One valuable lesson I have learned is this: Learn from the mistakes of others.  You will never have enough time to make them all yourself.  Drugs, self-pity, negativity and alcohol abuse are things that lead down the wrong road.  People who focus on their problems and feel sorry for themselves (victims), will never get what they want UNTIL they change their thinking and focus on results, production, goals, helping others and possibilites. 

I don’t know why so many people are negative, cynical and hostile.  I do know that it’s no way to go through the miracle gift we have been given, LIFE.  The constant and never-ending improvement (CANI) idea is a good one.  Never stop learning, growing and discovering.  Be a good reader and thinker.  The immediate benefits are many, but the long-term effects are life-changing. 

Please don’t ever think that you know it all.  Nobody knows all there is to know about even 1 subject.  We all operate from a certain degree of ignorance.  It really is true that the more we learn, the more we realize that we don’t know.  Keep an open mind, every situation contains a lesson, every cause has an effect.  Everyone we meet is valuable and can be learned from.  People who think they know it all always live unfulfilling and shallow lives, whether or not they will admit it.  True peace of mind only comes from knowing we are doing all we can, and really learning and growing.  The essence of life is growth.

Another important concept is to be true to yourself.  Always and forever.  You know wrong vs right.  Regardless of what others do, say or think.  Here is what’s important: what YOU do, say and think.  Follow this philosophy and you can’t go wrong in the long run.

Opportunities to cheat, cram, lie, cut corners, be unfaithful, etc. WILL come along.  How you handle the situation is up to you.  How you handle the situation will determine the course of your life.  Please, do what is right.  You will be so glad you did.  There will be times when you question your own decisions, but believe me – short term gain is not worth long term pain.  As Jim Rohn said, “Discipline weighs ounces, regret weighs tons.”

Remember, NOTHING worthwhile comes easily and quickly.  You can cram for a test, but then you didn’t really learn the material.  You will wish you had learned it sooner or later.  It’s best to do it right the first time. 

Here is a true example of personal power:  I was in Baltimore, Maryland a few years ago doing trainings for sales companies.  Between presentations, I was on my way to Landover and I was pulled over by a Maryland State Trooper.  I was going 75mph in a 65mph zone.  I was given a ticket for $72.  I learned a valuable lesson, keep it under 70!  While talking with the officer I was respectful, I did not make any excuses or argue in any way.  I WAS speeding.  I could have said that others were speeding too, that I was in a hurry to an appointment (which I was), that there wasn’t much traffic, etc.  But that wouldn’t have helped.  I have learned to pay full price for all that I want and do.  There are no free rides.  Self-responisbility is a great philosophy.  I wasn’t even discouraged.  Oh, sure I wish I didn’t get the ticket!  But after it was inevitable, I accepted it as a fact, and then started thinking about what a great day I was having, and how to maximize my next presentation, which turned out to be my best of the day!

Be committed to reach your potential and help everyone you meet along the way.  Like Og Mandino said, “Greet each day with Love in your heart.”  We need more of that philosophy going around these days.

That pretty well sums it up.  Children need their Moms and Dads.  Help Dadsworld promote involved Dads by going to www.dadsworld.com and getting yourself a great Dadsworld.com t-shirt, or making a donation.  Our mission is to promote involved Dads, provide articles, resources and entertainment for our website readers.  Thanks for your support.

My wife and I both nearly fell off the couch!  We don’t watch much news in the first place, but then to see something actually TRUE and meaningful on the news, well, we were impressed.

Here is the proof that television philosophy like this affects children: 54% of teenagers today agree with the statement, “Having a baby without being married is a worthwhile lifestyle or not affecting anyone else,” compared to only 37% in 1976.  Former President Bill Clinton made the following statement: “The real source of the welfare problem is the inordinate number of out-of-wedlock births in this country.”

The truth is that Marital Status is the strongest predictor of father presence/father absence.  Compared to children born within marriage, children born to cohabitating parents are three times more likely to experience father absence, and children born to unmarried, non-cohabitating parents are four times as likely to have an absent father.

So, we had better get back to teaching our children the value’s of commitment, marriage and family if we want to solve our out-of-control welfare problem, poverty, drug abuse, violent crime, lack of education, suicides, behavioral problems, etc.  ALL of these have close ties to father absence.

In an analysis of data from both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households, a national  sample of over 13,000 households was conducted, it was found that the most important determinant of whether a father lived with his children was marital status at the time of the child’s birth. Fully 80% of men who were married to the child’s mother at the child’s birth were living with all of their biological children, compared to only 22.6% of men who were not.

