The Grateful Dad

A former Marine, Armin Brott has devoted the last 15 years to providing men with the tools, support, and knowledge to help them become the fathers they want to be – and that their families need them to be. His eight critically acclaimed books for fathers have sold well over a million copies. Titles include The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads-to-Be, The New Father: A Dad’s Guide to the First Year, and The Military Father: A Hands-On Guide for Deployed Dads. Armin Brott is “America’s most trusted Dad,” drawing on his experience as the father of three beautiful children, interviews with thousands of fathers just like you and me, and the very latest research, he’s written books specifically for Dads, and we are delighted to welcome Mr. Dad to The Grateful Dad Radio Hour for this encore, Father’s Day conversation.

Each week on my web-radio show, I reflect on what I’m grateful for, I call it My Moment of Gratitude. Every day I try to use my gratitude journal and note those things for which I’m grateful, which continues to remind me, I have so much to be grateful for. And so today, I want to try and capture something that came to me in the middle of the night, as I woke up to pee as middle-age men so often do, and I want to pause and offer My Moment of Gratitude for flashes of creativity and inspiration…

I am so grateful when ideas come to me, especially good ideas, creative ones, and especially when I can remember and act on them…

I’m grateful for that curious time between sleep and waking, when my subconscious meets my awareness, and an inspiring thought comes to mind…

And I am really grateful when those thoughts are retained, and I act on them, and I have something to show for it…

And, gratefully, this has happened a fair amount in recent months and years, where my mind is open, and I get an idea, and it shows up somewhere, eventually, as something that expresses my feelings, interests desires, or maybe just a whim – from blog topics to products, these flashes have become tangible…

And with gratitude I appreciate that creativity and inspiration are a gift, and fleeting, and something I hope to cultivate, and plan to celebrate, and certainly not take for granted…

So, that’s my moment of gratitude for this week, for creativity and inspiration, wherever and whenever it happens.

And once again I’m grateful to everyone for listening to THE GRATEFUL DAD RADIO HOUR, and I do encourage you to try to make a habit of being grateful. To get your own copies of The Grateful Dad’s Journal of Gratitude, click here.

Each week on my web-radio show, I reflect on what I’m grateful for. I call it My Moment of Gratitude. Every day I use a gratitude journal and note the many things for which I’m grateful, and this continues to remind me, I have so much to be grateful for!

And so today, as I recall a recent opportunity to speak at a gathering to celebrate the Week of the Young Child, with a focus on men in the lives of kids, and also to reflect on the fine men at my son’s school, I want to pause and offer My Moment of Gratitude for male teachers.

I am so grateful that my son has had so many great teachers during his school years, and especially pleased that so many of them have been men. I’m grateful for the early impact of Ben and Barth at my son’s preschool, and for the last six years, during elementary and middle school, John, Ryan, and Jamie. What a gift to my son to have these fine role models, gifted teachers all, who’ve taught, and influenced, and challenged Jordy to become the excellent, curious, serious student he is.

I am also grateful to Men in Early Childhood – Colorado who turned out for my talk on a recernt Saturday – Soren, Max, Andrew, Jason, and others. These committed teachers are few in number, yet mighty in the positive impact they have on the young children in the schools and daycare centers where they work. I am grateful that they’ve invited me back to kick off their conference on June 1.

And while I’m at it I’ll mention with gratitude some other teachers I know including Barry who works with at-risk youth in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Mark who’s teaching folks to be drug and alcohol counselors in California, Jeff who usually teaches and coaches in Seattle, and at this moment is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, helping to prepare village and city kids for a new high-school experience, and Jason, a local elementary school experiential educator. And not to exclude women I must mention perhaps my favorite teacher of all, Joan – Ms. J as she’s known to her high school social studies students in Madison, Wisconsin.

And with gratitude I appreciate everyone who teaches, as today I give a special shout out to the guys who’ve chosen what is still considered a feminized profession, and which continues to be so vital and yet so underpaid.

So, that’s my moment of gratitude for this week, for men who teach, and teachers everywhere, and once again I’m grateful to everyone for listening to THE GRATEFUL DAD RADIO HOUR  – I do encourage you to try to make a habit of being grateful.

Check out my new JOURNAL of GRATITUDE and start your grateful life today!

(Click on the image above for a special message about the next Grateful Dad Radio Hour)

Since 2004, Eric Elkins, a.k.a. The Dating Dad, has been writing a monthly column about the joys and humiliations of being a single father and dating after divorce. It started as something Eric did only for himself – capturing his thoughts and experiences as a way to process the disorientation, the adventures, the humiliating errors and frustrations he encountered while navigating a landscape rife with the obstacles, potholes, mountains to climb, and vistas he never could have imagined. In other words, The Dating Dad is a journey of honest, open, sometimes funny and sometimes sad stories about the sweetness, disasters, and surprises that Eric has encountered while trying to raise his precocious daughter, rebuild his life, and maybe find someone to love along the way. Join the conversation when The Grateful Dad meets The Dating Dad, alive and on the air.