Last night I came home from a busy day at the office. I walked into the kitchen where my son and daughter-in-law were cooking dinner. I instinctively reached out my hands behind both their backs and rubbed their backs as if to congratulate them for the beautiful dinner we were about to eat. My son did not comment, but my daughter-in-law said, “Do it again! Your friendly back rub made me ...

There is a saying that ‘a good father gets down to his children’s level’. This really came to light recently at my son’s 35th birthday dinner. Even though it was a birthday party for an adult, it was one of the most child-friendly parties I have ever been to. The table was only 400mm high, in a traditional Thai, sit-on-the-floor-and-eat style. In other words, the table’s height suited young children, especially ...

Some time ago, I wrote an article called “Ten Reasons for Eating Together” for the Dads4Kids weekly newsletter to inspire fathers and encourage families. The week after the story went out to 5,000 fathers, I spoke to my wife about the newsletter. I said, “You know, a lot of men are going to start eating more with their families after last week’s newsletter — 10 Reasons for Eating Together, but not ...

‘Fathers Who Dare Win’ is a confronting but captivating title for a great book on how to be a great dad. Ian Grant, the author, was for many years New Zealand’s number one parenting coach. Ian and his wife founded the Parenting Place in 1993. That organisation is now the largest positive parenting charity in New Zealand. The following extract from Fathers Who Dare Win which is about becoming a hero ...

There is a saying, “without a vision, people perish”. In my experience, this is true. Many times, people don’t perish on the outside, but they do perish on the inside. It was Thoreau who said, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them”! We all need to have a vision to avoid perishing in some way or other. We all need ...

I remember when my teenage sons first played Korn’s music for me. I found it really disturbing. It just wasn’t my kind of music. I had grown up playing blues, rock and reggae on my guitar. I found the music very dark. The discordant riffs were off-putting as were Jonathan Davis growling, sometimes screaming, lyrics. The New York Times said in 1996 that the band was “mad at everyone including themselves”. ...

Mother’s Day will be celebrated on Sunday 12 May and we encourage you to make it a big celebration. Motherhood and mothers need to be valued and appreciated a lot more than they do. You know the line by now, “The greatest thing a father can do for his children is to love his children’s mother.” Why is it that so many men just don’t get that? A key part of ...

Many years ago, I went to the largest single day men’s conference in Australia, the Hillsong Men’s Conference.    One of the speakers, Dr A.R. Bernard, shared the title of his message, “What do Women Want“. A holy hush descend on the 5,000 men gathered in the auditorium as they all thought “Wow! I am going to find out today the question that many of my forbears desperately wanted to know but ...

Henry Youngman, a comedian who was known as ‘King of the One Liners’ once said, “I was an atheist for a while, but I gave it up, no holy-days.” Such a one liner about holy-days sums up the subject of this week’s newsletter – Easter Family Holidays. Most of us celebrate Easter holidays but where did they come from and why do we celebrate them? Most countries in the world celebrate ...

Counting Crows had a hit in 2002 with Joni Mitchell’s famous song Big Yellow Taxi. Good songs never get old. The line that stands out in the song for me is “all and all it seems to go, but you don’t know what you got till it’s gone”. Such was the case of a good friend of mine, Mick Robbins. We had only met a half a dozen times, but he ...

Eric Clapton sang, “If I could change the world.” Many men dream about changing the world, but very few actually attempt it. Some succeed in bringing change, but is that change healthy, or does it create more problems than it solves? As a student radical, growing up in the late sixties, I believed it was possible to change the world. Of course, when you are young, and want to change the world, ...

The phrase ‘I am Spartacus!’ was taken from the 1960 film Spartacus by Stanley Kubrick. Historically, Spartacus was a slave who trained as a gladiator under oppressive Roman rule, and who led a slave rebellion in 73 BC. He amassed a large army of fellow slaves and led his men to defeat the Roman legion on several occasions. Eventually, the Roman Senate sent Marcus Crassus to put down this rebellion with ...

Most weekday mornings Alison and I get up at about 5.40AM, push each other out of bed, and go for our early morning ‘Gym & Fitness Walk Session’, at least that’s what I call it. We walk down to the gym about 2-3 minutes and hold hands as we walk. We work out together and then we take a longer route back to our home all the while holding hands with ...

I can always remember Dr Bruce Robson, Australia’s best-selling fatherhood author, telling the guys at the ‘Good to Great’ Fatherhood Course about Janis Joplin’s father. For those who don’t know her musical history, Janis Joplin was one of the great female vocalists of the late sixties. The movie ‘The Rose’ released in 1979 was based on her life story. Rolling Stone magazine has placed her in the top 30 female vocalists ...

Let me give you ten irrefutable reasons why you as a father need to make sure that you get your family to turn off the TV, computer, mobile phone and eat together as a family. Of course, there will be some occasions when this is just not possible. For instance, when Australia gets into the grand final of the World Cup Soccer competition. Now, that’s a good reason to have a ...

‘Family Still Our Pride’ was the two page headline in Australia’s biggest selling newspaper, the Sunday Telegraph. This headline appeared several years ago but there is no reason to believe anything has really changed in the Australian psyche. Family is still number one for the vast majority of Australians, and I do mean vast. The article went on like this, “Scrabble anyone? It seems family time is back – our favourite ...

‘What Children Want Most is a Ban on Divorce, Says Poll’ was a headline in a major UK paper several years ago. The poll question was: “What rules would you make if you ruled the world as King or Queen?” #BanDivorce was the number one request. Nationwide research of children under 10 years of age was carried out by Luton First, sponsors and organisers of National Kids’ Day. Patricia Murchie of ...

Let me share with you the story of one of the best decisions I ever made for my family. Travelling around Australia was the dream of a lifetime. When you live out of your heart, you will never regret it.

We live in an age of astonishing scientific and technological development that has given human beings an amazing number of ways to communicate. However, it could be argued that real communication is taking place less and less. Concurrently, we are facing an unprecedented explosion of knowledge, but it could be argued that we now know less than we ever have, because we are drowning in a sea of information. Information overload, ...