Family meals shape memories, faith, and fatherhood. Nathaniel Marsh reflects on presence-based parenting, kitchen mishaps, and simple traditions like Saturday morning pancakes, that build lasting relationships across generations.

The art of householding and homemaking lies within everyone’s grasp, with a much wider-reaching impact than we might at first imagine.

Fatherhood is an incredibly rich and thoroughly immersive experience. It’s important to spend a little time to develop habits that will keep you healthy; this is something that can pay big dividends for you and your family in the long run!

Even young kids need time with dad. They need to learn from us. They need to grow with us. It is not always easy, and we are usually exhausted, but it is so important to give that little bit of extra energy to enter their world.

On the school day my children leave my care, I will drop an “I love you” note into their lunch box or a quirky gift from the two-dollar shop.

I love this article, published by Time, to help parents like me make the most of these short years we have with our kids: "How to Have a Happy Family – 7 Tips Backed by Research".

Last night, some scratchy static in my dad subconscious alerted me to go about being a dad with extra care and gentleness. Most parents know of our children’s delicate talent for beckoning us to attention with tantrums, yelled commands and rushing tears. Other times, there is no trumpet that alerts a parent to go softly. I know that the parenting cues can be miniscule. You are forgiven for missing them, and ...

I wasn’t expecting that! We’ve explored how our formation in our family of origin continues to play out throughout our marriages. There are typically three ways in which our formation can pose challenges for us and today we explore the first of these: incompatible expectations. Growing up, Francine’s father was a retail pharmacist, with her mother working full-time raising the family and volunteering in the school and parish community. It was ...

Sometimes my weekends are a maddening tussle to make the one-after-the-other events that seem to start flooding our Friday and spill into our Saturday and Sunday. Sport, birthday parties, youth group, housework, homework, school socials all back up, one against the other, to make our dad and daughters time fairly frenetic. Leading into my last weekend with Miss 7 and Miss 12, I knew that my Friday to Monday was going ...

A unique story testifying to the bond between father and daughter has set parts of the internet on fire. Luis, a 78-old-year old dad living in Spain, was forced into a retirement home because of a loss of independence. This separated Luis from his inseparable, 38-year-old daughter, Estefania, who was born with Down Syndrome. Although Estefania lives in the same centre as her father, their necessary level of care requires separate ...

A few weeks ago, on an impulse and wanting to share a snapshot of my post-separation status, I wrote a part-whimsical, part-serious piece about the worst parts of being a single dad. By implication, if some parts are worst, then there must be some best bits, says my cerebral dialogue. Voice Number One says the best bit is simply being a dad. Voice Number One ignores the “single” tag and just ...

“Children need your presence more than they need your presents,” are the wise words of Jesse Jackson. Both Dads and kids need a purpose to develop the art of presence. To assist you in this art, we have gathered together 40 things that Dads can do with their children. This is particularly relevant over holiday periods. Almost 80% of them don’t require any money, but they do require effort and execution. ...

Psychologist and renowned speaker Dr Jordan Peterson has some home truths for parents. Parenting is certainly challenging, but it is a tremendous privilege and responsibility that should not be subsumed by competing priorities. Bette Davis said, “If you have never been hated by your children, you haven’t been a parent.” She is correct; being a parent is tough. Being a dad is even harder, because the buck stops with Dad! My ...

As a parent, you have to be able to lead family discussions with a listening ear, respecting each family member’s point of view. From the diversity of opinions, in love you can forge a united course of action. Sincere agreement is vital for harmony and effectiveness. Many years ago, Dads4Kids convened Australia’s first-ever Fathering Forum in Federal Parliament in Canberra. Almost 30 different groups were represented. The one thing each group ...

Research shows that there are some basic habits that combine to make a winning formula for families with successful, well-adjusted children who will flourish in life. “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated,” are the wise words of Confucius. Albert Einstein said it this way: “Everything should be made as simple as possible but not simpler.” And one final word of wisdom from Steve Jobs is, “Simple ...

Last Christmas, two hearty friends of mine surprised me with a present. It was a drinks coaster with a 1950s-style image of an apron-wearing woman holding a toaster with the caption, “If it fits in a toaster, I can cook it!” On its own, it would give most good folks a chuckle, yet, for me, it held a story. In the early days of updating my status to separated parent, I ...

It takes discipline to resist the lure of constant distractions, but it is possible to build good habits in both pups and children which help them stay on track. In this edition of what Guide Puppy Raising taught me about raising kids, our third pup definitely excelled — in the wrong way. This wonderful pup’s name was Scooter and he was a fun-loving black Labrador. Scooter was a bundle of energy ...

Working together with your spouse in parenting and disciplining your children makes it all the more effective. Now to introduce our second pup. His name was Chance and he was a very handsome Black Labrador. Chance was a “by the rule book” pup and loved people’s company on his terms. Chance also had a stubborn streak that had him withdrawn from the program, so he became our pet. Lesson 3: Two ...

Quality time together is ideal to keep the spark alive in a marriage, but it needs to be bolstered by “quantity-time”, making the effort to do routine things together, being comfortable in each other’s company and sharing everyday moments. With Valentine’s Day approaching, couples everywhere are looking for ways to mark the day with romance. From lovestruck dating couples to couples stressed out with kids, every one of us struggles to ...

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 ...