According to a Gallup Poll, 85% of Americans say that “the number of children being born to single parents” is either a “serious” or “critical” social problem.

Former Vice President, Al Gore had this to say, “Promoting responsible fatherhood is the critical next phase of welfare reform and one of the most important things we can do to reduce child poverty.”

Robert Sampson had this to say in Race Specific consequences of Family structure and Crime, “Family structure is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, predictor of variations of urban violence across the United States… all else equal, in cities where family disruption is high, the rate of violence is also high.”

I could go on and on, but I encourage you to read the statistics section of our www.dadsworld.com website.  Dads matter.  Dadsworld.com is committed to strengthening families by promoting involved Dads.

I invite you to go to our forum to comment on these topics and many others!

Have a great day!

There is no doubt as to the importance of Dads.  Why in the world does Hollywood and other pop-culture outlets continue to promote having children without a Dad???  Are these people really trying to run our great country into the ground, or are they all just really that ignorant?  Overwhelmingly, Children- healthy, self-confident, well-adjusted, and intelligent children… have involved Dads.  THAT is what we should be promoting, celebrating and teaching.  Involved parents, Mom AND Dad.

It infuriates me to continually see young girls wanting to get pregnant.  Some don’t even WANT the man to be involved, so they get a sperm donation, which I am strongly opposed to… except for very specific cases.  It’s not fair to the child to raise him or her without their Dad.  Do the research, it’s very clear.

Isn’t it obvious to everyone else that the majority (not ALL, but the large majority) of children who don’t have strong, loving and involved Dads end up in trouble?  Why do you think this is?  It’s partly because the child lacks a role model.  If the child grows up without seeing how a man is supposed to act, that child will rely on television, movies and popular culture for the information.  Have you seen how men (especially Dads) are portrayed in these outlets?  They are not portrayed well.  More often than not, they are portrayed as uninvolved, selfish, detached, dumb, lazy and immature.  That is NOT the message we need to be sending our children.  And that is NOT the reality for the majority of today’s Dads.  Dads today are more involved than ever!  Let’s not only give the children that great role model (Dad), let’s show the world just how involved we are.  Let’s get the corporations, advertisers and marketers to wake up and start promoting the right things. 

A child needs to see the Dad treating the Mom with love, affection and kindness.  That child needs to see the Dad working hard, solving problems, struggling and succeeding – all while being a gentleman and a capable leader.  Setting a good example of how a MAN is supposed to act, that’s what Dads need to do.  And it’s what the media should focus on.  Dads today are better than ever at being involved, loving and spending time with their children.  Yet we still see the same worn-out, tired cliche’s of bumbling moronic Dads.

Help Dadsworld.com change that.  Tell others about our site, and encourage them to be involved as a parent.  Encourage them to spread the word and make it the “in” thing to do.  Wear your Dadsworld.com shirt with pride.  Help us create a movement.  Dads matter.  Read the statistics section of our website, you will be shocked.

Be involved.  Encourage others to do the same.  And don’t tolerate anything less.  Our children really do depend on us.

We are on a membership drive, and this is the first wave of contests to get the word out about our great website and promote involved Dads.  Be sure to go to the home page of www.dadsworld.com and use the “tell-a-friend” feature.  Send it to your friends, family and co-workers.  All of us benefit from involved Dads, and our site has a lot of great features that would interest just about everyone you know.

The tell-a-friend email explains a little about our website and gives the recipient a link that they can use to directly access Dadsworld.com  It’s simple.  How many people do you know that would like Dadsworld.com?

Who is going to get the shirt???

Baby Boomers are the most affluent Americans in U.S. history with more than two-thirds of the nations financial assets and an estimated $1 trillion in disposable annual income.  Over 80 percent of Boomers own homes. 

Boomers are the wealthiest generation in U.S. history, but only 1 in 10 are truly affluent.  These elite Boomers have an annual household income of $150,000.  They are also overwhelmingly married (92%) and college educated (92%).  They also live in homes valued at nearly double that of the average Boomer.

Boomers represent 26% of the population nationwide, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  One in four Boomers owns a second property, other than their primary residence. 

Another interesting fact is that Adults over the age of 50 are the Web’s largest constituency, 72% of American Baby Boomers have broadband access in their homes.  Using the World Wide Web to reach these people is an excellent marketing tool, and seems to be on the verge of virtually replacing print media.  Why would someone read a newspaper when the story has been online for over a day by the time the paper is printed?  The paper is old news in this age of instant reports online. 

In my Real Estate business, we see value in local community papers for near-by events, but the bigger papers don’t provide much value for our customers.  Most buyers in the Real Estate market today use the internet for their searches and research.

