It Takes a Village: Being a Good Dad, Collaboratively
July 21, 2026
Have you heard of the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child”? This statement means that children
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Have you heard of the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child”? This statement means that children need the helpful and loving support of lots of grown-ups—not just parents—to succeed. It also means that dads and moms shouldn’t have to do it all alone! As a dad, it’s tempting to assume that […]
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This year on the Good Dads blog, we’ve examined many ways dads can be good communicators to their partners and children. But as we all know, the world is much larger than just our immediate families, and fathers need to keep open lines of communication with other adults in your child’s life. These are people […]
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“When clear communication is taking place, we feel informed, engaged, involved and aware.” That’s what Brian Mattson, father of two and lead pastor at the Downtown Church in Springfield, had to say about the importance of communication in relationships. He’s learned a thing or two about communication through his both career and family. How can […]
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Following Good Dads’ screening of “Gone Guys,” an energetic—sometimes hopeful, sometimes sad—but nonetheless meaningful conversation occurred. We hosted a six-member panel to speak about their personal and professional experiences as it relates to the themes and topics in the documentary. Over the past fifty years, boys and young men have steadily disengaged from school, work […]
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This time of year is special for several reasons, with schools letting out across the country, students moving up a grade and kickstarting a great summer. Graduations of all kinds are held, celebrating accomplishments and serving as the start of a new chapter for many. For Good Dads, June marks a special time in the […]
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Jude asks his son Kyle (15) to take out the trash by the time he gets back from the store. When Jude gets home, he finds the trash can is still overflowing. In a fit of anger, he yells at Kyle to take out the trash this instant. When Kyle returns, Kyle says he’s sorry […]
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This week hundreds attended an annual Springfield Public Schools celebration to recognize some of the wonderful individuals and organizations making an outsize impact in Missouri’s largest school district. Good Dads was honored to be among the ten organizations recognized as “District Partners in Excellence” for our Good Dads Strong Schools program, a volunteer-run initiative focused […]
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Five years ago, I was faced with what I felt to be an insurmountable task: explain to my two kids that their Mom and I would be splitting up and moving into different houses. I immediately went to the library to find resources to help explain how our family would look and operate, but everything […]
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FULTON, MO – Good Dads Forge, a new program from the statewide nonprofit Good Dads, launched last week with its first cohort in Fulton. Fathers started with dinner on Thursday evening in classroom space generously provided by LifePointe Church for their first evening of the workshop. At the front of the room was class facilitator […]
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“We have trust issues.” “We fight all the time.” “We have trouble communicating.” I’ve heard these phrases countless times over the past three decades of working with couples in therapy. They hint at what’s wrong—but they rarely tell the whole story. These statements are a starting point, but without clarity, they don’t lead very far. […]
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This week on the Good Dads Blog we sat down with one of the newest members of the Good Dads team, Scott Lewis, a former aviation operations specialist and father to a one-year-old daughter. Previously, Scott worked as Product Manager at DMP, Digital Monitoring Products, in Springfield. Now he’s at the helm of Good Dads’ […]
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Perhaps you’ve heard the buzz about Fundamentals for Good Dads, the newest curriculum from Good Dads. This eight-part course is an improved and updated version of what was previously called Fundamentals of Fatherhood. Using what we’ve learned as leaders in the responsible fatherhood space, we took all our favorite parts from the original course (which […]
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