Fatherhood Is Now: Growth Insights for All Dads

This powerful Father’s Day Special episode of 15 Minutes with Dad is a call to action for every type of father — whether you're a new dad, raising toddlers, a young father navigating early adulthood, grieving a loss, or working to reconnect with your children after time apart.

Host Lirec Williams, author of Man Up: From Our Trauma to Being Impactful Fathers, offers growth insights and personal reflections that challenge men to become more emotionally present, intentional, and healed fathers.

Through a You 2.0 lens, this episode will help you:

• Build a foundation of presence as a new dad
• Deepen emotional connection with young kids
• Overcome shame and step up as a teenage father
• Grieve with grace while honoring lost children
• Rebuild trust and relationships as an absent dad

This episode isn’t about judgment — it’s about transformation. It’s your reset. Your rise.
Fatherhood is now.

 🎧 Listen in and tag us @15MinutesWithDad with how you’re showing up today. 

Chapters

• 0:00 The Call to All Fathers
• 2:49 Foundation Builders: New Fathers
• 4:31 Emotional Architects: Dads of Young Kids
• 10:04 Pathfinders: Young and Unexpected Fathers
• 13:44 Heart Bearers: Fathers Who've Lost Children
• 15:28 Courageous Returners: The Absent Fathers
• 17:00 Your Father's Day Reset

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:53

To the man holding a newborn for the first time. To the dad chasing toddlers through a living room filled with toys. To the young man who didn't expect to be here this soon. To the father who grieves in silence. To the dad who's been distant, maybe even forgotten. This is for you. This Father's Day isn't just about being celebrated. It's about being called, called to heal, called to grow, called to show up. Welcome to 15 Minutes with Dad. This is U2.0 Father's Edition. Let's get into it. Happy Father's Day to all my listeners, to your dads, and make sure you say Happy Father's Day to all the other dads out there, because today we are not just talking about celebration, we are talking about being called, and the first on the list to be called is our new fathers, which I call the foundation builders.

Speaker 1: 1:58

You're brand new to this. The baby feels like a fragile dream in your arms. You may be tired, unsure, maybe even scared, guys, that's normal. But hear me, you are not unqualified. You are chosen.

Speaker 1: 2:17

And every time you whisper a little lullaby, every bottle you prepare at 2 am, every moment you look down and you smile, you're writing the first lines of your child's emotional memory. They won't remember that late night. They won't remember any of the late nights, but they will feel the love long after. Your child doesn't need a superhero. They need you Raw, real and reachable. So I challenge you to start a journal. Write one life lesson each week that you want to pass on, not because you know it all, but because you're willing to grow into the father they'll remember. You won't have to remember this throughout your entire life. It will kind of come natural. But journaling at first will give you ideals that you want to pour into your child. They don't need a superhero, they just need you raw, however you are, and if you are seeking support through therapy and all these different things, they are going to need to feel that too. They need to know that you're real and that you're reachable. Know that you're real and that you're reachable.

Speaker 1: 3:37

Now let's move on to the dads of the young kids. I call these guys the emotional architects, because their kids are now walking, they're now talking, they're now wanting, and you, you're trying to balance work relationships, exhaustion and still be present. Here's the truth. They don't need a perfect dad, they need a present one. So in those moments when you come home and you're exhausted, they just want to tell you about their day. They want you to be involved in their little world that has this finite amount of information to navigate. It's easier to be present than it is. Take you away from all of the stresses of the world outside that they do not understand and have not quite interacted with yet, and they bring you into their very simple world of play yourself and expose your inner child in moments that you may have been protecting that inner person for so long and not letting anybody really see or understand you for who you really are. But your child can simplify the world in a way that allows you to open up. Your tone of voice, teaches them safety. Your reactions, teaches them how to handle stress. Your eyes oh, my goodness, yes, your eyes on them when they look in your face, when you're talking to them, and your every facial expression gets carved it gets absolutely carved into their memory banks. On one, how do they, how should they look when they respond to that? Two, how does my dad react when he responds to that? And three, what does my dad mean when he looks at me that way? My dad mean when he looks at me that way? Your eyes has to be on them and teach them that they are seen not in a negative way but seen in a positive way.

Speaker 1: 6:08

And in my book I say this. I put this quote in there because I want you to think about this. But we can either react from our trauma or respond from our growth. Our kids will feel the difference. I'll say that one more time we can either react from our trauma or respond from our growth. Our kids will feel the difference. And this stage is loud, it's messy, but it's so beautiful. And your consistency is the anchor they'll carry into their adulthood. They will tell stories about these moments when they're trying to reach their deepest, deepest, most innermost memory. They'll come back to these moments and they'll know how you made them feel. They may remember that you're there. Maybe you're not there often, but they will remember how it made them feel.

