Mostly it’s the children who can’t see their dads who find it the hardest because of the innate bias ...

If you are like me, you care about Australia and you would like to do something to make things better, not only for your children but for the community as a whole. The reality is that in many ways we are more connected than we have ever been through social media, but less connected at a human level. As Jay Bayer points out so well in his article, ‘Social media, Pretend ...

Just took my little boy back after our access weekend. Feeling low! I guess it’s just that same feeling every dad goes through when he drops his kids off after spending such little time with them. Some don’t even get that. So I guess I am blessed. ‘An every-second- weekend-dad.’ I hate it and so does he. It just goes too quick. There’s just this emptiness that pervades your inside. It ...