Resources:
Dads
Find Focus on the Family broadcasts, best-in-class books,
referral recommendations, and more.
The 21-Day Dad’s Challenge: Three Weeks to a Better Relationship With Your Kids by Carey Casey
Learn habits that will have an eternal impact on your kids, your family, and your community. Each day’s challenge includes a reflective thought, supporting Scripture, a call to action, and space for journaling.
30 Ways a Father Can Bless His Children by John Trent (2015)
Trent draws from scriptural teaching on blessing others to offer practical, affordable ways fathers can bless their sons and daughters.
52 Things Kids Need From a Dad by Jay Payleitner
With a year’s worth of straightforward advice, Payleitner encourages you to be a confident father by maximizing your talents and getting rid of regret.
Anchor Man by Steve Farrar
God offers every father the opportunity to create a lasting legacy. With humor and practical tools, Farrar shares biblical concepts that will help you raise a healthy family anchored in Christ.
Bad Dads of the Bible: 8 Mistakes Every Good Dad Can Avoid by Roland Warren
Explore biblical stories of eight men who made significant mistakes with their kids. Learn to avoid making those errors with your own children—and how to mend already-broken relationships.
Be a Better Dad Today! 10 Tools Every Father Needs by Gregory Slayton
Slayton offers biblical insight and practical tools that can help you build family trust, improve your marriage, teach strong values, and model servant leadership.
Be the Dad She Needs You to Be by Dr. Kevin Leman
Understand the critical role you play in your daughter’s life. Help shape her esteem, her character, and her understanding of healthy relationships with the opposite sex.
Championship Fathering: How to Win at Being a Dad by Carey Casey
Drawing on his experience as chaplain of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams, Casey encourages dads to follow a loving/coaching/modeling strategy to raise well-adjusted, confident kids.
Dad, Here’s What I Really Need From You by Dr. Michelle Watson
“A Guide for Connecting With Your Daughter’s Heart”
Daughters Gone Wild, Dads Gone Crazy by Charles Stone and Heather Stone
Father and daughter share their six-year nightmare to foster hope for families trying to survive the teen years. They offer readers practical suggestions for handling the worst of teen rebellion.
The Father Connection by Josh McDowell (not currently available through Focus on the Family)
McDowell looks at 10 parenting qualities inspired by the ultimate model of fatherhood: God. Embracing these characteristics can make all the difference in a child, boosting self-esteem and sense of purpose.
The Father You’ve Always Wanted by Ed Tandy McGlasson
“How God Heals Your Father Wounds”
First Time Dad: The Stuff You Really Need to Know by John Fuller
Fuller helps you avoid common fathering mistakes, keep your marriage alive, set priorities, and understand the power of your words. Learn to cultivate a lasting parent-child relationship and get excited about being a father.
The Good Dad by Jim Daly
Daly shares how God can mold good dads into great ones, regardless of mistakes or a less-than-ideal upbringing. Be encouraged to build relationships with your children through love, grace, patience, and fun.
Hero by Dr. Meg Meeker
“Being the Strong Father Your Children Need”
Interviewing Your Daughter’s Date: 30 Minutes Man-to-Man by Dennis Rainey
Learn to make the most of your interactions with your daughter’s date and help him uphold God’s values.
King Me: What Every Son Wants and Needs From His Father by Steve Farrar
Farrar looks at Old Testament kings to help dads instill in their sons a character of honor and service to the King of kings.
The New Dad’s Playbook by Benjamin Watson
“Gearing Up for the Biggest Game of Your Life”
The One Year Father-Daughter Devotions by Jesse Florea, Leon Wirth, and Bob Smithouser
It takes work to maintain the bond with your daughter during the early teen years—but it is possible. 365 creative devotions help connect you to God’s Word and to each other.
Raising a Modern-Day Knight: A Father’s Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood by Robert Lewis
A boy’s journey to manhood should be celebrated. But how do you help your son stay on the right road? Lewis uses Scripture and real-life stories to give dads insight they need to equip sons for the path ahead.
She Calls Me Daddy by Robert Wolgemuth
Wolgemuth explores seven foundational principles for raising healthy girls. He addresses topics including discipline, dating, humor, step-parenting, and single parenting.
What a Daughter Needs From Her Dad: How a Man Prepares His Daughter for Life by Michael Farris (not currently available through Focus on the Family)
Dads play a crucial role in forming and shaping a daughter’s future. Learn strategies that build character and spiritual strength from infancy to adulthood.
Being a Champion to Your Wife and Kids (Carey Casey)
Casey, the CEO of the National Center for Fathering and a former NFL chaplain, offers advice and encouragement in a discussion based on his book Championship Fathering: How to Win at Being a Dad.
Being There for Your Son (Dr. Steve Farrar)
Farrar encourages fathers to be connected and intentional. And it’s never too late to reconnect with older children, praying that God will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the children to their fathers.
Being Your Daughter’s Hero (Dr. Michelle Watson)
Watson offers advice for fathers in a discussion based on her book, Dad, Here’s What I Really Need From You.
Encouragement for Being a Great Dad (Jay Payleitner)
Being a dad means being completely present in the lives of your children. Learn to build and maintain a relationship with your child so they can confidently turn to you in moments of joy and crisis.
Encouraging Dads to Be Heroes (Dr. Meg Meeker)
A pediatrician, Meeker suggests how fathers can communicate, listen to, guide, and spend time with their kids.
Encouraging Men to Be Good Dads (Roland Warren)
Warren discusses scriptural examples of David, Abraham, and Saul to help fathers avoid common mistakes. He also shares about his own fumbles and how imperfect fathers can still help their children avoid the mistakes dad made.
