Focussed on Fatherhood

December 7, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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Warwick Marsh has a background is in the building and construction industry both as an employer and employee, but he’s better known as a public speaker, writer, musician, minister, producer and TV director. In 1998 Warwick received the FOL Fatherhood of the Year Award and in 2001 was awarded a centenary medal by the Governor General for ‘service to musical leadership for youth and the Aboriginal community, both in Australia and internationally’.

Warwick’s a founder of the Fatherhood Foundation and I spoke to him this morning as part of my radio program on 98five.

I spoke to Warwick about the Fatherhood Foundation. I’m sure we’d all agree that there’s a very real need for good parenting but I wanted to know why he focuses specifically on the role of dads.



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How do you rate as a parent?

October 31, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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I was interested to read today that Australian actor Gary Sweet only rates himself a 6 out of 10 as a dad. I wonder how highly his kids would rate him. I wonder what score I’d get out of 10 if my children had to rate me.

I’d give myself a five or a six out of 10. I wish I was better.

Frank is the one I see the most of these days because he lives in Melbourne. Sophie lives in Adelaide and my two little blokes – well, they’re not so little – live in Sydney.

I try to be as good a father as I can be when I see them, but I often don’t see my younger ones as much as I’d like to. I do the best with the skills I’ve got. – News.com.au

Parenting can be a tough job. Every parent is different. Every child is different. Every circumstance we face as parents is different. Yet amongst all the variables we’re asked to bring up our kids to be fine, upstanding members of the community. The weight of expectation can be enormous.

So how do we rate ourselves? What scale do we use to judge if we’re doing alright?

I’m not sure if I’d join Sweet and give myself a 6 out of 10 for my own performance as a father, whether I’d go higher or even lower.

I suppose the first task would be to decide the criteria for judging our worthiness as parents. What kind of criteria would you use? Quality time with our children? Being there for special occasions? Providing for our kids? What do you think?

I’ve heard it said that the best thing a father can do for his children is to love his wife, the mother of his children. Is that one of the things we should focus on to become better parents?

I’d love your input in the comments section of this post.



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