Track 2: Relationship and Parenting Skill Building
Fathers in Focus Conference 2025 » Track 2: Relationship and Parenting Skill Building
Relationship and Parenting Skill Building
This track is designed to help you strengthen your relationships with your children and partner. Sessions will cover topics such as building strong emotional bonds with your children, effective discipline strategies, and nurturing healthy relationships within your family. Whether you’re a new parent or looking to enhance your parenting skills, these sessions will provide practical tips and advice to support you on your parenting journey.
Breakout Speakers
Single Father’s Journey Towards Growth and New Beginnings
This session helps fathers build stronger emotional bonds with their children by exploring the invisible work of caregiving. Through reflection and discussion, we will develop tools for emotional presence, co-parenting, and challenging traditional fatherhood roles.
As a former stay-at-home father to three children, David Hilgendorf studied how masculinity and gender norms shape father roles in emotional and cognitive labor. His work explores how paternal sensitivity and gender-expansive parenting impact child development and family dynamics. He especially interested in creating interventions that help fathers engage more intentionally in the ‘invisible’ work of parenting, and in bridging research and practice to support more equitable caregiving arrangements.
Guiding Hearts: Helping Children Understand and Manage Strong Emotions
Access straightforward evidence-based techniques to teach children how to comprehend and handle strong emotions. Robert provides fathers with actionable techniques to nurture emotional intelligence in children to enhance their resilience and mental health. Prepare to assist your child’s emotional growth while confidently working through their emotions.
Robert Nix is a professor of human development and family studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As part of his position he also works in the Division of Extension, helping to support high-quality parent and family education programs across the state.
Bridging the Gap: Strengthening Parent-Child Bonds Through Communication
Explore practical techniques that will improve your communication skills with your children. Marcus uses real-life examples and interactive techniques to build trust while enhancing emotional connections and presence. This session provides fathers with tools to bridge emotional gaps, foster healthy dialogue, and establish enduring relationships that strengthen their connections with their children.
Marcus E. Meneese is the Founder and Executive Director of Stronger Than My Father, Inc., a Christian 501(c)(3) organization created in 2013. The organization’s mission is to educate, inspire and transform today’s youth to fulfill their God-given purpose. For the past 20 years, Marcus has actively worked as a youth mentor. He believes his purpose is to coach and develop youth to become responsible adults and good parents, preparing them to become “Stronger Than Their Fathers.” Marcus is a Nashville native who graduated from Tennessee State University with a bachelor of science in psychology.
