Father Nation

Alf Herigstad has done everything from farming to long haul trucking, from owning a boxing gym to being a real estate agent.  You could say he's a jack-of-all-trades—but he knows his most important job in life.  Teaching others the importance of character, personal accountability, and looking in the mirror, Alf encourages dads everywhere to be better men.  After listening to the episode, be sure to check out his son's new children's book "I'm a Monster" designed to help you bond with your kid.

Robert Nickell is a dad of 7, a CEO and entrepreneur, and executive producer of My Life as a Dad, a show that delves into the lives of celebrity and professional athlete dads to get answers to important questions like:how they feel about being a dad; what their parenting philosophies are; how they balance their family life with their professional life, and in some cases how they relate their unique upbringing to being a dad today.  Robert tells Father Nation about our legacy as dads and the question we all should be asking ourselves—how do you want to be remembered?  Check out the entertaining and informative video series here, and also check out Daddy & Co. for some cool stuff!   

Dad Bill Byrne is the author of “Catch a Fish”,  a collection of short stories about the growing up experiences that many of us have shared, from neighborhood kickball games to broken bones and trips to the emergency room.  Each chapter reveals a new dimension of his evolving relationship with his son, set against the backdrop of his own childhood memories and the early loss of his father. Like adolescence, the tales are alternately funny, awkward, heart-warming and heart-breaking, a brief reflection at each stories’ end draws the reader’s thoughts to the broader question of how we remember and will be remembered by the people that are important in our lives.  This personal memoir of the father-son bond serves as a conversation starter for a discussion about the memories that define the people we have become or the people we hope our children will one day be. Interested listeners can find the book on Amazon here

Brian broke his neck playing football at the age of seventeen but still went on to graduate from college and then law school. A quadriplegic, Brian has adopted 3 kids and has recently been featured in the new book Go Ask Your Dad available here.  We talk about having a backbone rather than a wishbone and the fact that the biggest challenge we all face is ourselves.      

Hogan Hilling, together with Shawn Fludd, are putting together what's called a Dadly Rally.  What is a Dadly Rally? If you're a dad who would like to spend more time, have more FUN and be more active in your children’s lives, the DADLY Rally invites you to join other dads who seek to create a better family and work life balance and also create a new brand of love and leadership as a dad. WHAT WILL YOU LEARN AT THE DADLY RALLY? 1. Maximize time with his kids! 2. Find the right home and work balance for his family.  3. Unconventional solutions to conventional dad challenges! 4. Strategies to strengthen relationship with his kids! 5.Enjoy and have FUN being a dad! The Dadly Rally mission is to support dads and moms in their quest to unify, strengthen and inform the parenting community about the equal role they play as parents.  For more info go here

Tommy Maloney comes on Father Nation to discuss how to succeed in a blended family.  A TEDx Speaker and author of 25 Tips for Divorced Dads Tommy works to give hope and encouragement to dads who are going through the difficult things that divorce brings.  Included in the episode are tips such as to use Snap Chat to connect with your kid, and how even a zamboni machine can teach you a thing or two about fatherhood! Find his website here.

Jennifer Jordan is a California-based author with a passion for celebrating the spiritual in our daily lives and educating others. She has worked as a writer and teacher and holds dual Master’s Degrees in Education and School Counseling. After getting to know her father better after her mother passed away from cancer, she felt inspired to write DADLY Wisdom to celebrate the lives and wisdom of fathers. She then spent many years interviewing fathers throughout the world, and she now offers their powerful stories in this transformative book of love, joy and inspiration.

Bob Paff is a highly sought after communications expert, business leader, and media professional.  His platform and company namesake "Communicating to Win" empowers people so they can effectively communicate in all aspects of their lives.  In this episode we talk about the fact that communication begins with you.  To communicate with your wife, kids, or anyone for that matter, you must be honest with yourself first!

Rusty Koss coaches fathers to develop and implement their family values in order to get re-focused and become better dads.  Visit his website for his blog and to learn more about him.  In today's episode of Father Nation Rusty tells us about his wake up call when he realised he needed to become a better dad and the four steps he took to make it a reality.  1) Create a Vision 2) Make a Set of Family Values 3) Get a Morning Routine 4) Enhance your Work Schedule  Rusty gives advice on how he implemented each step and gives reasons as to why each step is so important.  In order to lead your home you need to have a target to shoot for along with the discipline and strategy to work toward that goal.  If there were one easy to follow guide to become a better dad, this would be it! 

