Home — The Father Hood

Top articles

Why “Exercise Snacking” Is The Workout Solution For Time-poor Dads

Lurking beneath James Newbury’s blond dreadlocks is a mighty athlete. A national CrossFit champion who’s been named “Australia’s fittest man” four times, Newbury finished fifth in last year’s world CrossFit Games. Years of testing himself against psychotically tough competit

Train Your Brain To Be More Optimistic (You Need To For The Sake Of Your Kids)

COVID-19. Climate change. Your moribund sex life. The shrinking size of Cadbury’s family-size chocolate blocks… There are plenty of reasons to feel downbeat about the state of the planet. But such negativity is often exacerbated when you’re the sleep-deprived father of a toddler who’s currently screaming because you won’t let him push a half-eaten Tim-Tam into the power socket.

Why Furious Styles in Boyz In The Hood Is Hollywood's Greatest Dad

Vincent Vega, Luke Skywalker, Sugar Kane Kowalczyk… There are a lot of magnificent names in cinematic folklore, but “Furious Styles” is surely jostling hard for top spot. The good news? This winning moniker isn’t false advertising either. Playing the pivotal role in Boyz N The Hood, Furious (Laurenc

How Will You Screw Up Your Kids? 5 Dads Share Their Worst Fears

“They f*ck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do.” Those opening lines of Philip Larkin’s famous poem, This Be The Verse are a bleak warning to every parent. The message: despite your good intentions you’ll inevitably pass on character flaws, habits and insecurities that

How I Finally Learned To Stop Swearing

Just before dinner, I tiptoe into my youngest son’s bedroom to check if he’s finally asleep. Peeking into his cot, I find him lying awake but happily burbling away so I lean over to make out what he’s saying. “Shit. Oh shit. Shit.” he repeats. “Shit. Shit. Oh shit…” Articulating each syllable

James Bond No Longer Fits The Archetype Of A Modern Hero. That’s Why They’re Making Him A Dad

How should we feel about the fact that James Bond is set to be a dad? Rumours are rife that in No Time To Die, the world’s most famous secret agent will become a doting father of a five-year-old daughter, presumably swapping his Aston Martin for some humdrum SUV with the boot capacity to squeeze in

How The Father Hood Can Help Your Workplace

The Father Hood exists to represent, inform and educate dads everywhere. In the process it aims to help employers better understand the rapidly changing needs and expectations of dads in their organisation.

Video

VIDEO: TFH Workplace Support

We’ve All Become “BBC Dad” And That Might Not Be A Bad Thing

You’ll have seen the old clip already. Professor Robert Kelly is being interviewed live on BBC News about South Korean politics. Mid-sentence, just as he’s delivering hard-headed analysis on foreign policy, his daughter bustles in with the lunatic swagger of a typical four-year old. Manfully, the pr

Interview: How Joe Wicks Stopped Punching Walls & Learned Not To Yell At His Kids

For someone who’s known as a beacon of good vibes and positive energy, Joe Wicks is a refreshingly straight-talker. Leaning against the bed in his Surrey home, the 35-year-old known as The Body Coach admits that enduring the isolation of Britain’s lockdown with two small kids – Indie (2) and Marley

Working From Home? Use This Stress Circuit Breaker To Avoid Losing Your Cool

As a human performance researcher and consultant, Dr Adam Fraser works with a lot of successful men from CEOs to top entrepreneurs. “They often say their greatest regret is they were a jerk to their family,” he says. “They’d say to me, ‘If I had my time over again, I’d have tried to be a bett

The 5 Money Principles To Teach Young Kids

Given the tawdry state of my finances, there’s a line by the writer Katie Whitehorn that I’ve always found endlessly comforting. “The easiest way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any,” she writes. That was certainly the personal experience of mortgage broker, Jai Hobb

What To Do If Your Child Supports The Wrong Team

“There must be many fathers around the country who have experienced the cruellest, most crushing rejection of all. Their children have ended up supporting the wrong team.” I shuddered when I re-read that line from Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch. For me, it wasn’t just close to the bone, it p

Guy Sebastian: You're Always Insecure As A Dad, Thinking: "Am I Screwing This Up?

My father taught me that fatherhood is a sacrificial love. Dad was a geologist and a very hard worker and had to travel overseas a lot. Eventually he was just over it, so he moved us all over here to Australia from Malaysia when I was six-years-old. He was constantly away for his job – working

This Dad Fought Back Against Post-natal Depression: Here’s What He Learnt

One in 10 new dads struggle with depression following the birth of a child. But, on the surface, Stephen Reilly seemed like an unlikely candidate. That’s partly because Stephen is an unusually successful man. Married with two children, Harper (14) and Augie (9), he’s enjoyed a wide-ranging career t

“Family Is My Motivation”: UFC Champ Alex Volkanovski

Inside the Wollongong gym, Alex Volkanovski circles his trainer, throwing elbows and knees with beserk force. The 31-year-old is only just back from surgery on his right hand, after fracturing a metacarpal in his December victory over Max Holloway that saw the Australian crowned UFC World Featherwei

Barry Du Bois Has a Bullet-Proof Mindset. Here's How You Can Get One, Too

Barry Du Bois has got cancer. Unfortunately, it’s not the curable type. Barry, one of Australia’s most well-known DIY experts on the back of his TV work on The Living Room and The Renovators, found out in 2017 he had multiple myeloma (cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow). At the time of his di

Special Forces Commander Bram Connolly: "Fatherhood Is The Ultimate Leadership Test"

“I found commanding high-performing soldiers, Special Forces operators in Afghanistan, a lot easier than raising a three and five-year old,” admits Bram Connolly with a smile. Luckily, he’s not the sort of man to duck a challenge. Bram spent 15 years in the Australian Special Forc

How To Fix A Sexless Marriage: "My Wife & I Have Turned Into Housemates..."

THE QUESTION: I love my wife, but somehow we’ve turned from lovers into housemates. Ever since our second kid arrived – we’ve got a four year old and a two year old – we’ve lost any sort of sexual spark. I was optimistic that being together all the time in lockdown migh

Parent of Triplets Shares Expert Tips For Drinking (A Bit) Less

Looking after small kids is a howling shit-storm at the best of times. Right now though we’re living through some of the worst with COVID forcing us to contend with a host of extra financial, social and domestic problems. So it’s hardly a surprise that a new study shows that more than one in four (2

DadlifeHamish McLachlan: What I Know About Fatherhood

KidsWhat the Horse Whisperer Taught Me About Raising Boys

WorkplaceThis Is The Cure For Dad Guilt – Interview With Dr Vijay Roach

Kids“I Drink More Mid Strengths Now” - Young Henrys’ Oscar McMahon

Dadlife"My Anxiety Really Started At The Time Of My First Son’s Birth" - One Dad Shares His Story Of Post-natal Depression

DadlifeThese TED Talks Will Change The Way You Dad

RelationshipsPhotographer Harold David On Life As a Gay Dad: "I've Not Had One Person Say Anything Negative To Me. Not one."

KidsState of Independence: Three Ways to Bring Up Resilient Kids

DadlifeThe Indefensible Position: Why Alcohol-Free Beer (Sometimes) Makes Sense

Dadlife“Lately I’m making an effort to just put my phone away” – Chris Hemsworth on the modern challenges of fatherhood

DadlifeThe No.1 Tactic For Long-distance Dads

KidsThe New Rules On Naming Your Children