How Mark Donaldson Dads

Explicit content warning

12/29/22 • 54 min

Decorated soldier, Mark Donaldson VC kindly joins Hame on the HODD couch to share tales from his dadding journey so far.

Mark shares his experience of trying to be available to his kids and playing and existing in their world, even if he’d just returned from a deployment. The guys discuss the idea that all kids have “their version of trying” and the challenges of not projecting our own standards onto them (that we have probably only come to appreciate and understand in adulthood!). They finish off by discussing the power of adventure in creating memories and the benefit of getting kids into nature to build resilience and problem solving skills.

Mark is a man that probably subscribes to the mantra “Deeds, Not Words” and is never one to blow his own bugle. But as Australia’s first Victoria Cross recipient for over 40 years, he found himself in a unique position of notoriety and influence. If you don’t know much about Mark, Hame does a lightning fast bio in the intro, quickly touching on his military record and also that he lost both his own parents at a young age.

Big thanks to Dono for sharing his stories with us and opening up about some really personal stuff.

As always - thanks to you guys for listening - There is just one more episode to come in Season 1 - and it’s a special edition ripper - make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out!

Drop us a line at howotherdadsdad.com

Thanks again!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Decorated soldier, Mark Donaldson VC kindly joins Hame on the HODD couch to share tales from his dadding journey so far.

Big thanks to Dono for sharing his stories with us and opening up about some really personal stuff.

As always - thanks to you guys for listening - There is just one more episode to come in Season 1 - and it’s a special edition ripper - make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out!

Drop us a line at howotherdadsdad.com

Thanks again!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Previous Episode

How Ben Lee Dads

Creativity and dadding combine in a fascinating chat with prolific singer songwriter, Ben Lee.

After a chance meeting between Hame and Ben, where the chat quickly turned to their kids, Hame had the good sense to ask Ben if he’d like to slightly formalise the conversation and record it. And thanks to Ben’s generosity, we’ve got Episode 10 as a result!

From his search for a different kind of life and love with wife Ione, to taking on the responsibility of a stepdaughter and his early missteps - Ben talks openly and passionately about his dadding style and journey. The fellas swap notes on fostering creativity in kids, but also creativity in general and how to, as Ben says, “make beautiful mistakes”.

Ben’s honesty definitely opens up a whole bunch of news ideas and questions that we haven't really covered in the show thus far, and we are of course super thankful that he took the time to sit down and chat with Hame.

Info on Ben and his new album I’m Fun is HERE

Ben & Ione’s Podcast is HERE

Thanks again for all the emails - you can drop us a line at howotherdadsdad.com

Subscribe where you get your pods.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Next Episode

Wild Rule Breaking Season Finale with Dr Billy Garvey

In a double rule breaking season finale, Hamish goes over his 1 hour & 3 minute episode time limit AND talks to an expert! Our special guest is Dr Billy Garvey, a Behavioural Paediatrician at the Royal Children’s Hospital (Melbourne) and leading expert on childhood development. (And he’s also a dad).

As a wonderful surprise to us, it turns out Dr. Billy has listened to some of the podcast (which made Hamish blush) and upon Hames getting in touch with Billy, he told us something really interesting... that heaps of stuff our guest dads were stumbling across or bringing up anecdotally, actually had some scientific evidence behind it.

So we thought it might be really great to revisit some excerpts from previous episodes where our dads have dropped nuggets of gold and get Billy to explain the literal neuroscience behind it, describe why it’s great for our kids and help us all understand how small actions from us as parents can have outsized effects on our kids, now and for the rest of their lives. That’s worth going over an hour for, surely?!

Billy talks plainly and passionately about this subject and really, really knows his stuff. Although, as the father of an 18 month old, he is also the first to admit that he’s still learning some tough practical lessons everyday. We are so thankful to Billy for taking the time to listen to previous shows and sit down with Hame, and we think you’ll all agree what he chats about is both inspiring and practically very useful.

Billy has his very own podcast called Pop Culture Parenting which you can find HERE. Check it out, it’s great!

And that’s the season. Thanks for listening! The messages you have sent in have been inspiring, informative, heartbreaking and some are just plain hilarious. But the universal element is that everyone is trying to do better, by their own kids, by their parents, by their grandkids. And it seems, thanks to our guests, this show has perhaps inspired some small actions that might lead to this. So thanks for being part of the How Other Dads Dad community. We really appreciate it and will do our best to get another season out later this year sometime.

Big thanks also to Tom, Tey & Darce. And to all the Mums!

You can write to us at howotherdadsdad.com

Xx Hame and Tim.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.