Matt Miller is a former Air Force pilot turned corporate man who eventually started his own business and is now his own boss.  School Spirit Vending is a unique business model where interested families can turn for a great secondary income stream that can fit into the cracks of your life.  Matt talks about fatherhood and the importance of face to face communication in today's world which is saturated in electronic media, the need to teach your kids about the value of money, and the added benefits of being an entrepreneur when in comes to being a dad.  Matt offers Father Nation listeners a free ebook: Live Your Dreams available here.

Dr. Phil Carson is a pharmacist who thinks outside the box of traditional medicine, helping people find natural alternatives to their health problems.  We talk today about what dads can do in general to improve their health and to have the health and energy to be better dads.  One food you should be adding to your diet you may not have heard of before: chia seeds.  Check out Phil's website for a free balanced energy guide found here.  

Justin Buzzard is the lead pastor of Garden City Church in Silicon Valley and the father of  three boys.  We talk about dating your wife in this episode along with Justin's thoughts on fatherhood.  You can find more about Justin and his work here.  

Scott Keith, a professor at Concordia University in Irvine, CA, wrote a book about fathers as a picture of God's grace.  The idea is that a dad's role is primarily that of gracious forgiver rather than a strong punisher.  We get into the not-so-subtle difference between mercy and grace in this episode along with this food for thought: As a dad what is more needed, rules or forgiveness? 

Ryan Michler created the Order of Man website where men are encouraged to become better in all facets of life, from money, relationships, fitness, leadership and everything in between.  Living with purpose, achieving self-mastery, and creating your legacy is what the Order of Man podcast is about and we discuss some of that in this episode of Father Nation including what manhood is, which of course is related to fatherhood.  One key point Ryan gives I believe is the idea of self-mastery, and to become a better dad you need to master different areas of your life—whatever they need to be.  Be a dad that becomes better in all facets! 

Scott Sampson is a dinosaur palaeontologist and host of the Emmy-Nominated PBS kid series "Dinosaur Train".  He comes on Father Nation to discuss connecting your kid with nature and the importance of scheduling time with your child.  In today's world kids are spending less and less time outdoors and there are—and will be—problems because of this.  Whether it's taking advantage of urban nature or enlisting technology to help get your kid interested in the great outdoors, there are many ways to help get your kid off of the sofa.  Check out Scott's book, How to Raise a Wild Child, found here.

Miki Dedijer does life coaching for dads at naturaldads.com and supports dads to show up fully at home.  Living on a farm in Sweden with two young boys, he knows the importance of self-care in order to have more energy as a dad.  Whether it is teaching your child to hand feed a bird or watching a sunrise together, Miki talks about the importance of a connection to nature with raising kids.  He places high value on ethics, principles, and role modelling over parenting styles or techniques, knowing that who we are as fathers is more important than what we say.  

In addition to over 60 years of experiences as leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs, Robert Mallon and Bill Watkins also know something about fatherhood.  They delve into many aspects of being a better dad in this episode and also have offered Father Nation listeners a free gift—Go here and receive 3 free training materials: 1) Top 10 Values in Priority 2) How to Set Goals 3) Listening Each of these offer a ton of value to not only businessmen, but dads! For more, listen in to this insightful episode today. 

Craig Haworth is passionate about coaching youth sports.  A father of three, he started the Winning Youth Coaching website where he shares successes and learnings with other parent coaches who share his passion of the impact, responsibility, and fun of positive coaching.  The four "F's" he mentions: Have Fun; Learn Fundamentals; Make Friendships; and Develop Fight.  Lots of parallels between coaching a winning sports team and leading a family! 

Larry Hagner, founder of The Good Dad Project, seeks to help himself and other dads become the best, strongest, and happiest versions of themselves as they can be.  Many dads want to be the best they can be as a dad but lack a reference from their own childhood, lack resources, or lack tools and guidance to execute.  Larry has also written an ebook, The 5 Biggest Parenting Mistakes Dads Make and How to Avoid Them.  Listen in to this episode of Father Nation as Larry gives his tips to dads from his own experiences as a dad! 

Todd Mansfield, who used to call games for the Pac-10 with FSN, comes on Father Nation and talks about the 4 stages of growth children often go through along with the concept of positive discipline set forth by Dr. Jane Nelson.  A former podcaster himself, Todd has interviewed scores of parenting experts and has a lot of wisdom that he's been able to glean through the years.  Yet, at 47, he admits he's still just a big kid.  Aren't we all in a way? Listen in for some great dad talk.