Subject: Spam Alert: Loving Laughter
From: <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2006 09:31:26 +1000

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Issue 198 - 12th June,2006 	Go to our website Here
<http://www.fathersonline.org/> 	 
 
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*	Hello Warwick
*	Grandads
*	Laughter
*	Single Dads + All Men
*	All you need is Love
*	Thought of the Week
*	Special Feature
*	News & Info
*	Dad's Prayer
*	Help Us

Hello Warwick

 
<http://www.bosweb.com.au/content/EB3TemplateImages/771/laughing%20Famil
y.jpg> I have been working hard developing our new fatherhood website
with my good friend Wayne Larkin, Visual Design Group: [email-masked]
<mailto:[email-masked]>   Wayne completed our 'Good to Great'
Fatherhood Course and is a devoted dad with two delightful daughters,
eleven and six.  He has immense experience in advertising and marketing,
having won numerous national and international marketing awards for TV,
print, radio and other media.  

Wayne has experienced the work of the Fatherhood Foundation first hand
and has summarised our work with fathers down to four words: LOVE,
LAUGH, LISTEN, LEARN.  Wayne is a strategic thinker par-excellence and I
believe that he has hit the nail on the head.  Often fatherhood is
portrayed as deadly serious and at times, rather fearsome, but our
children need and want to love, laugh, listen and learn.  Our job as
fathers is to give them both what they need as well what they want.

Phil Baker, Western Australia, www.philbaker.net
<http://www.philbaker.net/>   was addressing a large group of high
profile community leaders.  He told them that if they really wanted to
affect the community, they had to 'stop being so boring'.  Many of his
audience were quite shocked at his comments.

The same goes for us as fathers.  We have to stop being so boring and
begin to love, laugh, listen and learn.  We learn best when we laugh.
'Laughter is the shortest distance between two people', Victor Borge.
Laughter helps us to love, listen and learn.  To quote from Rob Parson,
author of 'The Sixty Minute Father', Hodder and Stoughton, and still the
best book on fatherhood that I have ever read.

"Life is serious.  There is pain and sorrow on every hand.  There are
bills to pay, and examinations to pass, there is healthy eating to
attend to, and discipline to be imparted.  All that is true; but
childhood needs also to be a time of laughter. To see a picture of a
child abused, or hungry, or alone, brings tears, not just because of the
direct pain, but because they are being robbed of childhood and of their
right to laugh.

 We somehow have to raise children who can cope with the serious issues
of life and yet can remember years of laughter.  That may involve us in
learning to laugh again . . .

When my children were small they used to love having what we called a
'family night'. They would drag their mattresses into our bedroom and
sleep on the floor.  But once in a while we would have a 'super family
night'. That involved us all sleeping on the lounge floor together.
There are no logical reasons why four people with perfectly good beds
should want to do that; except that it's fun . . 

But children love those who have the time not only to teach them, but to
have fun with them."

Lovework

Laugh.

That's right LAUGH, and have some fun with your children.

If you can laugh, your children can too.

Your children need a fun dad, not a boring one.

Besides, it's more fun not being boring.

Yours for loving laughter

Warwick Marsh

PS  Thanks to those who have given to our strategy to take the
Fatherhood Foundation to the next level.  Our goal is to help children,
inspire fathers and encourage families.  Will you join us?  Your
donation is now fully tax deductible and the end of the tax year is only
weeks away.

Regards

WM

________________________________________ 

Warwick Marsh  has been married to Alison for 30 years. He is 
the father of five children, four boys and one girl, ranging in 
age from 25 years to 13 years.  Warwick is a musician, 
songwriter, producer and public speaker who likes to think he 
can still laugh at himself.

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Grandads

 
<http://www.bosweb.com.au/content/EB3TemplateImages/771/Laughing%20Grand
ads.jpg> 

If I had my life over again I would limber up.

I would be sillier than I have been on this trip.

