Published on Monday 4 March 2019 Last week I attended a Parental Leave Equality Roundtable discussion on behalf The Father Hood, led by the fantastic Emma Walsh from Parents At Work. We heard about the huge disparity in availability and take-up of paid parental leave between women and men and how wo

The alarm’s blaring, there are no clean towels in the bathroom, and your two-year-old hasn’t even thought to make himself breakfast yet. Mornings with kids can be an absolute clusterfuck. In fact, research shows it’s the most stressful time of day for new parents. But here’s a tip so simple that you

Last year, a quick email planted the seed for The Father Hood. Andrew McUtchen and I had been working on a project together. We’d met through work, but quickly connected as humans and talked about dad and life stuff more than work stuff.  Our calls would always start with chats about how things were

With his shaven head and arms the size of ham hocks, Kevin Toonen looks like a very tough customer. This isn’t a case of appearances proving deceptive either. During his 18 years in the military, Toonen not only served in the Australian Special Forces, he eventually wound up as their high-performanc

Fatherhood is experienced in a collection of millions of micro-moments. The relentless expressions, embraces, adventures, laughs and tears can never be adequately captured in a short-list of defining dad moments. The role of ‘great dad’ cannot be pinned to a list of key characteristics. It requires