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I met 17-year-old Patrick while he waited for a friend on the outside tables at McDonald's. We got into a conversation about all sorts of things, but I was particularly interested in why he described himself as a ‘gamer’ up until a couple of months [...]

Steven Biddulph has written a book, Raising Boys, on how boys can be nurtured into becoming open-hearted, kind and strong men. As all men are not open-hearted, kind and strong, clearly we are not there yet. In Steven Biddulph’s follow-up book Raising Girls, he posits, [...]

“Yes Day -- you have to see it, Warwick,” he said with unbridled enthusiasm. “It is a great family movie that every family should watch!” His strong recommendation really caught my interest. For one thing, he is married but has no children. Secondly, my friend [...]

Teenagers are massive users of digital technology. The current generation of teenagers -- known as ‘iGen’ -- have grown up in the age of the iPhone and social media. Most of them can’t remember a time without a smartphone in their home, which they (probably) [...]

We may have found a cure for most evils; but we have found no remedy for the worst of them all, the apathy of human beings. The above quote is from Helen Keller, which makes it all the more pertinent. Helen Keller was both deaf [...]

What is a Dad? The poem below says it all: A dad is someone who wants to catch you before you fall but instead picks you up, brushes you off, and lets you try again. A dad is someone who wants to keep you from [...]

“My Daddy’s a Champion” was the headline at the top of the Daily Telegraph, one of the biggest selling daily newspapers in Australia several years ago. The story inside the paper was even better. I have never met Daniel Geale, but you can tell he [...]

Some time ago, I was busy minding my own business in my office, when I heard my wife talking in the next office to a stranger. I opened my door to shake hands with Bill, who was inspecting our fire services in our office on [...]

Ian ‘Watto’ Watson said, “I have never seen a bloke go backwards with encouragement.” Ian Watson spoke at the very first Men’s Leadership Summit at Paluma Range, north of Townsville, in 2013. Sadly, Ian passed away in 2019. The good news is that he left [...]

Dale Carnegie said, “Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.” Dale Carnegie wrote one of the world’s best-selling motivational self-help books of all time, How to Win Friends and Influence People, in 1936. This book has sold over 30 million copies and [...]

Dads4Kids often gets heartbreaking calls from single dads who have been shut out of their children’s lives in the process of family breakup. We have advocated at a parliamentary level for a fair go for single dads who can’t see their kids. Sadly, the changes [...]

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year, but there is such a thing as the “Christmas Aftermath”. The cleaning, the recovering, the losing weight and keeping the children entertained during Australian summer holidays. From a parent’s point of view, they stretch on forever, but [...]

Several years ago, on International Men’s Day, Canberra’s ABC radio station rang me up and wanted to do an interview in Drive Time. I was happy to do it, until I found out my interviewer was a lady. Not that I have anything against the [...]

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, [...]

Robert Falzon, a good friend of mine in the men’s movement, asked me to contribute a chapter to his new book called Raising Fathers: Fathering from the Frontline -- 12 Men’s Stories. Here is an excerpt from my contribution. It was a fine weather Sunday [...]

Intention God is challenging us to be better parents. Scripture “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, [...]

This week I would like to share an abbreviated article by former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia John Anderson, published in The Australian: “Black lives matter, but dads should matter first”. John’s main thesis is that most of the problems in our society, among both [...]

"In family life, be completely present," is a saying of Lao Tzu from 600 BC. Here we are now, 2600 years later, and we are still struggling to learn this simple but profound piece of advice. This advice is all the more critical for fathers, [...]

Two weeks ago, I wrote about “Work Day with Dad”. In the article, I told the story of a number of dads who had changed their children for the better by simply hanging out with them. The act of taking your children to work, or [...]

I once went to a men’s breakfast where Paul Bartlett, then a father of young children, was speaking about the importance of fathers in the lives of their children. He told the story of how, once a month, his dad, who was in a high-pressure [...]