The toolkit that your father couldn't give you
Boys and men are increasingly at a disadvantage in education and in the job market.
As author Richard Reeves is at pains to point out in this brief video, this is not an issue of men vs. women in any sort of misogynistic way, but the very real fallout from the necessary rebalancing of gender inequality that has played out over the last few decades.
Continue reading “The Truth about Male Inequality”
I’ve been in a men’s group since November 2018, meeting with seven (recently it became eight) other guys and the facilitator every other week, and it has literally changed my life because it’s opened me up to a whole other world of possibilities. It set me on a journey to finally, in my mid-to-late 50s, figure out and get in touch with who I am.
Continue reading “Men’s Groups”
A recent article from the Guardian newspaper starts with a statement that captures the very essence of what Father Lessons is about:
Like many men of my generation, I wanted to be a more present father than my own had been.
Jeremy Davies
The writer talks about how, as a journalist, he was able to be a stay-at-home dad when his son was born some 20 years ago, but points out that he was very much the exception at the time in the UK. As a self-employed online business owner in Tokyo, I had that same opportunity and was pretty much the only father dropping off and picking up from daycare.
Continue reading “Fathers Are More Present, But…”
In a recent issue of the Guardian an article appeared with this tagline:
“Some things get easier with age. The intensity of my friendships and the emotionally sharing nature of them has deepened.”
If only that were true for all men. Particularly when we get into middle age and the balance of life starts to shift from infinite potential and novelty to mortality and loss, that’s when close friendships become all the more important. But sadly, as the article goes on to explain, male friendships tend to dwindle in number as we age and often don’t involve that kind of emotional sharing.
Continue reading “Mates – who needs them?”
This article is now a few months old (so hopefully no longer behind a paywall) but as the men’s group it describes has been going for an amazing 36 years, it’s hardly out of date.
The writer’s description of himself when he first came across the group will sound familiar to many men.
Continue reading “36 Years and Going Strong”