Do you remember climbing up on small garden walls and balancing on top of them? Well, it's a great skill to learn and you can start pretty early with introducing the concept. A good time to start is when your little champ has mastered the skill of jumping. All you need to get them started on balancing is to find a safe place and a wooden beam (or narrow surface). A great place to do this exercise is a beach with plenty of driftwood or the forest. Of course your backyard or a park is just as good, as long as there is plenty of space and soft ground (grass, sand, etc).

So find something your child can balance on - a wooden beam, a log, a row of bricks, etc. Get them to walk across with their hands stretched out for better balance. You may need to support them initially by lightly tapping under their elbow. You can very the exercise by asking them to do a heel/toe work or even walking backwards.

Enjoy!

-Stef

If you are into cars or engines and want to get show your little one what it's all about then this is the ultimate toy for you.
You'll be a super star dad for assembling it together with your kids and no doubt you'll hear them saying to their friends "check this out - my dad MADE THIS for me!". Fatherhood doesn't get much better than that ...

-Scott

Why do girls giggle so much? Why does everything have to be pink? Why are they so scary once they hit puberty? How can I stop her from marrying an idiot?

If you want effective strategies instead of platitudes, real solutions instead of catch-phrases, and a book with chapters on 'What dads want', 'Girl-talk: communicating with the other side', 'Mean girls - the new cult of bitchiness', 'Every dad's nightmare: sex, drugs, and parties', 'Puberty - it's not as scary as it seems' and 'how to be a cool dad', then welcome to the real world of raising girls.

Dave and Camille from radio station Classic Hits discuss the new book, Fathers Raising Daughters with Clinical Psychologist, Television Presenter and Author, Nigel Latta.

Listen to the podcast

Enjoy!

Dave & Camille

We just switched on a convenient little service for busy dads (aren't we all) - check out the "FeedBlitz" box on the top right hand side. You can enter your email address and feedblitz will automatically send you every new article that we post on DIYFather.com.

Enjoy!

-Stef

As our babies get older and become toddlers and pre-schoolers, I've noticed that a lot of the really cool bits of parenting come down to providing the little ones with new experiences. Stuff they haven't done or seen before. It's just magic to watch their faces when they experience something for the first time. So my tip of the day is to take your little one to a Sushi bar with one of those Sushi trains. A useful age to really "get" the experience is probably when they are about 2.5 - 3 years old.

Isn't it fantastic to watch the little plates of Sushi go by and work out what they are etc. A trip to a Sushi restaurant may also involve another few "firsts". Eating with chop sticks ... or perhaps trying Wasabi / Soy sauce for the first time. Of course most of the dishes may be firsts too (perhaps even for dad). So it's just a great activity all round - AND you eat healthy food at the same time! Go Sushi!

Enjoy

-Stef

Guys - check out the following video (and read on):

Go to http://en.tackfilm.se (it takes a while to load)
Customise the movie by uploading a photo of your child / children / partner. Then, send them the link to the movie! Done.

As they say ...
Creating a video for your kids or partner: 5 minutes of your time
Being a super dad in their eyes: priceless

You're a hero! Enjoy :-)

-Stefan

Released 5 March 2010

Innovative Start up company DIYFather.com and New Zealand’s foremost Parent Education organisation Parents Centre NZ Inc signed a Memorandum of Understanding to more efficiently deliver services to New Zealand Parents

‘This is a fantastic opportunity for DIYFather.com to work alongside a much loved Kiwi organisation for parents. The co-operation with Parents Centre NZ will allow us to deliver innovative ante-natal course formats that appeal to dads as well as mums’ said DIYFather.com CEO Jeff Smith. ‘Parents Centres NZ are the primary provider of antenatal and childbirth support in New Zealand so it is a great opportunity for us to reach fathers who prefer to interact with us in courses rather than online’. DIYFather’s founding director Scott Lancaster comments ‘We also hope to be able to offer Parents Centre a bit of our expertise in the online world and make use of social networking techniques we have found work well with dads’.

If there's one thing I know about what works with kids it's keeping a routine. I remember someone telling me a few years ago that kids really love routine. Without knowing all the ins and outs of the psychology I guess they feel safe and secure in routines because they think mum and dad have life under control.

If they only knew!

So a few months ago our son starts staying awake later and later at night. Regardless of putting him to bed every night at 7.30pm he started staying awake longer and longer till finally hes dropping off at around 11.30! Ok he's happy enough reading, and playing cars and generally turning his room upside down.

The other night when asked why he wasn't sleeping this cute four year old says “Daddy I cant sleep because there is dancing in my head”. Talk about a conversation stopper?!? "Dancing in my head!" has he all of a sudden caught ADHD. I'm told by his mum don't worry most parents at some stage think their kids have ADHD.

Very powerful ad with an important message ... well executed and great to watch! Well done.

-Stef

As we all know, reading books to our children is one of the best ways we can spend time with them. Children love to be read to, it fuels their imagination and helps them develop language and comprehension skills. And of course it's lots of fun! What with all the reading kids books to your children you may feel like you are missing out. Or perhaps you've spent your entire book budget on children's books ... well there is a way to read books for free. We've just come across a site that offers free books and even better free book for dads: libertary.com. Check out "Best Things Fathers Do", or you may find other books on there that you like. It's all free. Cool.

Enjoy,

Stef