Fatherhood

The Importance of Roughhousing With Your Kids [VIDEO]

by Brett

About a year ago, I wrote a post on why you should roughhouse with your kid. I thought it would make for a good video, so here it is. Watch and learn the six ways roughhousing makes your kids awesome as well as Gus McKay’s favorite roughhousing moves. (If you’re an email subscriber, watch the [...]

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How Not to Become Your Absentee Father

by A Manly Guest Contributor

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Andy Harrelson. In 1969, then governor of California, Ronald Reagan, signed into law the country’s first no-fault divorce bill. Many other states quickly followed his example. Whether his signing the bill was the cause of the skyrocketing divorce rates that were to come in the next decades [...]

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How a Man Handles a Miscarriage

by Marcus Brotherton

Expect a rollercoaster ride. That’s all I can say. Climb into the car near the front of the rows, buckle your seatbelt, then grip the chrome handle in front of you. Clack. Clack. Clack. The car is nearing the top of the first high hill now. Get ready to raise your hands and scream. The [...]

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How to Be Santa Claus (For Your Kids)

by Brett & Kate McKay

If your family celebrates Christmas, and you’re of the opinion that belief in Santa Claus constitutes one of the most magical parts of childhood rather than the Big Lie, you’ll annually have the privilege of taking on the role of old Kris Kringle. This is a big responsibility. For eight or so years of your kid’s [...]

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Too Seldom Is Heard an Encouraging Word: Why and How to Offer More Compliments

by Brett & Kate McKay

“Idle words are characterless and die upon utterance. Evil words rankle for a while, make contentions, and then die. But the hopeful, kind, cheering word sinks into a man’s heart and goes on bearing fruit forever. How many beautiful written words—words in book and song and story—are still inspiring men and making the world fragrant [...]

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The Art of Dadliness: How to Get Your Kids to Do Their Chores (And Why It’s So Important They Do Them)

by Brett & Kate McKay

Every dad wants his children to grow up to be responsible, contributing members of society. But before they head out on their own and make their mark on the world, our kids need to learn how to be responsible, contributing members of the family household. Household chores are training exercises for real life. Chores not [...]

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10 Great Songs About Dads

by Brett & Kate McKay

The relationship between fathers and their children is one of the most important and influential of all human connections. Children want to be like their fathers, or their complete opposites. They can feel protected, smothered, or abandoned by their dads. Dads can wonder if they’re doing fatherhood right, struggle to express their love to their [...]

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Listen Up! Part III: Crafting Good Questions and Responses

by A Manly Guest Contributor

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Tony Valdes. As this series on listening comes to a close (see part 1 and part 2), we should consider a few things in terms of the transition from listener to speaker. When the time comes for the roles to shift, our responses to the messages of [...]

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Listen Up! Part II: 15 Techniques to Improve Our Listening

by A Manly Guest Contributor

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Tony Valdes. Welcome back to our three-part series on becoming better listeners. In the previous installment, we established that listening is a desirable ability to have as men. But how can we practically begin to exercise this ability and develop it in ourselves? There are active steps [...]

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Listen Up! Part I: Learning the Manly Skill of Paying Attention

by A Manly Guest Contributor

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Tony Valdes. As part of earning my bachelor’s degree in rhetoric and communications I elected to take SPC 3350, a college course titled “Listening,” taught by the forebodingly named Dr. Paine. I’ll admit that I was skeptical when I sat down on the first day of class. [...]

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Look ‘Em in the Eye: Part II – How to Make Eye Contact the Right Way in Life, Business, and Love

by Brett & Kate McKay

In our first post in this two-part series on eye contact, we discussed the importance of eye contact and some of the reasons we don’t always feel comfortable looking someone in the eye. But just because eye contact is a great thing and a vital tool for improving the quality of all your face-to-face interactions [...]

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The Importance of Roughhousing With Your Kids

by Brett & Kate McKay

Roughhousing. Horseplay. Wrastling. Whatever you call it, it’s one of the best things about being a dad. I love chasing my one-year-old son, Gus, around the house or pretending that the living room is a lucha libre ring and wrestling with him. No matter how stressed out I’m feeling, hearing one of his big, belly [...]

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Look ‘Em in the Eye: Part I – The Importance of Eye Contact

by Brett & Kate McKay

How often have you talked with another guy who never looked you in the eye during the entire length of the conversation? Or perhaps he did meet your gaze a few times, but then his eyes shifted back to his shoes or to some point off in the distance. I’d like to say that the [...]

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Kids Need Room to Roam: Tips on Taking Your Little Ones Camping

by Darren Bush

This post is part of a series brought to you by RAM. For more information about RAM Series trucks visit us at: http://www.ramtrucks.com/en/guts_and_glory/. What’s this?“When is the best time to start taking kids on outdoor excursions?” My answer is always the same: on the way home from the birthing center. We owe it to our kids…heck, we owe it to all kids to get them outside. Here’s some tips on taking your kids camping.

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A Man’s Guide to Pregnancy: Your Progeny Enters the World

by Brett & Kate McKay

You’ve taken care of your wife during the last nine months. And you’ve made preparations for the baby’s arrival. And now the moment has arrived at long last: it’s time to bring your progeny into the world. Are you ready? ___________ For most of human history, the delivery of a baby was an activity strictly [...]

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A Man’s Guide to Pregnancy: Getting Ready for the Baby Bomb

by Brett & Kate McKay

A baby will drop into your life like a bomb released from a B-52. All you can do is batten down the hatches and prepare for his or her arrival the best you can. Here are a few ways to get ready for the arrival of the stork, and by stork I mean baby grenade [...]

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12 Best Movies About Fatherhood

by Brett & Kate McKay

This post is brought to you by Char-Broil. Visit Charbroil.com to find more about their Infrared line of Char-Broil Grills. What’s this?
Father-themed flicks are guaranteed to make us laugh, get misty-eyed, and feel a little introspective about our own dads, and if we have kids ourselves, how we measure up as fathers. Here are 12 of the best.

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A Man’s Guide to Pregnancy: How to Deliver a Baby in a Pinch

by Brett & Kate McKay

As you count down to the arrival of your progeny, you may read some books on pregnancy or go to a childbirth class with your wife, and feel like you can picture in your head how the whole thing is going to transpire: your wife laboring in a hospital bed (or at home for you [...]

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The Art of Conversation: How to Avoid Conversational Narcissism

by Brett & Kate McKay

Last month I met up with an old friend I hadn’t seen in forever to have lunch. Having both read and written about how to be an effective and charismatic conversationalist, I followed the old dictum of listening more than talking and asking the other person engaging questions about themselves. This is supposed to charm [...]

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