How to Listen When Your Kids Speak So They Listen When You Speak

I can’t believe I am writing an article on listening! By nature I suck at it. So says my wife, and she should know. But in the last few years I have grasped what a liability that is – not just as a husband, but especially now that I am a dad! So I have…

Tag: acknowledge-feelings, listening, responsive-listening

Skin-deep: How to Love Your Kids Through Their Skin

Skin-deep: How to Love Your Kids Through Their Skin Like it or not, we take in most of the love we receive through our skin. This is most obvious in newborns. The mortality rate in NICUs is highest in the case of kids who are not held and touched. This basic need to be touched…

Tag: power-of-touch

Just Da Boys: How Bro-Getaways Make Better Dads

Just Da Boys: How Bro-Getaways make better dads I recently went on a weeklong surf trip with a handful of other dudes, mainly dads. It was just what the doctor ordered! Fellow dads, I know how stretched time and money can be, but there really is nothing like getting away with some great dudes to send…

Tag: male-friendships

Stupid Stuff Couples Argue About

In this post I let co-blogger, bed-sharer, super-babe, mega-talented writer and mother-of-my-kids Julie Williams take me down good and proper. Julie is a fantastic spouse – if the main job of a spouse is to bring your partner down to earth, while loving him still. Over to Julie… What we argue about most…

Tag: humour

250 Dinner Questions for Your Family.

The quality of family dinner conversations is one of the great litmus tests for the relational health of a family. As I shared in a previous post, I am a big believer in prioritizing dinners together and shooting for engaging conversation that involves everyone, including tons of fun. That said, in my house, only every…

Tag: dinner-questions

5 Ways To Help Your Child Feel Your Love

There are 5 ways to help children feel your love, but one or two will work best on your child. Before the drought, there was a corner of my garden that was dying, despite the presence of my irrigation system. The solution was as simple as changing the angle of a nearby irrigation outlet in…

Tag: love-languages

Check Out My Mom’s Mindblowing Art (And Hear Her Heartwarming Story)

As a parenting writer, it’s high-time I go up-line instead of down-line and shamelessly honour not only the mother who gave me my very life, but also her electrifying art talent. Over and above being a brilliant grandmother, her latest focus is her imminent “Immortals” art exhibition. It consists of 10 large-scale oil-portraits. She describes…

Tag: mothers

Helping Our Kids To Get Up Again – A True Story

One of the most difficult things for us parents to do is helping our kids to get up again when life and others knock them down. Yesterday I did my best to do just that for one of my boys. It was his first day back at school. Late yesterday afternoon he asked to do…

Tag: acknowledge-feelings, belayer-parent, life-lessons, listening, power-of-words, responsive-listening

The Gift of Less: Minimalism and Mini-me’s

My wife and guest-blogger, Julie starts off the Dad Dude blog in 2019 with some potent ideas about the gift of less. Before I hand over, if you’re wondering about this pic, that’s one of our twins, Charlie, asleep amidst the chaos a year ago. Enter Julie… THE GIFT OF LESS I remember when I…

Tag: minimalism

The Surprising Reason We Had Five Kids And Named Them As We Did

The Surprising Reason We Had Five Kids And Named Them As We Did Christmastime is the celebration of the gift of a Child. For a decade now, it is also a time when Julie and I are reminded that every child is a gift from God. In our case that’s five kids. Five gifts. Five…

Tag: faith-and-family, listening, my-story