A Podcast hosted on International Dad featuring show hosts Scott Lancaster and co-hosts Eric Mooij and Stefan Korn from DIYFather.com.

Today guest is Richard Dudum, author of What Your Mother Never Told You: A Teenage Girls Survival Guide.


Stefan visits with Richard Dudum about his book,
What Your Mother Never Told You: A Teenage Girls Survival Guide. ... read more >>

Gill Connell has been involved in education in New Zealand for almost 30 years. She is a primary trained teacher (TTC. ATCL) and very experienced in early childhood.

She is presently working as a consultant in her own educational business where she regularly runs professional development courses and in-service workshops for early childhood and primary teachers, parents and caregivers talking about the importance of movement and learning. She is the NZ teacher trainer for Perceptual Motor Programming – a movement programme many schools in New Zealand are implementing.
She is also invited to speak on a regular basis at Colleges of Educations, Kindergarten Associations, SPELD, Parent Centres and many other organizations, throughout New Zealand, in the Pacific Islands and recently in Europe. ... read more >>

In his book Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours, Dr. Kevin Leman writes: “The permissive parent essentially says, ‘Oh, do your own thing. Whatever you want is OK.’ My years of counseling parents and children have shown me that in a permissive environment, kids rebel. They rebel because they feel anger and hatred toward their parents for a lack of guidelines and limit setting. In one study involving elementary grades, the children were allowed to eat anything they wanted in the cafeteria over a period of thirty days. The study showed that although children predictably would ‘pig out on sweets’ and other junk food first, after a few weeks they tended to go back to a quite balanced diet.” A tangible lesson that children do indeed want rules and boundaries. Permissiveness is wimpyness, and your kids will end up hating you for it.

Be firm with your boundaries and guidelines, but be gentle as well — it’s the formula for happy, well-adjusted kids. Do it now — they deserve it, and so do you! ... read more >>

Fill in the blanks, and discuss with your spouse tonight:

I wish my wife and I had more time to _________.

I love it when my spouse ___________.

The thing we argue about the most is ____________.

If I could change two things about myself, to better please my spouse, it would be _________ and __________.

For the four key patterns that destroy oneness in marriage ... read more >>

A Podcast hosted on International Dad featuring show hosts Scott Lancaster and co-hosts Eric Mooij and Stefan Korn from DIYFather.com.

Today guest on DIY Father is Author Eric Anderson.



Author Eric Anderson knew what he was looking for and knew he wasn’t finding it. The new father was searching through a local bookstore for stories about fathers and daughters and was disappointed by the lack of books portraying those relationships. Anderson realized that if he wanted to read such a story to his daughter, he was going to have to write it himself. So that’s exactly what he did.

“The humorous books tend to depict fathers as bumbling figures and the sentimental books tend to mythologize the role of the father. I felt neither bumbling nor God-like, so I decided to write about what the relationship means to me,” said Anderson, a busy writer and director who lives in River Forest, Illinois with his wife and daughter. “Of course, I needed a story to write about first…”

Anderson recalls the day he had the idea for the book. “I was carrying Alena back from another fruitless visit to the bookstore. I was holding her close, and she smiled at me and it brought tears to my eyes. I remember feeling ‘that smile is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.’” ... read more >>

A Podcast hosted on International Dad featuring show hosts Scott Lancaster and co-hosts Eric Mooij and Stefan Korn from DIYFather.com.

Today guest is Eva-Maria Salikhova


How can parents and teens understand each better? Based on her experiences as a “teen mentor”, 17-year-old Eva-Maria set out to approach this subject from the perspective of a teen and write a book called “You Shut Up! Re-defining Teenager”. Eric and Stefan find out from Eva-Maria what makes her book special and how she is planning to transfer 1 million teen-parent relationships in 2008. Check out www.youshutup.co.nz for more information

A Podcast hosted on International Dad featuring show hosts Scott Lancaster and co-hosts Eric Mooij and Stefan Korn from DIYFather.com.

Today DIY Father visits with Ed Avis, Author of “Come on, Dad”.


Author of “Come on, Dad”, Ed Avis lives and works in Chicago and has a passion for making fathers do things with their children. His book features 75 simple things for fathers and sons to do together.

Filled with great activities for Dads to do with their sons (or daughters), Come on Dad is sure to provide many hours of quality time together throughout the year. The 75 activities in the book range from Halloween horror bowls to building toy boats. Each activity has clear instructions and utilizes everyday materials.

I recently picked up a copy of Steve Biddulph’s book “Manhood”. His most famous book is possibly “Raising Boys” but I didn’t just want to go with the flow and found it interesting to read his earlier work (the original edition was published in 1994). I bought the latest edition of his book and don’t know how much of his original thinking has changed or how much was changed in the latest edition but somehow it’s a bit “weird”.

Good on him for writing the book in the first place though. At the time when it was first published I guess it was a good response to a lot of what happened during the women’s liberation movement. Many male issues wouldn’t have been picked up because there was so much focus on female issues. Biddulph has a number of points to do with how we seem to have lost male role models or even the presence of males altogether in the modern upbringing of children. I also like his comments about the modern education system that seems to predominately feature female teachers. ... read more >>

New Zealand is a wonderland, a country where the great outdoors are available to play, and explore. And…those places are close at hand. We are so lucky! The mountains, rivers, lakes and bush are great places for dads and kids to explore during weekends and holidays or just when a few hours presents itself. Don’t turn on the computer or the tv, get outside and explore - there are so many adventures to be found!

Children who live in families where parents are active are 6 times more likely to be active themselves. And…activity and play helps grow little brains. Is there a better reason to get out there and have fun with your kids! ... read more >>

It seems to me the stuff that is the most important when becoming a first time father is the stuff that no-one has written anywhere. Women have hundreds of books and other women to talk to, but men being as communicative as we are never seem to pass on the knowledge of birth and the other adjoining phases. Men need to know as well! There needs to be a book written by men for men and it should be named BIRTH FOR DUMMIES (men). Chapter 1 Mood swings and the basic remedies too, Chapter 2 Shit that Women buy that you don't really need, Chapter 3 It's not all your fault she joined in as well, Chapter 4 The midwife is she any good etc etc. To me we are sitting high and dry in the knowledge pool (hence having none). ... read more >>