My hope is that with the growing use of the internet, Dadsworld.com will grow and become a place for people to go for resources, entertainment and information related to parenting.  We need to foster strong families and involved parents.  The good of the nation depends on it.  With so much junk and garbage online, it’s nice to have a website that represents commitment to family and involved parenting. 

Dadsworld.com… spread the word.

Children who grow up without Fathers “feel like they have been thrown away.”  “They don’t have a father to push them, discipline them, and they give up trying to succeed… they don’t see themselves as wanted.”

28% of white children are born out of wedlock to single mothers.  Among hispanic children it’s 50% and it reaches a staggering 71% for black children.    This is a dramatic difference from 40 years ago.  In 1960, only 2% of white children and 24% of black children were born to single mothers.

Having a Dad is now the ticket to a successful life.  The odds increase dramatically for children to get into college, achieve financial success, enjoy psychological stability when they are raised in a 2 parent (Mom and Dad) family.

“If you are concerned about child poverty, then your focus should be on missing fathers.”  Roland Warren, President of the National Fatherhood Initiative.

Children without Dads will have more contact with the drug culture, the police and jail.  Even in kindergarden, children living with single parents trail children with two parents when it comes to health, cognitive skills and emotional maturity.  “They are in the back of the bus before the bus – their life- even gets going.”

We need to step up as a nation and change our priorities.  Family must come first.  If you are not willing or able to make that commitment, then do not have children.  Too much political correctness has led to people not being willing to talk about the real problems we have!

When I read in Parenting magazine a comment from a reader who was offended that a writer was touting the value of an intact family I knew I was living in Bizarro land.  She said that, “my boyfriend and I love each other and our baby as much as any married couple.”  Well, let me say that first of all that might be true.  But, I am troubled by the lack of commitment there.  And the facts show that marriage is the best invention for the security, health and well-being of children.  Married couples and co-habitating couples don’t even compare.  I know that Hollywood and pop-culture loves to run down marriage and romanticize co-habitation, but it’s JUST NOT TRUE.  It’s a lie.  And it’s destroying our country.

If you haven’t reviewed our statistics tab on the Dadsworld.com home page in a while, I encourage you to do so.

 Let’s get the word out that strong families are essential to our survival.  Having a loving and supportive family is also very cool, fun and healthy. 

Men, make a commitment to take responsibility for what you CHOSE to create.  A new life.  Be the Dad, and be involved.

Women, please choose wisely when searching for a mate.  The kind of man who might be attractive physically or financially, may NOT be a good husband, father or life partner.  Look beyond the obvious for people of substance. 

Can’t we learn from other people?  Can’t we make real substantial changes and better our quality of life for ourselves and our children?  Or are we as humans destined to remain at the same level, only to slowly decline to the lowest common denominator?  At the moment, the latter seems more accurate.

Help Dadsworld.com spread our message and make a difference in the world.  Be the best parent you can be.  Make a commitment and do not falter.  Your children, and mine, are counting on you.

Dadsworld.com is about to offer you many more shopping options.  We are going to be linking to a host of new vendors for your benefit.  Companies like: REI, Altrek, The Apple Store, Buy.com, Shop.com, USOutdoor.com, Andy’s Airplanes, Evogear, Perry Ellis, Watchzone, ewatches.com, Bass Proshops, UFC store, Gogamer.com, The Discovery Channel Store, Gadget Universe, Stubhub, Fossil, Orvis and Back to Basics Toys just to name a few!  We have over 70 new stores for your shopping and gift giving needs. 

These stores will be added over the next several days, so keep a watchful eye out for the additions.  This will give you even more reasons (like you needed them) for you to visit Dadsworld.com 

We also have some other big and exciting things in the works, so be prepared for a major announcement later this year.  Dadsworld.com is commited to bringing you entertainment, information and resources; all while promoting involved parenting and Great Dads!  Thanks for your support.

Every product we feature on our website has an affiliate relationship with us, (except the Autos) so you are helping to support our site and involved Dads with every purchase.

We are winding down the month of April.  We have a new Dad of the Month interview about to go up.  You will be impressed with this great Dad!  We are also nearing another T-shirt drawing, so be sure you are signed up as a Dadsworld.com member for your chance to win! 

More articles are on the way, 15 new, informative pieces on subjects like: staying in shape over 40, losing weight, family time, fathers and daughters, reading, potty training, phone etiquette, effective parenting and helping your ADHD child get to sleep easier. 

Thanks for your support, and be sure to help us spread the word about our great website and our promotion of involved Dads!