I would watch more sunsets. I would do more walking and looking. I would
eat more ice cream and less beans.  I would have more actual troubles
and 
fewer imaginary ones.

You see, I am one of those people who live life sensibly hour after
hour, day after day.

I've been one of those people who never go anywhere without a
thermometer, a hot water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat, an aspirin and a
parachute.

If I could do it over again, I wouldn't make such good grades except by
accident.  
I would ride on more merry-go-rounds.

I would pick more daisies.

Anonymous friar (from Rob Parsons The Sixty Minute Father)

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Laughter

 
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jpg> 

The following was overheard at a recent high society party... 

"My ancestry goes all the way back to Alexander the Great," said one
lady. She then turned to a second woman and asked, "How far does your
family go back?" 

"I don't know," was the reply. "All of our records were lost in the
flood." 

_____________________________________________

A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to
make the matter clearer, she said, "Now, class, if I stood on my head,
the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the
face." 

"Yes," the class said. 

"Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary
position the blood doesn't run into my feet?" 

A little fellow shouted, "Cause your feet ain't empty." 

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Single Dads + All Men

 

Stop Blaming Good Men
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pg> 

By Ian Windsor

The Fatherhood Foundation is arguably the most respected organization in
this country that espouses family values and the critical role good
fathers play in maintaining those values. I am especially heartened that
the FF affirms and supports the new outcasts of our affluent,
egalitarian society, namely the single dads doing it tough.

As a family advocate I have always presented 'the best interests of the
children argument' in Family Law inquiries.  I have never mentioned the
needless suffering caused to abandoned fathers for fear of being branded
one of those 'angry white males' or worse still, 'fathers' rights'
activists. Like all other human beings, fathers have needs that must be
acknowledged and human rights that must be enforced. No one, including
the Family Court, has the right to take children away from their father
for no good reason. This precept must be enshrined in hard Family Law
legislation. 

I can categorically say that for a father to lose a child through
separation and divorce causes almost as much grief as losing a child
through death.  I can also categorically say that in custody disputes
where a mother won't agree to a shared custody arrangement for no good
reason, her love for the children is far less than that of the father's.

In far too many cases access fathers are vilified (PAS) and denied
visitation to their own children by delinquent custodial mothers. This
further adds to the father's grief especially when in later years he
learns second or third hand of his pregnant teenage daughter's drug
addiction and his unemployed son's death in a road accident.  

I've fought long and hard for the rights of children to have fathers and
for the fathers to be allowed to share the responsibility of child
rearing after separation - but to no avail. The government's
re-iteration of the failed 1996 amendments that entrenches the mother
custody, father liability model, is unconscionable to say the least. We
would be a far better society with healthier children if separated
fathers were allowed to share child rearing instead of being forced to
pay alimony through the CSA for visitation rights that the Family Court
has no intention of properly enforcing.

 
<http://www.bosweb.com.au/content/EB3TemplateImages/771/couple%20hurting
.jpg> I see the pain and suffering of too many good men and their
children and I simply ask, 'When are we going to stop vilifying good
men? When are we going to stop blaming good men for all relationship
failures along with all the other ills of the world.'?  And above all,
'When are good women going to stand by good men and turn their backs on
their delinquent sisters?' 

Until this happens we are left with a failed Family Law system to deal
with. I may be able to help some deserted and abused husbands. Please
contact me if you think I can help, even if it's just for a re-assuring
voice at the end of the phone line.

Ian Windsor

http://www.windsorparalegal.com.au/ 

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All you need is Love

  

What do Men Want?
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.jpg> 

Reproduced from © 2005 Celebrate Love Australia. 

Authors: Francine & Byron Pirola 

SmartLoving - a free e-newsheet produced by Celebrate Love. 

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send your details to: 

[email-masked] 

In all the discussions about what makes a wife happy, it strikes us that
the happiness of husbands is often overlooked. Actually, it's rarely on
the agenda. That in itself says something about us as a society.

