DadTalk Blog

The DadTalk blog features insights from dads and Responsible Fatherhood practitioners from around the country. Its goal is to start conversations about important issues surrounding fatherhood and programs for fathers today.

Feb 22, 2016

Create a Winning Team through Group Facilitation

In the 2005 movie Coach Carter, Samuel L. Jackson plays a high school basketball coach challenged with developing his team into successful students, competitors, and citizens. He does this by holding them accountable to high standards: schoolwork…

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Featured Authors

Patricia Littlejohn

President

South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families

Kenneth Braswell

Executive Director; Project Director

Fathers Incorporated; National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse

Rick Johnson

Founder and Director

Better Dads

Results 31 - 40 of 287

Jun 15, 2018

A New Father Learns Lessons about Love and Legacy Earlier than Expected

My wife and I were supposed to deliver our son on February 22, 2018. For a little over 8 months everything we thought about our pregnancy centered around that date. I requested time off from work starting on February 21. Our parents were planning to make alternate trips to visit us based on the expected due date. When we were deciding on how and when to paint his nursery, we used February 22 as our benchmark for how soon we needed to get things done. For almost a year, everything in our lives centered around February 22, 2018, so imagine my surprise when we were sitting in the doctor's…

Jun 14, 2018

Dads at a Disadvantage: The Intersection of Fatherhood and the Opioid Crisis

I am a clinical pharmacist at the University of Florida Health Jacksonville, a member of Drug Free Duval, and chair of the healthcare education committee for the North Florida Heroin and Opioid Task Force. However, my most significant accomplishment is that I am a father to three wonderful children.

My passion for helping with the opioid crisis started many years ago while working with chronic pain patients. So, when I was asked to give the closing statement on fatherhood and the opioid crisis at the “Dads at a Disadvantage Community Conversation” co-hosted by the National…

Jun 13, 2018

Never Underestimate the Value of a Father’s Loving Hands

I vividly recall my father’s long fingers and open hands as he spoke and welcomed others into his presence. I wisely knew not to interrupt him when I saw his face buried in his hands as he was deep in thought. I appreciated his big hands when he carried me to the emergency room a few times for accidents I had while playing imaginatively. And I tried to follow his teaching on how to appropriately grasp a baseball for a fast ball or a curve ball. Four years since his passing and what I mostly cherish were his embracing hands that would drain out my worries of the world.

There are…

Jun 12, 2018

In Praise and Support of Sober Dads

As the founder of the Center for Urban Families, one of my joys has been helping fathers defy the odds (and society’s low expectations of them) to change their lives—and create a better future for their children.

All transformations require courage and humility. But that’s especially true for dads who are struggling with addiction.

I got hooked on heroin as a 13-year-old kid living in Baltimore. Without a father-figure in my life, I began questioning my definition of “manhood” and gave in to the negative influences around me. By my early…

Jun 11, 2018

On the Healing Power of Being a Dad

On the surface: It’s the start of 2016, and on the outside, life in my world couldn’t look better. I’m surrounded by family and friends, working my dream job in my hometown, and my beautiful wife and I are expecting our first child come the spring. My wife is also a Pediatric Nurse – a.k.a. Peyton Manning when comes to caring for young children. Becoming a Dad is the natural next step, and I’ll be great at it.

Between my ears: OMG! My wife is pregnant, and I have no idea if I’m more excited or scared for my life. I don’t know the first thing about parenting and really question how…

May 23, 2018

Promoting Fatherhood Involvement: The Responsible Fatherhood Media Campaign Toolkit

With Father’s Day coming up next month, you might be looking for new and engaging ways to get your partners and community involved with the issue of Responsible Fatherhood. The recently launched Responsible Fatherhood Campaign Toolkit is a helpful and easy-to-use website with great resources, especially if you are trying to:

Raise awareness for the issue of responsible fatherhood in your local community Communicate directly with your partners and your community about the important work your organization is doing to encourage…

Apr 24, 2018

Protective Factors: Vital Sources of Parental Support

Being a dad can be one of the most joyful experiences in a person’s life. The bonds between fathers and their children are deep and last a lifetime. Loving fathers want the best for their children and work to strengthen these bonds of love; however, the challenges of life can strain even the most precious relationships. Stress at work, financial worries, strained relationships with a co-parent, difficulties related to custody arrangements or father-child visits, personal health issues—life’s curve balls can sometimes feel like obstacles to nurturing a strong father-child bond. They can…

Apr 9, 2018

Working with the Head Start Community

Family strengthening is a topic that has always been a part of the Head Start vision, and the past two decades have seen a growing recognition of how important Dads are to this process. For example, take the 2017 Father/Male Engagement Appreciation Breakfast held by Union Baptist Head Start in Baltimore, Maryland. This event truly embodied the best practice of showing fathers they are needed and appreciated. It also served to uncover Dads’ wants and needs for services. As the Master of Ceremony for the event, it was exciting for me to facilitate a spirited conversation to find out what…

Mar 26, 2018

Keeping teens safe: Prevent dating violence

“If no one in your group is talking about it [domestic violence], you’re not addressing it.” – Lisa Nitch, House of Ruth, Maryland

For parents of teenagers and programs working with young fathers, knowing and recognizing the warning signs of unhealthy dating behaviors that can lead to teen dating violence is crucial. This is especially true in the context of a recent national survey in which 1 in 10 teens reported being hit or physically hurt on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend at least once in the last 12 months. What’s more, during the 12 months prior to the survey, 1 in 10…

Mar 9, 2018

Resources for working with young fathers

“When I found out I was going to be a father [at 21], I had to make some conscious decisions about my behavior. I soon found out that I couldn’t afford to buy both liquor and diapers.” – Andre Dandridge, NewYoungFathers.com

Responsible fatherhood programs have the potential to have a dramatic, positive influence on the lives of program participants and their children and extended families. Because young fathers are still at early stages of their own development, there are few places where the potential for impacting positive change is clearer than when working with young fathers (…

Featured Authors

Patricia Littlejohn

President

South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families

Kenneth Braswell

Executive Director; Project Director

Fathers Incorporated; National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse

Rick Johnson

Founder and Director

Better Dads

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