Page 8 Connections

Profiling NZ Parenting Programmes

Great Fathers’ developer Dave Owens
Dads4Dads grows
The Dads4Dads PEPE Plus pro-
gramme is steadily gaining momen-
tum as more Areas hire father facili-
tators and plan courses.
Cees Bevers (from Taranaki) and
Wolfgang Teiniker (Counties Mau-
kau) took part in the March startup
workshop for new facilitators.
Hawke’s Bay and Waikato are plan-
ning adding Dads4Dads to their
parenting programme and Welling-
ton Wairarapa just ran its third
course. Counties Manukau is plan-
ning a programme of seven courses
in 2009.
A national meeting of father facilita-
tors will be held midyear to share
ideas on developing the programme
and supporting resources..
Resources available for Plunket-
facilitators with a focus on fathers
from National Office include:
Call Me Dad: A Manual for New
Fathers (NZ book)
“Hello Dad”: Infant Communication
for Fathers (DVD)
Great Fathers uses music to reach dads
Great Fathers developer
and Taranaki father Dave
Owens is developing a re-
source with music content to
provide information and
encouragement for men to
engage and bond with their
new baby.
The resource - a boxed set
DVD – includes an audio
compilation of five contem-
porary songs performed by
NZ musicians with themes
tied to fathering; filmed in-
terviews with nationally-
known musicians and some
non-celebrity fathers; and a
16 page booklet of images
and slogans that illustrate
the Great Fathers’ messages.
“Music can occupy an emo-
tional space that connects
with people in a way that
spoken words and written
ideas do not. We want men
to visit this emotional space
in regards to their new
baby,” Dave says.
He says Great Fathers wants
to help foster healthy rela-
tionships between a father
and his infant (as a signifi-
cant preventative solution to
child abuse) and foster
tighter bonds within families.
The resource is being devel-
oped to appeal to new and
expecting fathers aged 16 –
39 years and to be effective
for all men, including those
with limited literacy skills. It
will include links to useful
services. The plan is for it to
Connections e-zine is designed to keep everyone informed about Plunket Group Parenting Programmes. Contributions
are welcome. There is a subscription list for printed hardcopies for those not on email and it is also reproduced on the
Plunket Parenting Education Website on The Cradle. Correspondence, contributions and requests to be added to the
printed subscription list should be directed to Claire Rumble, National Parenting Education Advisor, DD: (04) 474-1515,
Fax: (04) 474 0190, email Claire.rumble@plunket.org.nz.
be used in childbirth educa-
tion classes. “Our intention is
to pilot including a male fa-
cilitator in childbirth educa-
tion classes who will sepa-
rate the men from the
women for part of the ses-
sions and provide the expec-
tant fathers with information
and encouragement to fully
participate and engage with
their new baby right from
the start.”
He wants the resource to be
distributed through midwives,
Plunket and the many agen-
cies that provide services to
families.
The broad intention of Great
Fathers is to prevent child
abuse; illustrate good role
and behaviour models for
men as fathers of infants;
create positive family envi-
ronments that foster learning
and emotional resilience in
children; create strong family
units that are less likely to
fall apart at the first signs of
stress; illustrate how impor-
tant it is for all family mem-
bers to have their needs met
to help men recognise that
fathering is an opportunity
and a privilege.
Aims
Great Fathers is aiming to
establish a common aware-
ness among New Zealand
men and their families that:
• fathering is potentially one
of the most enduring and
rewarding activities they
may ever engage in;
• being an active, conscious
father can open up a new
side of life to a man;
• participating in the birth of
their baby can be a very
rewarding and important
experience;
• conscious, nurturing father-
ing – right from even before
the birth – is important to the
wellbeing of their child;
• the way a baby’s brain
develops is affected by the
emotional environment they
are surrounded by and ba-
bies are affected – and can
be damaged – by emo-
tional, verbal and physical
violence that occurs to them
or to people around them;
• a baby whose physical
and emotional needs are met
and consistently feel loved,
are babies who gain the
emotional intelligence that
helps them be resilient and
cope with life’s challenges.
A pilot group using the
Great Fathers resource is
currently being evaluated by
the Bishops Action Founda-
tion – a social justice initia-
tive in Taranaki.
Dave Owens describes himself
as a father, writer, editor,
social activist, and carpenter.
He is heavily involved in a
range of community, social
and philanthropic initiatives.
dave@greatfathers.org.nz

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