Good morning, good afternoon, good evening - whichever timezone you may occupy as you read this. I just want to take a short departure from all the attempted humour to link you to 3 great articles.

Kindred Magazine is an excellent resource for parents. It must be, it published one of my articles this month. (ipso facto…)

Usually their material’s a little more geared toward mothers, but here’s a couple of their online articles that may be helpful to us blokes:

• An excerpt from Steve Biddulph’s must-read book: Stand Up to Your Wife. This is not about fisticuffs; it’s about communicating with true male grunt but having guidelnes that make it safe and productive for everyone. A sample: Not only can your wife be wrong, or immature, perverse, prejudiced, competitive, or bloody-minded (just like you) - sometimes you and she just will see things differently because you are different. What is right for her may often be wrong for you - it’s as simple as that. Women often don’t understand men. How can they unless we explain ourselves to them?
• The article What Consistency Looks Like in a Dad. Excerpt: If you are consistent, your kids will gain in confidence and security. To keep your children from losing their way in a large and frightening world, it is crucial that you be consistent as a compass in five areas of fathering: your moods, your presence in the family, how well you keep your promises, your morality and ethics, and your schedule.
• For Dads (and Mamas) of teenagers, try this one: Into the Mystery of the Adolescent Mind by Andrew Fuller. Sample: Realise that adolescents are not just a smaller version of adults. The adolescent brain is in transition. It differs neuro-chemically and anatomically from an adult brain. Remember that adolescents’ frontal lobes are ‘closed for construction’. Expecting teenagers to show a lot of forethought, planning, consideration and impulse control is like expecting a goldfish to recite Shakespeare. [Now I don't think that Fuller is expecting us to allow teenagers to NOT plan, control their behaviour or consider others - but this helped me understand some of the developmental factors we can work with rather than fight against]