Spring and summer bring possibilities for activities and events with each of your kids and your whole family. Make the most of them, dad.
New Year, Better Dad
If you’re serious about being the dad your children need, then you’ll want to start the year with a targeted plan. Our new resource will help.
“I’m Proud of You Because …”
Many of us notice our kids’ positive qualities and accomplishments, but we put words to our pride far too seldom. Here are 3 steps to take.
Give Yourself for Christmas
It’s all about time together—being available to your kids, giving them your full attention, and making some great memories with them.
11 Things That Make Your Family Special
These activities have “family time” written all over them. They strengthen bonds, provide important reference points, and create memories.
Fathering and Our Kids’ “Unalienable Rights”
Suggestions for ways dads can regularly invest in their kids based on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Father’s Day: Redefining Your Role
Recommit yourself to fatherhood as a verb. The position of father is an honorable one, but don’t rest on that. Be a dad of action.
On Father’s Day: Promote Responsible Fatherhood
Find ways to represent the best of fatherhood where you are, no matter what you end up doing on Father’s Day.
This Mother’s Day, Swing for the Fences
As a son and a husband, don’t settle for a “bloop single” when honoring your mother and your children’s mother.
Bill’s Christmas Gifts You Can’t Buy
When Bill received the diagnosis, he thought first of his children, and he began thinking very seriously about Christmas.
Christmas Chaos: It’s Worth It
Expect a little chaos. But also expect some great family time this Christmas. Invest yourself in connecting with family members.
Put Thanksgiving into Action
During the holidays, can’t most of us find ways to help others while reminding our children how fortunate they are?
Categories
Welcome to the fathers.com fathering library.
On the left you will see how our blogs and articles are categorized. Choose your stage in the fathering journey under Your Kids, click on a specific situation that applies to you, or browse through the items in our hot topics and fathering fundamentals. Also, check out Tools for the Journey – short downloadable pieces with tips for specific challenges.
The Myth of Quality Time
Dad: how are you doing creating quality time with your kids? For many years parents have used that phrase when referring to their best intentions with their children: spending quality time with them. Through the years there have also been pro-fatherhood campaigns that...
Connecting Through Fashion: Understanding Your Daughter’s Unique Style
by Michelle Watson Canfield, PhD, LPC Dad, you’ve surely noticed some things about your daughter that you may never fully understand, often due to the built-in differences between male and female. And as a committed and dialed-in GirlDad, part of connecting with your...
Walking with Your Kids Through Tragedies
Our world—and here in the U.S., our nation—has endured another tragedy in last weekend’s assassination attempt and the death or injury of bystanders. You’ve probably heard and seen a lot about it, and details will continue to emerge. Sadly, this is one more incident...
4 Habits of Dads Who GET IT
Do you get it dad? Are you actively doing the habits associated with great fathering? Here at fathers.com, we put a lot of stock in empirical research about fathering. Much of our research is quantitative: social science data that can be measured, categorized and...
A Summer Fun Checklist for Dads
by Dr. Ken Canfield Happy 4th, dads! I hope you’re able to enjoy a long weekend celebrating our nation’s freedom (if you’re in the U.S.). There are many good reasons to look forward to Independence Day, and I hope you go all out with celebrating and enjoying time with...
A New Life and a Vote for the Future
by Dr. Ken Canfield My family is celebrating a new life with the birth of another grandchild. That makes sixteen grandkids total, although it’s the first child for one of my adult children—the last of the five to become a parent. It’s an incredible and joyful time,...
Father’s Day: Your Kids Are Worth Your Very Best
by Dr. Ken Canfield Dad: It’s Father's Day! How will you celebrate? There are probably as many options as there are unique dads. But we all share a few things in common, and there are positive things for all of us to keep in mind. This Father’s Day, I hope you feel...
Honoring Your Dad is a Privilege
The U.S. Census Bureau regularly releases interesting statistics related to various holidays. For Father's Day, many of them focus on gifts to get for a dad: As of 2021, there were 6,000 men's clothing stores in the United States, 15,000 hardware stores, and 20,000...
Creating Summer Memories: Intentional Fatherhood
Officially, summer is still almost a month away, but for many families the end of the school year is the start of summer vacation and a time of definite change in the routine. Maybe this summer your kids have a busy schedule of sports, camps and sports camps, music or...
Staying Calm at Bedtime: A Dad Needs Tips
This week we’re addressing a question we received from a dad. He wrote: Looking for some tips on staying calm at kids' bedtime. Having to ask them to do their teeth and put their PJs on 50 &#%?@! times kills me, and then they get upset, then I get upset. Happens a...
3 Reasons to Honor Moms
by Dr. Ken Canfield Dads, you’re ready to honor your mother and your children’s mother this Sunday ... aren’t you? I hope Mother’s Day is something you throw yourself into, because moms deserve it—and it’s good for us and for our kids. By now you have probably made...
Ways to Fight Fathering Commitment Erosion
How do you maintain your motivation and commitment as a dad? According to our own research on fatherhood, high commitment is the number-one sign or predictor of an effective father. And if you’re reading this, then there’s a good chance that describes you—you’re a...