There’s a lot that happens to us when we become dads, including some feelings and adjustments that are unique to fatherhood.
Questions to Help Dads Connect Heritage & Legacy
As dads, our present and future are critically linked to our past. Use these questions to gain perspective on your fathering.
“I Want to Know About Fatherhood”
Children don’t just change your life; they totally transform it. They give you a new perspective on everything.
Advice for New (or Soon-To-Be) Dads!
We’ve asked some of our friends to give you their best advice as you prepare and start out on your fathering journey. Here are some of our favorites.
How Fatherhood Can Change You
Some recent research studies have found biological changes in new fathers — even at the hormonal and brain cell level.
Birth – Your Gateway to Fatherhood
Your child's birth is the gateway through which you, your child and its mother must journey in order to become a family or add to your family. The quality of the birth experience influences the quality of your relationship with your family. It can create bonds of trust and support, or it can reinforce feelings of isolation from mother and child.
Get Ready to Be a Dad with a Fathers Assembly
When my wife was pregnant, I was nervous. I knew I was on the brink of the most monumental transition in my life, and the men around me were not helping.
Dads and Childproofing
Hollywood celebrity Matthew McConaughey recently made the following comment about his 14-month-old son, Levi: "He’s getting bigger, more fun, smarter and craftier by the day." Toddlers are great at keeping their dads very busy, and their growing craftiness can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a cause for concern because they can disappear very quickly, sometimes into very unsafe environments. Have you had that experience?
Growing as You Prepare for Fatherhood
If it feels like you don’t instinctively know how to care for your baby, that’s normal. Every new parent has to learn,
A Poem for Harrison, My Unborn Son
I don’t remember exactly when it was that my wife told me she was pregnant, but I know I’ll never forget it. It lacked all the basic elements for a good commercial: No international flavored coffees. No emotional background music. No surprise greeting card that ended with Hallmark tears of joy. Just an earful of sobering news.
Older Fathers
In recent years, some high-profile men have become fathers in their fifties and sixties: Paul McCartney, David Letterman, and the list goes on. They are part of a growing trend of men having children later in life.
Should I Have Children?
Luke e-mailed us asking for resources that will help him decide if he should have children. Bill Beahm, formerly on our staff, responded to him, and we want to share what Bill wrote.
Maybe some of you are asking that same question. Or, if you already have kids, maybe this will be a good reminder for you.
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.
Fathering is a Marathon: Embrace the Journey
by Ken Canfield, Ph.D. Dad, while you’re in the middle of dashing around as a busy dad, I want to provide some perspective and an important reminder: Fathering is a marathon. Being a good dad is a distance run. It’s a long, trying journey and we must be disciplined if...
Beyond Conditional Love: Rethinking Expectations
When it comes to your kids, dad, What do you expect? We’ve often heard comments like these from grown sons and daughters: “My brother was an all-state quarterback, but I played tennis, and I never quite measured up for my dad.” “I made a B average in school, but Daddy...
Valentine’s Day Tips for Dads of Daughters – and Sons
Your Valentine’s Day shopping and planning for your wife is surely well under way, if not complete—and that’s good! Some may view this "holiday" as just another excuse for greeting card and flower companies to make money—as well as jewelry, candy and clothing...
Entering Your Child’s World: 5 Areas for Dads to Stay Connected
Dad, are you really plugged into what’s going on in your children’s lives? Do you have a good handle on what happens in their typical day, who is influencing them, and how they are processing the things they see and hear? In today’s world these can be unsettling...
Self-Disciplined Kids & the Power of Saying “No”
by Dr. Ken Canfield Dad, are you instilling in your children a strong “internal locus of control”? You’re probably thinking, What does that mean? And I get it. It’s a term that I’ve come across as a researcher from time to time through the years. Some years ago, one...
Everyday Heroes: Dads Have Superpowers!
by Donald Calkins That’s right, dad. Your children believe the world revolves around you; they see you as holding the universe in your hands. While that may be exaggerated, the truth is that most dads have extraordinary influence over their children. I remember going...
Make Every Day Count: A New Year of Fathering
Dad, what will it take to make this year the best ever for you and your kids? The media has a New Year tradition of remembering well-known people who died during the past year. A few years back, one of those people was a man who really seemed to “get it” as a father,...
16 Ideas for Father-Child Holiday Traditions
by Michelle Watson Canfield, PhD, LPC One December back in the late 60s, a father-daughter tradition began. One afternoon, my father drove my younger sister and me—seven and five at the time—two hours away in our turquoise station wagon to cut down our family...
Single Dads: Will it Really be OK this Holiday Season?
by Matt Haviland If the holiday season ushers in an assortment of emotions to most people, that’s even more true for single dads this time of year. Joy, laughter, and anticipation may be at the forefront. What about dread, anxiety, or doubt? “Yes” to all of the above,...
Ways to Give Meaningful Gifts to Your Kids
How do you decide what gifts to give your children this time of year? Maybe your family has settled into an annual routine that seems to work pretty well. Maybe the kids create lists to help you know what they want. Maybe most of the gifts have already been bought...
From Duty to Delight: Transforming Your Fatherhood
What’s the secret ingredient of good fathering? And maybe more importantly for many dads: What can you do if you never saw that kind of father as you grew up? Jeff is a committed dad who has a great perspective on fathering. He’s passionate about being the dad his two...
Time: Are You Spending or Investing?
by Ron Nichols There’s a common expression that we use all the time. It’s pretty harmless in itself, but as fathers we need to think differently with it. It’s the simple concept of spending time. We always say, “I spent a lot of time on that project,” or, “I spent 20...