Partaking in good food, especially with friends or family, is one of life’s great pleasures.
I’m so thankful for my parents, Dads4Kids founders Warwick and Alison Marsh, who prioritised family mealtimes when my siblings and I were children. We regularly enjoyed food together as a family, and I have fond childhood memories of time spent together around the dining table. We enjoyed meals, but we also spent time together sharing stories, laughing, and sometimes debating all manner of things.
In the early 2000s, with encouragement from my then-girlfriend (now wife) Jodi, we had a weekly Marsh family dinner every Monday night. These were legendary evenings, almost sacred, in the sense that you had to have a very, very good reason to skip it, and we would also pray together as a family. Precious times indeed.
Monday night Marsh family dinners were a great example of presence-based parenting, something my wife and I still do our best to practise daily. It takes commitment, patience and intentionality to give children your full attention, but your presence as their parent is priceless. As civil rights leader Jesse Jackson once said, ‘Children need your presence more than your presents.’
Meals and Memories
Regular family mealtimes together, with phones and screens put away, are a simple yet powerful way for dads to lead their families in love. So powerful, in fact, that Week 3 of Dads4Kids’ fantastic 10-week Courageous Online Fathering Course is focused on this very activity (our next course starts soon on the 27th of January — find out more here).
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Mum also encouraged my siblings and me to cook, which was brave of her, as culinary disasters often ensued. All manner of things were burnt, substances spilled, pots overflowed, but still she persisted.
When I was around 12 years old, my brothers and I (our sister Melodie was a baby at the time) went through a strange frozen orange stage. I don’t recall who or what inspired us, but that Australian summer, we just couldn’t get enough of eating (sucking, initially) frozen oranges cut into eighths.
One of my brothers made the mistake of attempting to cut his orange after it had been frozen, with Mum’s sharpest knife. Not advisable. Let’s just say it ended very badly with a significant amount of blood being spilled. Thankfully, he still has all his fingers!
Despite the misadventures, thanks to our amazing Mum, my siblings and I mostly know our way around a kitchen these days. In fact, I quite enjoy cooking. I definitely enjoy eating. Kiwi YouTuber Jordan Watson from How To DAD has put together a hilarious series of cooking videos called ‘Quick Feeds’ – check them out here.
As a dad, I do my best to help in the kitchen, especially on weekends. When our daughters were quite young, I started cooking pancakes for brunch on Saturdays. Mostly because I was hungry, but also for something fun to do. Over time, the Saturday morning pancakes became our very own Marsh family tradition. I had to double the recipe, then triple it, as our family slowly grew.
A few months back in our Marsh family kitchen, while chatting with my eldest daughter as she flicked through her recipe tin, I spotted the all-too-familiar ingredients and method pictured above. Amazingly, she’s even called it ‘Dad’s Saturday Morning Pancakes’, and by the grace of God, we often enjoy family meals together.
My wife and daughters are amazing cooks, and they regularly create delicious meals, like the pancakes pictured above (mine were certainly never that good!) The best part? I get to eat them, but more importantly, we spend valuable time together as a family, building our relationships and creating memories that will last a lifetime.
Lovework
If you can, create your very own family meal tradition. It could be a regular dinner together, or a weekend brunch. If you’re up for the challenge, have a crack at creating your own Dad’s Saturday Morning Pancakes or Jordan’s Sausagey Pasta (hopefully the end result is more successful than his). Chaos may well ensue, but you won’t regret spending precious time with your family and creating some memories that you’ll all have forever.
Consider joining Dads4Kids’ upcoming Courageous Fathering Course. Commit to lasting, positive change for your family in 2026. Join with a great bunch of guys on Tuesday nights for 10 weeks and be encouraged to lead your family in love.
Yours for Saturday Morning Pancakes,
Nathaniel Marsh
P.S. THANK YOU to those who continue to partner with us as we build men, grow fathers, and change generations. Dads4Kids could not do what we do week in, week out without the generous support of our valued donors.
If you’re encouraged by our work and would like to see Dads4Kids start 2026 strong, please consider supporting us on a monthly basis or making a tax-deductible donation here.
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Republished with thanks to Dads4Kids.