Dear Son,

Enjoy the visual experience: https://youtu.be/UrSR_iiDdQY It seems like everyone is looking for some kind of “goal” to help define personal success. Relationship goals, marriage goals, mom goals are popular hash tags across many social media platforms, but what about dad goals? Do men publicly proclaim that they admire how other men parent, or does ego limit those feelings to internal conversation...

Dear Son, you ain't the man of nothing! How often do young boys get thrusted into adulthood way before their time? There's an array of circumstances to blame, and many are plausible. Unfortunately, telling a boy he is a man, or worse, treating a boy as a man before his time can yield very damaging results. In this episode, we have a transparent conversation about the dangers of levying the...

Enjoy the visual experience:  https://youtu.be/Ij2CYiwvCF0 Dear Son, tell me who you are! I see what you are doing, but is that really you? I'm not sure how many households are addressing this, but it is critical for our children to understand the difference between their actions and their character. Adults struggle with this as well. As men, we often lead an introduction with our (job) title....

Enjoy the visual experience:  https://youtu.be/Ij2CYiwvCF0 Sometimes men get struggle with the dual roles of father and husband. In fact, we can be downright jealous of our children when their needs supersede our physical and emotional needs as a husband. “Hey Son…get off my wife!” Is that unrealistic? Is there a way to balance the roles? What is balance?! In this episode, we have a transparent co...

Visual experience: https://youtu.be/CpbNyHLJfBk "That time I almost died" is a phrase often thrown around in jest to make light of a scary experience or over-exaggerate an experience that wasn't so serious. This conversation doesn't fit into either category. Les provides a transparent account of the day his life changed for ever. One seemingly regular morning ended in emergency sur...

Enjoy the visual experience: https://youtu.be/aZX-HGscTek This is the episode that I have been waiting for. I finally sat down with my father and my sons to discuss the history of fatherhood in my family. “What I wish my father told me” is not an indictment on my father, or on me for that matter. The fatherhood journey is nuanced and more dynamic than static at any stage. For every meaningful less...

Enjoy the visual experience: https://youtu.be/0UTlcdZ6MnI Dear Son, the streets don’t love you. This message may not be an awakening for you, but so many young men learn this lesson through jail or death (of others). Though the story typically includes at least one of those outcomes, the backstories of these young men are nuanced. For many, their parents (or caregivers) were not aware of their str...

Get the visual experience https://youtu.be/GI_fcc6c1Dk Parenting is a team sport, even when it isn’t. There’s an infinite number of circumstances that determine why or how a child lands in a single-parent home. While single parenthood is not an indictment on the child’s future, it can present challenges that weigh heavily on the primary custodial parent. How do single mothers navigate that process...

Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/-wwAu0DM5-A Fatherhood is a learned behavior. Many of us mimic the behaviors that we saw or experienced growing up...sometimes to a fault. Children are like algorithms that are constantly being updated by some supernatural software.  What worked on us as children isn't guaranteed to work on our children, and, inevitably, there will be a need to reprogr...

Finding profit in your purpose is a life hack, but many of us think that these are conflicting principles. For those that are courageous enough to jump into the deep end of the purpose pool with both feet, that leap of faith is also paired with financial frustrations as the money may not flow steadily if at all. Now the reward isn't due simply because the individual went 'all-in,' but...

Many of us take our senses for granted until one of them is compromised. Furthermore, once compromised, how would you respond? Personally, I cannot imagine living life without physical sight (or any sense for that matter), especially as a father with young children. This conversation gives us a bit of perspective on what life is like for the father and the child.   Poetré is a rare breed. He’s an...

This episode is the epitome of the platform's mission. In order to bridge the generational gaps, we need to understand perspectives of those that blazed the trail before us. How was fatherhood shaped in the early 1900s? Did the dads of old face similar challenges that are prevalent today?   In this episode, Kevin Stalling shares a rich family history of entrepreneurship, business ownership, wo...

