A Theme We Keep Coming Back To

Father’s Day can be one of the quietest, loneliest days of the year. You are not alone.

If you care about someone who is a childless man, or you are a childless man, then you may already know that this month may carry a grief that might catch you scrolling through social media faster than usual or avoiding it completely.

We’ve been thinking about you.

Podcast Rewind >>>

In 2023, for International Men’s Day, Michael brought together a panel of childless men. The question he put to them was important: Why is no one talking about childless men? One of the answers that came back, stopped us all was this: “No one’s interested in my voice.”

In this episode we covered:

• Why there is no social narrative for childless men and what that silence costs
• The intersection of masculinity, identity and grief, told through five very different lives
• Research findings from Dr Robin Hadley on male broodiness and why the data surprised everyone
• What it actually takes for men to show up and claim space in the childless community

Whether you’re a childless man yourself, a partner, a friend or someone who wants to understand, this one is worth an hour of your time.

For our childless men

If this weekend feels hard, you don’t have to post anything, attend anything, or explain yourself to anyone. But if you’re looking for a space where your voice is not only welcome but needed, the Childless Men’s Community on Facebook is a good place to start.

And our own Full Stop Community is open to everyone who is childless not by choice, regardless of gender, age, race, sexuality or circumstance. Membership is £10 a month. If the cost doesn’t work for you right now, just reach out and ask. We will always do what we can.

There are more resources on Dr Robin Hadley’s site, Gateway Women and World Childless Week, and we highly recommend Robert Nurden’s book I Always Wanted To Be a Dad: Men Without Children.

June is Pride month

The experience of being childless not by choice intersects with LGBTQIA+ lives through barriers to adoption, the cost of assisted reproduction, relationship circumstance, and the particular grief of wanting a family in a world that makes it harder than it should be. We believe that support should be available for everyone navigating that loss, however they arrived here.