Leadership | Heartstone Journey

Men Your Words Have Power, So Speak Life To Your Kids

First things first men. How much time are you spending with your kids? Doing life with them, having fun, teaching them whats important and leaving a legacy? If you spend quality of time with your kids, awesome. If you don’t, you need to get your head out of your @$$ and start.

For most men we have our sights set on stuff such as; a house (and a vacation home), car, boat, money, climbing the corporate ladder, fill in the blank ________. Most of us don’t leave much room for things that really matter and our values become our kids values.

Ok guys, here’s a test. You’re walking on the beach and a genie bottle washed up onto the shore. Of course all your senses tell you it’s not real, but you rub the lamp anyways out of curiosity and out pops a genie. Here’s the catch…instead of three wishes, the genie only gives you one wish.

What do you wish for?

3 Ways To Break Free Of The Homer Simpson Syndrome

Turn on the television, head out to the movies or browse social media and one of the major themes is that men are witless, pointless or mere playthings to be stepped on by the entire family. Like infomercials, men are endlessly lampooned and are shown as absent or feckless fathers.

Is all fair with dads on the family front? Does culture have a blind spot when it comes to the role of men in families? Would much of the jokes aimed at fathers be banned if they were aimed at women, ethnic minorities or religious groups? Most of the men I know are devoted, hardworking and would do anything for their families. Even give up their lives to save them.

There was a time in culture when men were always the authority figure and the head of the tribe. In comparison, today’s culture is polar opposite where men are demonized and sidelined way too much. We all heard the “who wears the pants in the family” jokes but leadership in the home is no laughing matter. During the last few decades our culture has redefined the meaning and responsibilities of men and women in society and in the home. Many men have become emasculated, confused and insecure. With this new narrative taking a firm grip on society, men don’t know how to step up and lead the home anymore. Growing up, most men lacked a good role model for leadership at home and don’t have a clue of what it means to lead a family. The result, they do not lead effectively or they do not even try.

Sadly many men have become passive or lunk heads in the home. They’ve decided that the easiest thing to do is nothing and that’s exactly what they do! The simplest thing with the smallest risk is to straddle the fence and let the wife do all the heavy lifting. When a man is married to a strong wife who takes over, he often lets her do just that…take over. Come on guys!

What are we telling young boys if the examples of fatherhood they see everyday are parodies of incompetence?

8 Tips On “How To Dad” From A Cheerios Commercial

Attended a CIO conference recently and one of the keynote speakers used the Peanut Butter Cheerios #HowToDad commercial to highlight leadership. Honestly, I’ve never tried Peanut Butter Cheerios but can totally appreciate how awesome this commercial is. Not in highlighting a product but how awesome dads are and that they do matter in today’s society despite a major de-emphasis on the role.

Here’s a bit of the background story of the commercial from the creators website.

Created by Tribal Worldwide Toronto, the socially-driven campaign features an upbeat online video that celebrates the insight that dads parent differently, and places Peanut Butter Cheerios at the heart of all the zany, funny and epic situations that kids get themselves into under dad’s watch. The video then drives viewers to HowToDad.ca for bite-sized sharable content that resonates with dads. Four 15-second preroll spots, widespread display advertising and targeted promoted social posts round out the program, which is all unified under the #HowToDad tagline. “It just made sense to declare Peanut Butter Cheerios as ‘The Official Cereal of Dadhood,’ because like great dads, Peanut Butter Cheerios lie somewhere in the intersection of awesome and responsible,” says Josh Stein, creative director, Tribal Worldwide – Toronto. “Dads are awesome and it’s awesome to be a dad. The new campaign creatively acknowledges that today, dads play a significant role in raising children, and celebrate their contribution.ⁱ

At Heartstone Journey, we know more and more dads are stepping up and experiencing the satisfaction and reward of taking a more active role in the lives of our kids…and dads should be celebrated! I love this commercial because if really does a great job at portraying the reality of life of a dad and family. I also want to give a huge shout out to Tribal Worldwide because they didn’t pick the idiot dad stereotype or the passive dad routine to be “funny”…they picked an authentic dad!

This commercial shows the simple ways dads are awesome and is a reminder that dads do matter and they have an impact on the relationships with their kids. Before reading on, click play, watch the commercial and you’ll see why the campaign is awesome.

#011: Excellence In Fatherhood [Podcast]

Was honored to be a guest on “In It Together” with host Lori Lynn Greene (90.7 FM WLMW, Manchester, NH) for this weeks Business Beat live radio segment. Lori is the Principal Advancement Strategist at Alpha Advancement Strategies, a Board Certified Professional Life Coach, Advanced Life Coach, and Health & Wellness Coach. She is also a member in good standing with the American Association of Christian Counselors and the International Christian Coaching Association.

Join our conversation as we opened up with some of my personal story and discussing my book Heartstone. We went on to discuss the importance of men stepping up in their homes, becoming a strong father-figure and modeling excellent leadership in the household. Tune in to hear more.

https://soundcloud.com/lorilynngreene/09-11-2015-in-it-together-p3

We were not created to just survive, we were created to live courageously from our hearts!

Want more? You will find all the Heartstone Journey podcasts here.

The 15 Principles Of Manhood

There are times along our journey when God calls us to stand in the authority of His Son; to engage in spiritual warfare against the enemy of our souls and shout with authority, “Enough—thus far and no more!” This is not something we should take lightly, because there is not an earthly power that rivals that of satan, and whenever he wages war against one of God’s children, he does so by trying to intimidate and paralyze us through fear. We need God to fight the battle.

In 1 Samuel, we read the awesome account of the confrontation of David and Goliath. The scene unfolds where David is asked by his father to bring some food down to the battle at Ephes-Dammin, which literally means “edge of blood.” At this point in the story, Goliath has been relentlessly taunting the army of Israel for thirty-nine straight days, simply beating them down through intimidation and fear. David walks into the scene on the fortieth day as Goliath continues to curse and intimidate the army of Israel. This shepherd boy looks back at one of the soldiers and says, “Who does this guy think he is and what do I get for shutting this fool up?” David stands before this giant enemy of Israel, picks up five stones and with divine line of sight, sends a stone deep into the head of Goliath sending him to his death on the ground.

There are giants in our land that aren’t supposed to be there!

Men Your Words Have Power, So Speak Life To Your Kids

3 Ways To Break Free Of The Homer Simpson Syndrome

8 Tips On “How To Dad” From A Cheerios Commercial

#011: Excellence In Fatherhood [Podcast]

The 15 Principles Of Manhood

Favorite Quotes

Cool Scripture

Never Out Of The Fight!

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