Sometimes men don't know what they're lacking in life until fatherhood sets in. Ideally, there would be a deep catalog of positive experiences and references to pull from...a how-to manual of sorts. That's extremely aspirational even in the best scenarios. Where do men learn to be men? How does each man learn best? The truth is, a man will learn by what is modeled throughout his life....

What are we really teaching our sons? Most dads have an immediate response listing all the topics that are most important or memorable to them, but what are the children learning from their actions? They know the difference between their parents’ talk and their walk. We had a deep discussion about teaching them to be tough, choosing friends, music and other cultural influences.  My conversation co...

Enjoy the visual experience: https://youtu.be/dLFUPPlJn0k Accountability is the true measure of a man. Oftentimes we search for excuses as to why a man behaves a certain way. Perhaps his father wasn't around; or maybe, his father set a terrible example. I personally believe that there are more great examples of fatherhood than there are of terrible fathers, but that's a conversation for an...

Dear Son, they're shooting at me! In this episode I caught up with my teenage son to get his perspective on school safety and the dangers of being tough (or at least trying to be). I shared a story about one of my run-ins with gun violence. Some days I'm paralyzed by the thought that my son might, at some point, have a similar experience.    Violence is so prevalent, that it can become num...

Mr. JB the Barber is a multi-faceted young entrepreneur with an old soul. He owns a successful barber shop filled with expressive art and hair artists that have become a staple in the community. Growing up, he was inspired by his father, also a barber, to take business ownership seriously, and he has become a savvy people leader in the process.  We talked about his early days growing up in Pine Bl...

https://linktr.ee/djohnslive Do you know the vibes that resonate throughout your family? As fathers we are responsible for demonstrating manhood (amongst other important characteristics) in the home, which requires us to be mindful of our internal frequency. Don’t get tripped up on the wording, I’m just keeping it on par with this episode. Essentially, there is a tone that we set whether intention...

There's trauma on the yard! Many of us (parents) considered the school to be one of the safest places to send our children at one time. Over the past decade or so, the senseless attacks on our babies may have caused a heightened sense of awareness for some, paranoia for others, and perhaps even panic for a few. How would your life change if your child was the victim of a violent act at school?...

Which comes first, black, or blue? Is there even a line between the two for police officers of color? Lieutenant Yowman gives us a peek into the everyday life and psychology of an officer, and how his journey to the force evolved. It all started in Port Arthur, TX, where Adrian grew up with his younger sister and single father in the home. He credits his father's drill sergeant background for...

You've just entered the no step zone. For some, there isn't much thought given to the term step as applied to familial relationships. Stepmom, stepsister, stepbrother...stepdad. I'll agree that the word prefix doesn't seem all that powerful, but does it impact how the individuals act in those relationships? On the one hand, we consider it a mere technicality... a lack of a biologic...

My son thinks I'm a whole person, and I think he is amazing. We spent some time catching up on what's going on in his 14 yr-old life. He chronicles his bout with COVID and how it impacted him. I don't take anything my children say for granted as they are dealing with a different pace of information and emotional distress has many flags that are often unrecognized or ignored. I am grate...

My father taught me everything by telling me nothing. That may sound farfetched to some; however, this will make perfect sense as you progress through this conversation. Jermaine Lewis, Sr is an accomplished writer, business owner, community leader, husband, and father. In this episode he shares several poignant views from his philosophy on male leadership in the household.  These views include al...

Leave a legacy of compassion. Dr. Eric Yancey is a general surgeon, and by many standards, is wildly successful. In this episode, he shares the experiences along the road through medical school to establishing medical practices and the how it intersected with parenthood and his relationship with God. Of course we'll get the backdrop of his childhood and relationship with his father for proper...

"My dad will never know why his mom didn't want him." David Jones is a well-respected, well-educated business professional with an uncanny ability to see simple solutions amidst seemingly big problems. That's his gift as it pertains to business, but how does that translate into his personal life? Carefully.  High level conversations aside, his fatherhood journey is fascinating, and...