Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator 

Dear Families,

I remember (long ago) being a kid in primary school in Melbourne. I was always keen to get outdoors and play with my mates. Tiggy, footy, climbing, playing down ball and lots of the usual school yard activities. Back then, a new rule came in and we weren’t allowed to climb trees anymore. We were all so disappointed. A while later, my youngest brother Hugh tripped on his shoelaces and broke his arm. It wasn’t until years later when he fessed up and told us all that he actually broke his arm when he fell out of a tree (that he was not meant to be climbing). We still laugh about that when we all get together as a family.

Out in our OGPS school yard, although the kids aren’t allowed to climb trees, they still make mistakes. They play where they shouldn’t, they are sometimes mean to others, they break rules, throw things, swing sticks around and muck-up. Some things haven’t changed over the years. There are many adults around who help our kids to fix up their mistakes - teachers, school leadership, Peer Mediators, office staff and their peers. When the kids get home, these issues are often followed up by parents and caregivers. It is when we work together, we get the best results. As the African proverb says, “It takes a village to raise a child.”

Dads and Parenting:

At our recent cyber-safety parent session, our STEM teacher and leader Rick Kayler-Thomson commented that he was so pleased to see so many dads in attendance. It wasn’t until he said this that I actually noticed. I had to agree with him. But why would this seem so unusual? Why do so many of us men leave some bits of the parenting to the women? Well, I don’t know the reason why, but I know that dads have an important part to play in bringing up our kids.

After writing and publishing my book Connecting with Your Kids, I was contacted by a man from Torquay called Rich Bolus who was making podcasts titled The Dad Mindset Show. He interviewed me for his podcast and I really connected with what he was up to. He admits that he’s no expert on being a dad and wanted to be better at it. This is straight from his website… 

After nearly a decade of having kids it finally dawned on me that I wasn’t levelling up nearly as much (or as quickly) as I thought I would in the ‘dad stakes’. Highly aware that I’m only going to get one shot at this thing—so I’d better do it well—I’m now on a mission to deconstruct the habits, hacks and insights of those that have figured out parts of the great puzzle of being a dad.

Rich and I are planning a workshop mainly aimed at dads to be held at the Torquay library. I’ll let you know of the details if it goes ahead. I am also considering running some workshops here at OGPS when COVID restrictions lift, including one for dads. In the meantime, you might want to listen to some of Rich’s podcasts here:  www.thedadmindset.com

Thanks for all your continued support,

Andy McNeilly

Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator