This summer, make some family memories under the stars! Stargazing can be a fun and educational way to bond with your kids and do something new. Check out NCF's essential tips to planning a great night of stargazing for the family.
8 Ways to Appreciate the Mothers in Your Life
Make sure you honor and express gratitude on Mother's Day this year. Moms are awesome! They deserve Mother's Day to be awesome too. Mother's Day is a perfect time to work with your kids to create special gifts, spoil your mom (and your wife), and make memories as a...
7 Tips: How to Prepare Your Child for Team Sports
Spring sports are starting and NCF wants to give you our favorite tips on preparing your child for team sports! Which do you plan on implementing this spring?
Dad, Reflect & Dream with Your Kids
Here at the turn of another year, it’s great to look back and look forward as fathers. We do that in many areas of life, and it makes a lot of sense with our kids, too. Take a good chunk of time in the coming days to do some reflecting and some dreaming with your...
Dads, a “Great” Christmas Is All About Attitude
Does it ever seem like most of what you hear about the holidays is about how busy and stressed people are? It’s almost like we’re being told that we’re supposed to be exhausted and depressed at Christmas. Dad, don’t let it drag you down. A lot of people are going...
Dad, Make Holiday Memories with Your Kids
How are those Christmas plans coming, dad? You have a couple weeks left, and as a leader for your family, you need to make the most of the holidays. So what does this mean for you as a dad? Is it the time to start stressing about money or run everyone ragged with...
Dads, #GiveTIME to Your Kids
If you’re like most dads, you want to succeed as a father and in your other roles, too. Often, that comes down to where you invest your time. This is a special early-week blog due to Thanksgiving. It’s also “special” because, in case you weren’t aware, one week from...
Ways to Honor Mom – the Real MVP
Have you and your kids been busy making plans and arrangements to make Sunday a special day? Mother's Day is an opportunity to honor one of the most important contributors within the family: our mothers and our children’s mothers. You’ve probably heard calculations...
4 Practical Tips for a Family Vacation
Although family vacations take place throughout the summer, we're just entering the weeks that seem most common for an extended family getaway. Kids' summer activities and sports schedules typically take a break for a few weeks, and a new school year is on the horizon.
Men’s Health: Address the “Silent Crisis”
Although our main focus in June is Father's Day, there's another important issue that deserves our attention. This is also Men's Health Month, a time to raise awareness about common health issues and encourage early discovery and treatment of diseases.
A Pep Talk for the Second Half
At the start of a new year, as some are making new resolutions (or at least thinking about making changes), here's a suggestion from author Bob Barnes that should be helpful for all dads who have kids in any level of school: Look at the New Year as a kind of "halftime."
Thanksgiving: The Holiday and Beyond
Being thankful can change our perspective on what we have and don’t have, and how we should respond to those around us.
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Military Dads & the Price of Freedom
A few years ago, one of our staff had the chance to talk to an active military dad during an airport layover. Jim, an officer in the Air Force, had been away from his wife and kids for four months, and he had missed Christmas with them for the second time. It was...
4 Things I Learned as a Single Father
by Matt Haviland I was a single father for almost a decade. They were challenging years, but looking back I realize that some of my hardest moments taught me the greatest lessons. That doesn’t mean everything got easier as time went on, or that I achieved some level...
9 Ways to Leap Beyond Father’s Day to Dad Awesome Day
by Jeff Zaugg I’ll never forget the joy that swelled up inside my 9-year-old heart as I watched my dad leap into a swimming pool from a raised perch in front of hundreds of cheering cruise ship passengers. It was the biggest event of the four-day cruise: the Belly...
What to Do When You Dread Father’s Day
by Michelle Watson Canfield, PhD, LPC Father’s Day is an occasion to celebrate, no doubt about it. It might even be a day for dads to recommit themselves to loving and investing in their children in meaningful ways. That’s what all of us are about at fathers.com. But...
A Script for Your Call with Dad on Father’s Day (Or Any Day)
by Jay Payleitner Traditionally, Mother’s Day is the busiest day of the year for phone calls. So where does that leave dads on Father’s Day? Well, maybe fewer calls are made because talking with the old man is more frustrating than talking with mom. Too often...
Each Child Is Different! 3 Important Truths for Dads
Each of your children is unique and special. You had your first baby and had the incredible privilege of relating to and learning about that one for a few years. Then a second one came along, and that child was totally different in hundreds of ways. Maybe you had some...
Important Father-Child Interviews
Dad: are you ever confused or frustrated as you try to figure out what makes your kids tick? One of the key fundamentals of fathering is Awareness of our children—simply getting to know them better. As dads, we should make it our mission to gain insight into who they...
Mother’s Day: Tips for Dads to Honor Moms
Dad: you have some remarkable women in your life—your mother and your kids’ mom. And you can play a big role in making Mother's Day truly memorable for them. Ideally, you would already have some plans in place by now. Maybe you have thought through what she...
What Dads of Daughters Need to Know in 3 Words
by Michelle Watson Canfield, PhD, LPC Dads: In the past few weeks I’ve had a 47-second video go viral, with nearly 2.6 million views and counting on Instagram! (And honestly, I suspect a good number of the views, likes and shares are coming from daughters and wives...
Young Kids & Behavior Issues: Mean What You Say
Darren is a frustrated father of a two-year-old. You might be thinking, Yeah, so? That’s normal. In many ways, it is normal, and it’s easy to understand why parents came up with the phrase, “terrible twos.” Many young children go through that phase where they need to...
Dad: Look Below the Surface
When was the last time you were surprised by your own impatience or insensitivity? Maybe you were in a store or a restaurant and the people on duty were not very attentive to your needs. The situation dragged on long enough to make you pretty frustrated—you deserved...
Your Fathering Journey in 6 Stages
by Ken Canfield, Ph.D. Once a father, always a father. That simple truth reveals that fathering is a process that lasts from the birth or adoption of your first child until the day you die. And really, we could say it begins when you start preparing for fatherhood....