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.   Dear God, help me not to get cranky when my daughter leaves a mess wherever she goes. ...

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 ...

Elbert Hubbard said, “Do not take life too seriously, you will never get out of it alive.” Victor Borge said, “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” Comedian and counsellor JP Sears put the above advice into practice in his brilliant YouTube video called “Man Scripts — How to Never Get in Trouble with Her Again”. These scripts will put a smile on your face and a laugh in your ...

I look forward to family get-togethers at Christmas, because there is always lots of laughter. Our family’s principal humourist has recently had his first child. As we were enjoying our Christmas family dinner, we were all talking in earnest about his baby son’s resemblance to both his parents. Of course, the discussion revolved around whether he was more like dad or more like mum. Perhaps the 3-month-old baby could understand our ...

The science shows that families who play together stay together, for more reasons than one. Jim Burns, in his article “Families that Play Together Stay Together”, said, “Playing together is an essential trait of happy, healthy families. Certainly, our children need to do their chores, and of course they need discipline with consistency, but what they also need desperately from their parents is a rousing game of hide-and-seek or a monthly ...

If you are a Dad, it is hard not to feel a bit overwhelmed at the present moment. The coronavirus news seems to beat down at us from every quarter. Our children and our wives are looking to us for leadership in the midst of our current situation. What is our response to them? Firstly, we need to keep the saw sharp. Who is the saw in this analogy? You are the ...

“A merry heart does good like a medicine,” is a quote from the Book of Proverbs that is backed up by all the modern sciences. Raising a family can be exasperating beyond belief. That is why the team behind Dads4Kids believe you must never lose your sense of humour. I have often said that Dads must be the laugh leaders in my weekly Dads4Kids newsletters. To drive that point home, let ...

They sell books sometimes at the gym my wife and I go to. The other morning, always on the lookout for books for me, our readers and our grandchildren, my wife excitedly called me across to the gym book table. Look at this, she said, holding up a book of illustrated dad jokes by Katrina Germein called, “My Dad Thinks He’s Funny”. Whenever I say, “I’m hungry,” Dad says, “Hello Hungry. ...

Speaking as a grandfather of twelve grandchildren, I am grateful for having been a father, and now a grandfather. It’s a constant challenge, doing the right thing all the time. I wonder if the grandkids know that saying, ‘Like father, like son’? I’m gradually learning! And how about this one: Q. What’s grander than a dad? A. A grand-dad! ___ William Lackenby, Moss Vale, NSW, aged 76 years. Bill and Joan ...