Xtraordinary Man of the Month
What advice would you give to single mothers wanting to make a difference in their children’s life?
Be fully alive as a woman. The more happy, whole, free and empowered you are as a woman the better you will be for your children. Don’t beat yourself up. You are not superwoman and are not supposed to be. Accept that it is what it is and embrace it. Get rid of all bitterness and anger towards your ex or men in general.
It is poison that will affect your children. Get good men (yes they do exist) involved in your children’s lives. They need both men and women and the good news is that the man doesn’t have to be their biological father (even though that is the ideal).
What is it that you are passionate about?
Seeing men and women fully alive. Seeing the end of masculine abuse. Seeing the gender war change to the beautiful dance between the masculine and feminine it was always meant to be.
Contact Info:
@The_Dad_Book
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In June we celebrate Father’s Day and Youth Day. Xtraordinary Women have dedicated June to celebrating men making a difference in our community. We, therefore, have an Xtraordinary Man of the month for June. Craig Wilkinson grew up in Johannesburg, New Zealand and Botswana and currently lives in Cape Town, South Africa with his wife Martinique and his two children Luke (21) and Blythe (18). He studied commerce at Wits University and since then has pioneered a number of commercial and non-profit projects and entities. He has worked extensively in the Non Profit sector in the areas of experiential education, socio-economic development and the development of men and fathers, as well as a consultant to the corporate sector in training, strategy and human resource development.
He served as CEO of Outward Bound SA, was co-founder and head of the African Dream Trust and now runs an NPO called Father A Nation which he founded in 2012. Craig has a passion for the restoration of men to true masculinity and authentic fatherhood. He is the author of “DAD – The Power and Beauty of Authentic Fatherhood” and runs seminars and workshops on a variety of topics. Craig gave a talk at the 2014 TEDx Cape Town event on the topic of masculinity and fatherhood (see http://goo.gl/fUFQCJ for Craig’s TEDx CT talk). He believes that if we can heal men we can heal the world.
Please tell us a little more about yourself and your journey thus far.
As a divorced father of 2 amazing children who are now out of school I have experienced firsthand the joys and challenges of being a dad. My children have been the greatest inspiration for me to live well so that I could give them the best of me and the kind of love, support, encouragement and nurture they needed. Like almost every other human being on the planet I arrived at adulthood with issues and hurts of my own. Being a dad has forced me to look at myself as a man and work on the things I needed to to be the man and father my children deserved. Working in poor communities and seeing the devastation caused by passive, absent and abusive fathers has been a powerful eye opener and made me even more convinced of the need to restore fathers and male role models.
Please tell us about your current projects:
We have a very exciting project called Real Man Real Dad which we are aiming to roll out nationally. The goal is to raise up a new standard of what it means to be a man and a dad. The programme restores and equips men to be great fathers and role models and gets men from all backgrounds, cultures and socio economic levels to make a pledge to be a real man and a real dad. We aim to create an understanding among all South African men of what it means to be a true man; using their strength to love and serve, never abusing or abandoning; stepping up and taking responsibility; protecting and providing; fighting for what is right and standing against what is wrong. I believe if we can get men to live as true men and create a national culture of authentic masculinity where it is shameful for any man to abuse, neglect or abandon we can heal this nation. This must be a national movement which takes on a life of its own, where men begin to wake up and see that the strength they have is there to serve others not take from them, that true masculinity chooses love over power and people over possessions.