Somebody recently said to me that to be human is to wrestle with four fundamental questions: Origin, Meaning, Morality and Destiny. It occurred to me that we could equally apply these questions to Who Let The Dads Out? Our physical origins, as we often say, were “in a small Baptist church in a suburb of a Northern town on the Saturday before Mothering Sunday”, but of course that hides a myriad of reasons why we started running a group for dads. Meaning – 17 years on and our purpose remains “to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers” Morality – a core value is that we should always welcome everyone warmly – mums too if they want to come! I have no idea where the Who Let The Dads Out? journey will end, but for now I think our destiny is to build strong relationships – father to child definitely, but also man to man, and ultimately between man and God. Best wishes Tony The Who Let The Dads Out? Team New in 2020 - Take A Break Action Holidays specifically for Dads The first ever Take A Break holiday specifically for dads runs from 8 – 10 May at Rock UK Summit Centre, near Cardiff, and is suitable for children aged between 8 & 15. Mark Chester and Tony Sharp will be co-hosting. Please pass this on if you know someone who you think would benefit. Get equipped to deliver Time Out for Dads Time Out for Dads is a 5-session programme in Care for the Family’s Positive Parenting series designed to support families. Ever thought about running a parenting programme with the dads and father figures attending a Who Let The Dads Out? group? Well maybe Care for the Family’s training is just what you’ve been searching for. We offer a 2-day training course on ‘Facilitating groups', and a 1-day course on ‘Working with Parents’ to equip you as a trained parenting course leader. The Gathering From 26th to 28th June we’ll be in a field near Swindon, along with over 2000 other men. To be honest, it might be a bit smelly by the end of the weekend! We’re going to be in the mess tent every day, profiling what Who Let The Dads Out? is all about and show-casing some other aspects of Care for the Family’s amazing work. If you’re going then come by for a catch up. And if you’re not booked in yet, then what’s keeping you – after all, there will be axe-throwing and Scalextric! Updates You may have noticed that our website is now integrated into Care for the Family’s main website. All your favourite elements are still available, such as the directory of groups throughout the UK and beyond, the facility to register, and to access all our amazing resources. We’ve also developed a slightly revised logo. There are no immediate plans for CPO to update the logo that features on the various merchandise, and we will give you plenty of notice when we do put plans for that in place. |