Bedtime is a common challenge for dads. How can we keep it peaceful and positive, and avoid making it crazy and confrontational?
What Makes Your Child Laugh?
Many dads just naturally bring out the funny, playful side in their kids. Keep celebrating those relationships with lots of laughter.
Dad Tucks In
by Jay Payleitner: The benefits are many. Mom gets a break. Dad gets a clear assignment and a daily chance to spend one-on-one time.
Young Kids & Behavior Issues: Mean What You Say
These years don’t have to be terrible. You can help minimize difficulties with a commitment to consistency in what you say and what you do.
Your Fathering Journey in 6 Stages
Fatherhood is a marathon, and there is great value in stepping back and looking at being a dad from a bigger-picture perspective.
“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.
Dads and Fast-Food Modeling
A research study reveals an interesting way dads influence their kids — and maybe an area where we need to step up as fathers.
Kids vs. Romance: Connecting with Your Bride
Having kids should not put an end to romance. Actually, just the opposite. Dad and Mom need to be even more intentional about their marriage.
Be Joyfully, Expectantly Inconvenienced
By Peter Lewis: Hope for, wait for, eagerly anticipate, even relish the joyful intrusion of your children into your life.
Bedtime Joys & Opportunities for Dads
Bedtime can be one of the best, most pure moments of fathering, or it can be a tense, emotional struggle. Whenever possible, dads, be there.
7 Life Lessons One Dad Learned From His Kids
by Joshua Becker: Children add joy, purpose, and fulfillment to our lives. And given the chance, they will teach us valuable life lessons.
DAD HAIKUS: Short Poems Honoring Men Who Stand Tall
Jay Payleitner sent us a bunch of dad haikus to help you celebrate your role as a dad and give you some food for thought.
Categories
Welcome to the fathers.com fathering library.
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...
New Dad Feels: Enthusiasm and Cost
For most men, being a new father ignites some new feelings that don't really come from any other experiences in life. Maybe you're a new dad who is in the middle of this, maybe these thoughts will bring back some fond memories, or maybe you're preparing to be a...
Let’s TALK: 4 Keys to Connecting with Your Daughter
by Michelle Watson Canfield, PhD, LPC Dad, there’s something important you need to know about your daughter. Here it is, short and to the point: When a girl or woman knows and feels she is loved by her dad, she will have: greater confidence stronger inner fortitude...
What Makes Your Child Laugh?
As a father, it's good if you actively observe April Fool's Day—not by playing cruel tricks on your children, but by celebrating those relationships with lots of laughter. Victor Borge said, "Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." You already...
Dad: Your Faith Matters to Your Kids
Holy Week is a great time to remind and challenge you about one of the most profound ways you can influence your children—in faith and spiritual matters. There’s a wide range of approaches to faith, just like there are many different traditions for the Easter holiday....
Encouraging Our Daughters
Psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers recalls the spirited discussions around the family dinner table she had when she was growing up. Their family discussed politics, world events and other goings-on of the day. One day, the topic was President Roosevelt’s attempt to...
When Your Daughter “Becomes a Woman”
What are some needed strategies for us dads to how to navigate life with our daughter when she starts her monthly cycle? You have to admit it’s foreign territory for a dad. In a nutshell, I recommended that you not make a big deal out of it, but continue to show your...
Teaching Daughters About Sex?
A dad named Allan wrote to me, not asking should I teach my daughter about sex, but how should I? You see, he’s a single dad. And, he’s wondering, should I find a woman to talk to her? I commend Allan for recognizing the importance of this area of his daughter’s life....
Take Your Daughter to Work
I’m reminded of one father who instilled the value of hard work into his daughter. Harry regularly took his daughter Demi to work with him, where she learned the value of hard work, honesty, and generosity. When she grew older, she went to work for him every day, and...
Sex: Daughters
In a world that is sexually spinning out of control, what can we do to protect and support our daughters in this caustic environment? Now, we know that girls are wired uniquely different than boys. Where boys may be lured in more by the visual temptation, it’s the...