Category: Parenting
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How to deal with Christmas as a single dad
If you don’t have your kids for the day, or part of it at least, the loneliness and sadness of Christmas as a single dad can overwhelm. This Christmas will be the third since the mother of my children and I chose to separate, but it will be my first with my kids and me…
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5 reasons single dads are wary of dating
From being protective of their kids to just looking after their own heart, JC Clapham outlines the real reasons a single dad might baulk at dating again. I’m a ‘single dad’. That term can mean a few different things, and it carries a few different types of what some would call ‘baggage’. Yes it means…
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How I coped when my kids got a step-dad
Seeing my ex-wife with someone else has been a big challenge — it means my kids have a ‘stepdad’.
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How I created a new ‘home’ for my kids after my separation
After the breakdown of his marriage, JC Clapham moved out of the family home. This is how he built another one for his three young kids.
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How my father’s suicide helped me to become a ‘real man’
It was Saturday, March 28, 1998, when I received the news that would cast a shadow over the rest of my life. I was 16 years old, and nothing would ever be ‘normal’ as I knew it, again. My dad had killed himself and now, 20 years on, I still have a father-shaped hole in…
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I had to walk away from my marriage and job to be a better dad
Married with a young family and a great job, JC Clapham thought he had ticked all the boxes for a good life. Then he nearly lost it all, and himself. On paper, I had the perfect life. Married with three kids, a seemingly great job that paid very well, a mortgage in the suburbs, and…
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Red Dog, I’m Truly Blue | The Westsider
One of the many shitful things about having a parent who died while I was young is that my kids never knew him. In my case, my dad would never be the ‘Pop’ his father was to me. He’d only ever be a blank, a gap, for them. My father’s suicide when I was 16…
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#YOUCANTALKABOUT suicide | The Westsider
A new suicide prevention education campaign has been launched through a collaboration of leading mental health organisations in Australia. The campaign aims to empower people and increase their confidence when it comes to talking about suicide. It is a collaboration between beyondblue, Black Dog Institute, Everymind, headspace, Lifeline, ReachOut and R U OK?, and in…
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Profiled in The Westsider
My local community newspaper The Westsider, which covers the inner west of Melbourne, ran a profile of me in their November issue.
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Falling down means the opportunity to get back up again
Pretty chuffed to be this month’s featured profile in my local community newspaper. I mention having a breakdown mid-2016. Because I did. And I feel no shame about that. A lot has changed since then. I’m no longer an award-winning senior executive (at present). I’m no longer married. And I’m less certain of what my…