Perhaps this is because one of the most significant things that
contribute to a husband's happiness is his wife's satisfaction. When
she's happy, he feels successful in the marriage. When she's unhappy, it
translates as failure for him. A husband instinctively will assume
responsibility for his wife's happiness, and on the whole, most wives
agree he is responsible, even if only subconsciously. When a wife is
unhappy in the marriage, it is NEVER her fault! 

Of course, when a man is unhappy in the marriage, that's his fault as
well!

 
<http://www.bosweb.com.au/content/EB3TemplateImages/771/man_woman%20yell
ing_1.jpg> If there is one thing that is guaranteed to suck the life out
of a husband and crush his spirit, it's an unhappy, critical wife. When
a wife persistently complains and nags and criticizes her husband, he
eventually gives up trying. He concludes that she just can't be
satisfied. In contrast, an affirming wife empowers him to be the best he
can be in all endeavours, including in their marriage.

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Thought of the Week

 
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g.jpg> 

Love, laugh, listen and learn

Wayne Larkin

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Special Feature

 
<http://www.bosweb.com.au/content/EB3TemplateImages/771/family%20fun.jpg
> HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height.

Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.

2. Keep only cheerful friends.

The grouches pull you down. (Keep this In mind if you are one of those
grouches :)

3. Keep learning:

Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let
the brain get idle.

"An idle mind is the devil's workshop."

And the devil's name is Alzheimer's!

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of
time with HIM/HER.

6. The tears happen:

Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire
life is ourselves.  

LIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love:

Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.

Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health:

If it is good, preserve it.

If it is unstable, improve it.

If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips.

Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country,
but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

And if you don't send this to at least four people - who cares?

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News & Info

 
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20pictures%20&%20logos_2.jpg> 

Hillsong Family Conference is on again for the 20th year. Look at  the
link below:

http://www2.hillsong.com/conferences/default.asp?pid=439
<http://www2.hillsong.com/conferences/default.asp?pid=439>
<http://www2.hillsong.com/non_flash.asp> 

 

Good to Great - The Challenge

The 'Good to Great' Fatherhood Mentoring Course is a ten week, intensive
training exercise in fathering excellence. It features some of the best
speakers on fatherhood in Australia such as Brigadier Jim Wallace,
former commander of Australia's SAS. 

Commencing: 7 pm Thursday 7th September 2006 at Wollongong Campus 

Completion: 16th November 2006 - Duration: 10 weeks 

Email: [email-masked]  for application form

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Dad's Prayer

 

<http://www.bosweb.com.au/content/EB3TemplateImages/771/man%20yawning.jp
g> Dear God

Help me not become more boring as I grow older.

Help me love, laugh, listen and learn.

Only then will I be truly teachable,

And only then can I teach others.

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Help Us

Click here for more information about us
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www.ausheart.com.au/fathers/about/index.html>  

Help Us!

The Fatherhood Foundation is a Harm Prevention Charity. 
Fatherlessness and inadequate fathering has been proven to be a   source
of harm. 
The Fatherhood Foundation helps children by promoting excellence  in
fathering. Excellent fathers are in word and deed: responsible,
involved, protective, loving and committed to the well-being of their
children and their children's mother.
 
The Fatherhood Foundation believes that the key to life is giving.
That's why this newsletter is given freely without expectation.  
Life is also about relationships.  
That's what being a good father is all about, developing relationships
with your loved ones.
 
If you would like to give financially to the Fatherhood Foundation
Public Fund and receive tax deductibility:
Fatherhood Foundation Public Fund 
(Name, address and amount details must be emailed for a receipt for tax
deductibility)
Westpac Branch Wollongong
BSB: 032 695
A/C: 25-5558 
 
Or mail cheque and address details to:
PO Box 440
WOLLONGONG  NSW  2520
AUSTRALIA
 
The Fatherhood Foundation Public Fund  is a public fund listed on the
Register of Harm Prevention Charities under Subdivision 30_EA of the
Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

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