Fatherhood Fears and Fun (Phil Callaway)
With humor and a sobering reminder about the importance of godly fatherhood, Callaway stresses the need for grace, understanding, a yielded attitude, and a successful walk with Jesus.
Fathers: Having an Impact on Your Daughter’s Life (Dr. Kevin Leman)
Leman shares his own parenting stories as he stresses the indelible imprint a father has on a child’s life. He urges parents to value every moment of childrearing.
A Father’s Influence in His Daughter’s Life (Dr. Kevin Leman, Kim Trobee)
Leman and Trobee share stories and thoughts on why the father-daughter bond matters and how important it is to spend time and invest wisely in this relationship, especially since it impacts a girl’s future interactions with the opposite sex.
Having a Man-to-Man Talk With Your Daughter’s Date (Dennis Rainey)
Rainey suggests a dad have a 20-minute chat with any fellows who want to date his daughter, explaining to these young men that they are expected to watch out for the emotional and sexual purity of his daughter.
Healing the Father Wound (Ed Tandy McGlasson)
A pastor and former NFL player, McGlasson never knew his father and had a strained relationship with his stepdad. He shares advice about healing father wounds and blessing your children.
Helping Men Prepare for Fatherhood (Benjamin Watson)
The father of five children, Watson offers advice from The New Dad’s Playbook on everything from supporting your wife through pregnancy to balancing work and family.
Hooray for Dad (Ken Davis)
Davis uses comical illustrations and heartfelt stories to remind dads why it’s so important to spend time with their children, use kind words, and live a life committed to Christ.
Leaving a Legacy Through Letters (Greg Vaughn)
When Vaughn’s father died, he realized he didn’t possess anything that communicated his dad’s love. Wanting his own children’s experience to be different, he began writing letters to each of them saying how much he loved them.
My Father, My Friend (Emily Colson)
In this tribute to the life and legacy of Chuck Colson, hear his daughter’s stirring eulogy—and listen to other broadcast excerpts about the importance of fatherhood.
New Dads: Embracing the Journey Ahead (John Fuller)
Fuller offers practical advice from his book, First Time Dad, such as how to avoid common mistakes, nurture your marriage, and set priorities.
Parenting With Love (Dr. John Maxwell)
Maxwell shares how his father modeled personal integrity, marital purity, and an unwavering faith. His father became his hero, passing on a godly legacy to future generations of the Maxwell family.
Raising Sons to Be Godly Men (Pastor Robert Lewis)
Lewis grew up with an emotionally absent father. Wanting better for his sons—and to help other fathers impart biblical manhood to their sons—he developed a strategy to help men reject passivity, accept responsibility, and lead courageously.
Raising Sons to Be Honorable Men (Pastor Robert Lewis)
Lewis shares a vision of manhood for father and son in terms of knighthood. He expresses how a man can change patterns for his sons and live by God’s code of conduct. Learn how ceremony and legacy play a role in the impact you have on your son.
Resolving to Be a Better Dad (Gregory Slayton)
Slayton’s father abandoned the family, and that fueled Slayton’s passion to encourage men to be the fathers God intends. He shares tips about making family a priority—and about the importance of instilling a moral compass in your kids.
Striving to Be a Good Dad (Jim Daly, John Fuller)
Daly describes the father wound he felt as a child and how he endeavored to overcome his upbringing to be a good dad for his sons. He discusses what it takes to be a good dad, why men connect with their children through activity, and the significance of a promise kept.
Training Sons to Be Confident, Capable Men (Jonathan Catherman)
Catherman encourages parents to train their sons in godliness and respectability—and to teach them basic life skills like cooking and treating women properly.
The Value of Mentoring Fatherless Boys (John Smithbaker and Scott MacNaughton)
Both guests were abandoned by their fathers. They describe the damaging impact of fatherlessness and talk about their ministry, Fathers in the Field. The curriculum encourages boys to forgive their earthly fathers and learn to follow Christ.
The Vital Role of Fathering (Josh McDowell)
McDowell discusses the important role a father plays in his child’s life and how the quality of that relationship affects the child’s beliefs, values, and behavior—both now and later in life.
7 Traits of Effective Parenting Assessment
Good parents aren’t perfect, and that’s OK. There’s no formula to follow, but there are ways you can grow every day. Our assessment gives you an honest look at your unique strengths, plus some areas that might use a little help.
Focus on the Family Counseling Consultation Line
If you need someone to talk to, Focus on the Family offers a free phone counseling consultation with a licensed or pastoral counselor. Call 1-855-771-HELP (4357), Monday through Friday, 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM (MT).
Focus on the Family’s Christian Counselor Network
Search for licensed Christian counselors in your area.
FamilyLife
This ministry offers articles, broadcasts, and other resources to help you in your parenting journey.
Fathers in the Field
The mission of Fathers in the Field is “to rekindle and establish the spirit of boys who have been abandoned by their fathers, mentoring them one-on-one in life skills through outdoor activities, and by sharing a Christian understanding of our Heavenly Father’s love and sacrifice for His children.”
National Center for Fathering
This ministry facilitates fathering seminars at the local church level, providing Bible study materials, curriculum, and other resources.
National Fatherhood Initiative
This initiative seeks “to improve the well-being of children by increasing the proportion of children with involved, responsible, and committed fathers in their lives.”
Stepping Up
A ministry of FamilyLife, this website offers a blog and other resources by respected ministry leaders to help you in your role as a husband, father, and leader.
Strong Families
Strong Families provides biblical resources to help you and your loved ones grow in faith.
