LiSTNR has launched its new podcast series, The Good Enough Dad featuring Hamish Blake, Ben Hannant, Gus Worland, Sean Szeps, John Butler and Stephen Page among others.
There are 5.4 million dads* in Australia and for LiSTNR’s new original podcast series, The Good Enough Dad, that launched today, famed parenting educator, author, and champion of boys and men, Maggie Dent talks to some of them about their wins, challenges and stuff-ups, proving along the way that being “good enough” is exactly what our kids need.
“Aiming to be a GOOD dad is important, but you know what, research actually shows that being a good ENOUGH parent is how you ace it,” said Maggie Dent.
Known around Australia as the “Queen of Common Sense”, Dent shares her characteristic humour and simple strategies with dads from all walks of life. Dads talk about their fears, their major stuff ups, when things have just felt impossible, and when they have truly knocked it out of the park.
Maggie Dent is a trusted voice – her podcast Parental As Anything has won gold at the Australian Podcast Awards, she regularly travels around Australia presenting to parents on resilience, anxiety and raising boys to men, she’s the author of nine books, the mother of four sons and grandma to seven grandkids.
“I’ve wanted to do something for dads for a long time. I’ve watched my own sons become fathers, and there is just so little out there for dads. Seeing dads on telly and in ads being the bumbling fool – apart from in Bluey of course! – is frustrating. Dads are doing a great job…it’s time to celebrate our dads!” said Dent.
Throughout the 26-episode season, Dent will chat with Triple M Sydney host Gus Worland about the man who shaped the father he is today, former NRL star Ben Hannant about how he parents eight kids, and the hilarious How to Dad NZ Instagram star Jordan Watson on how running from half-crazed sheep in the wilds of New Zealand helped him be the dad he is today.
Musician John Butler, singer, actor and TV presenter David Campbell, acclaimed performer Stephen Page, footy legend Brad Kearns, father of twins and podcaster Sean Szeps, comedian and presenter Matt Okine, and TV presenter Tristan MacManus also talk to Dent about their fatherhood journey.
“This podcast will have listeners laughing, nodding in agreement, reliving their own experiences and groaning in understanding,” said Dent. “Being a dad is not easy. I hope listeners want to high five themselves or hug their own dad for all the incredible things he’s doing and done in their lives.”
The first episode of The Good Enough Dad turns the microphone back on Australia’s favourite son, multimedia star, dad of two, Australian Father of the Year for 2023, host of the Hamish & Andy podcast and host of the popular How Other Dads Dad, the one and only, Hamish Blake.
Blake shares that while his own dad was loving and kind, he wasn’t as present as he needed as a teenager, and he talks about how this affects his ‘dadsmanship with his own kids. “I want my kids to always feel like if it’s important to them, it’s important to me,” he said.
He tells the story that two days after he won the 2023 Father of the Year he had a colossal stuff-up with his daughter Rudy while trying to teach her to ride a bike without training wheels.
“I was sacked. And she was like, ‘I’m not doing it.’ She was saying to the other dad there, ‘I’m not doing it if he’s watching and pointing at me.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, how did we get here?’ I was like, this is horrible because she’s disowning me in front of this other dad who’s a great dad. I literally had to face a tree while she was having a go at doing stuff.”
Blake admits to overthinking “the parenting stuff”, and that sometimes he just needs to shut up, saying “You just get so caught up in that whirlwind, and what you’re actually missing out on is being present.”
The Good Enough Dad launches today on LiSTNR, with episodes dropping weekly on Wednesdays.
Source: *Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2 September 2016
