Dr Arthur Brooks, a professor at Harvard University, spoke at the recent ARC Conference in London on "The Science of Happiness". Start your own study on the Science of Happiness, put it into practice, teach your kids the same and create a very happy family in the process.
One of my happiest childhood memories is snuggling in bed with mum or dad each night as they read to me. It was these moments that instilled in me a lifelong love of reading. It’s still one of my absolute favourite things to do, even though it’s a rare treat for me these days. What I didn’t realise back then was that this simple habit gave me so much more than ...
A good way to prepare for the New Year is to reach for a SWOT analysis, unpacking the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the year ahead. Although ‘fail to plan, plan to fail,’ is a tired, tedious old phrase, the truth it conveys still offers a solid punch, motivating enough incentive to set down on paper a map sharp enough to smash out some realistic goals. SWOT is a man’s ...
Focus on Effort, Not Outcome Do you get excited when your children get everything right? Or do you get excited when your children make mistakes and feel like what they’re doing is hard? Studies show that when we praise or reward kids for being brilliant, they get caught up in ‘proving’ how good they are. And this leads to them avoiding things they could fail at -- because failure might mean ...
Seize the moment and spend time with the people you love and doing the things which you actually want to do. We are not guaranteed tomorrow -- let us make the best use of today. We need to live now, not in the past, or in the future. Jonathan Larson was wise to say, “Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.” Steve Maraboli put it this way, “At the end ...
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 Chance also had a stubborn streak that had him withdrawn from the program, so he became our pet.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 ...
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 ...
Struggling for motivation? Frustrated that you’re starting things and not getting them finished? Here I expose the principles to staying motivated. Recently I was asked to provide some secret sauce for an Australian Defence magazine on staying motivated. I’m not going to replicate the full report here, so you can check out the source article “My Secrets To Getting & Staying Motivated”. But here’s a summary of steps Anyone can do now ...
The question of identity -- who am I? -- is a huge one in society today. When everything is stripped away, what makes us, us? I went to a retreat once where the director used a reflection that stuck in my mind and bugged me for ages as I tried to work out what he meant. Who Am I? He asked us to imagine ourselves as a boat floating down a ...
Life is getting more complex, and decision-making under uncertainty is getting harder. As real men, how do we approach important decisions without being paralysed by worry over the outcome? That is the topic of this week’s podcast. My teens like the privileges that come with getting older. But one thing they don’t tend to like is the increased stress they feel with having to make ever more important decisions. They have ...
RESOURCES
ASSETS
TRAINING
Events
MUMS
© Copyright Dads4Kids 2002 – 2025 All rights reserved (ABN: 63 563 020 918)
The Fatherhood Foundation Incorporated trading as Dads4Kids is a Harm Prevention Charity listed under Subdivision 30_EA of the Australian Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 with Tax Deductible Status (DGR) for donations
Dads4Kids – Building Men. Growing Fathers. Changing Generations.