Speaker 1: 7:09

So I challenge you 15 minutes a day. Create a no distraction playtime, no phone, no agenda, just presence, and watch how they open up to you. And my child, even as a teenager, thanked me yesterday at this father-daughter dance and she said I'm so glad that you were present with me. Like you took your phone out a couple of times to take videos, but it wasn't the whole point of our date, like you were really present with me, and I realize I have not been that present in a very long time because I'm so inundated with all the things and these are just excuses but all the things that I put and make important in my life, and so I urge you to create some no distraction playtime. If you have young kids, start now and I have this on my vision board to spend 30 minutes with each kid in my home, each person in my home, 30 minutes just talking to them, being in their world. And I can tell you my relationship with my family has expanded and become so much more beautiful and fruitful. From my toddler, from my two-year-old to the five-year-old, to the 11-year-old, to the 16-year-old. I have a stronger bond with them because I made it a point to pour into them deliberately 30 minutes a day with each kid. And you may not have that, but I urge you, just try.

Speaker 1: 8:59

To my teenage dads, my young dads, the pathfinders you didn't plan to be a dad this young and maybe the world looks at you like you're already behind because you had a kid. But listen to me closely. You are not behind. You're ahead of your growth curve. You have the rare chance to grow up with your child, to build your legacy while building theirs. You're not stuck, you're just starting from a different spot, and I was a pathfinder. I have had the privilege to grow up with my daughter and it's been. Our relationship is such a beautiful relationship and everything that we are. We're literally the exact same human on so many different ways, and I love the life that I've lived, growing to be who I am.

Speaker 1: 9:57

But it's also a challenge, and healing starts when honesty enters the room, even if that room is your own reflection. Healing starts when honesty enters the room, even if that room is your own reflection. Healing starts when honesty enters the room, even if that room is your own reflection. You have to pick one goal for your child and then one for yourself, and make one move today toward each Even small progress is sacred and know this. You're not alone. There's fathers out there that are trying to navigate this young parenthood, and it's not an easy feat. But I can tell you that when you put your kids first and you keep your foot moving in front of you, you will land somewhere where you want to be.

Speaker 1: 10:57

When my daughter was born, I was living at home with my mom with the mother of my daughter, food stamps, trying to find a job, really not knowing where my life was going to take me. I just dropped out of college. I'm looking at this beautiful baby that has done no wrong and I'm trying to figure out what is it that I can do to make her life different than mine. And I recall crying with the first night we brought her home because I was so lost and I got on my knees and I prayed and I cried in silence and I don't think anyone heard me. The mother of my daughter was sleeping and I just swore to myself that I would not allow the same circumstances to haunt my child. And it took me a while, at the age of 18, 19, to kind of draw up the right information and knowledge to get on a strong path. But this is why I call this group of fathers the pathfinders. We seek that path and as long as you seek that path, you will find that path that you're going on and you will become greater for it, because your child is a beautiful inspiration. Not because they're a burden, but because they are an inspiration If you've lost a child through miscarriage, illness, accident or even a tragedy.

Speaker 1: 13:00

First, let me pause and honor you. There are no words that can carry that pain. But even in grief there is love. Even in silence there are memories. Memory speaks and in your pain you still have purpose. Love doesn't end at goodbye, it evolves into purpose. And whether you talk about them or not, whether people ask or avoid, you are still their dad. So I urge you to take a moment a time to speak their name and tell their story when you're ready. You keep them alive in how you carry their memory. You are not forgotten. You are a heart bearer. You are not broken. You are a father still to the absent fathers, the courageous returners. Let's be real.

Speaker 1: 14:39

Maybe you left, maybe you were hurt, addicted, young, scared, maybe pushed away from the person you were with. Maybe you felt you had nothing to offer. But now what? Now You're hearing this. That tells me one thing you still care, and listen closely when I say this. It's not too late. You may have missed chapters, but the book isn't closed. A father doesn't earn back trust in one day. He earns it one choice at a time. So, for those absent fathers, this is your chance for a courageous return. I challenge you to reach out, even if it's awkward, even if you're afraid, send a message, write a letter, apologize. Are afraid? Send a message, write a letter, apologize. Then show up again and again, and again and again.

Speaker 1: 15:57

The greatest comeback story starts with one courageous return. Let me leave you with this. You are not just raising a child, you are sharpening the emotional legacy of generations to come. You don't have to be perfect, you don't have to have it all figured out, but if you're willing to grow, to show up, then you 2.0 starts now. This is your father's day reset. This is your moment to rise. Let this be the year your kids say that's when my dad came alive. Listen, if this episode moved you, I want you to move. Do something today. I want you to move, do something today and tag me at 15 Minutes with Dad and share how you showed up. One step, one action, one present father at a time.