I Am Dad

Kenneth Braswell
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Parenting
  • Updated Weekly

The I AM DAD. Podcast is an exploration of fatherhood insight, information, and inspiration for dads, their families, the people who love, and those that support them.

  1. 6d ago

    Fatherhood Across Relationships: Alex Lima on Becoming a Dad at 16, Blended Family, and Co-Parenting

    In this powerful episode of I Am Dad Podcast, Dr. Matisa Wilbon hosts a heartfelt conversation with Alex Lima, a father of six, grandfather of three, and a man who began his fatherhood journey at just 16 years old. Alex brings a rare and honest perspective on what it means to grow up while raising children, to father children across different stages of life, and to navigate the realities of multiple parenting relationships. His story moves through young fatherhood, co-parenting, blended family formation, faith, maturity, and the ongoing work of becoming the kind of father his children need. One of the most compelling parts of Alex’s story is how he reflects on co-parenting across different relationships. With his oldest children, he describes building a fluid and healthy co-parenting culture where his former partner, new partners, extended family, and support systems could all show up together around the children. He remembers being at games and family moments where everyone understood the assignment: they were on “Team Kids.” Alex is also honest that not every co-parenting relationship worked the same way. He speaks candidly about the challenges, emotional discomfort, and ripple effects that can happen when adults struggle to create that same shared family rhythm. Rather than presenting blended family life as simple, he offers something more useful: a real picture of growth, accountability, sacrifice, and the maturity required to keep children from carrying adult conflict. This conversation explores: • What it means to become a father at 16 • How fatherhood gave Alex discipline and focus • Parenting across different relationships and stages of life • What healthy co-parenting can look like after a romantic relationship ends • Why blended families require humility, sacrifice, and vision • How fathers can help children feel whole across households • Why parents must put children above ego, discomfort, and old hurt • How growing up without his father shaped Alex’s commitment to presence • Why children need truthful conversations from both fathers and mothers • How faith and maturity changed Alex’s approach to fatherhood • Why the co-parenting village matters At the center of this episode is a powerful lesson: co-parenting maturity is not about pretending everything is easy. It is about adults doing the hard emotional work necessary so children can feel loved, supported, and whole. Alex reminds us that fatherhood is not frozen at the age you became a dad. It grows as you grow. His journey from a 16-year-old father to a 50-year-old father and grandfather shows what can happen when a man chooses presence, learns from mistakes, embraces truth, and keeps becoming.

  2. Sep 6

    Fatherhood Program Incentives, Supports, and Retention with Dr. Armon Perry and Dr. Jeff Shears

    In this episode of I Am Dad Podcast, the Moynihan Institute for Fatherhood Research and Policy takes over the mic as Dr. Jeffery Shears sits down with Dr. Armon Perry to discuss his research on fatherhood program participants’ perceptions of incentives and program supports. Dr. Perry, a professor at the University of Louisville’s Kent School of Social Work and Family Science, has spent his career studying fathers, families, and the systems that either include or exclude dads from the parenting table. In this conversation, he explains why fatherhood programs must move beyond good intentions and think more carefully about what fathers actually need in order to attend, participate, and complete services. The discussion centers on Dr. Perry’s article, “Fatherhood Program Participants’ Perceptions of Incentives and Program Supports,” and the practical lessons it offers to community-based organizations, social service providers, fatherhood programs, researchers, and policymakers. This episode explores: • Why father involvement is connected to better outcomes for children and families • The difference between incentives and program supports • Why a father’s time must be honored and valued • How transportation, food, gift cards, and child support arrears forgiveness can affect participation • Why supports should reduce barriers, not simply reward attendance • How child support debt owed to the state can become a powerful policy lever • Why fatherhood programs must tailor supports to local context • How rural and urban fathers may need different supports • Why programs should ask fathers directly what they need • How community partnerships can help provide resources without overburdening program budgets A key takeaway from the conversation is that incentives and supports are not extras. They are part of the infrastructure that allows fathers to stay connected long enough to receive the full benefit of a program. Dr. Perry compares this to dosage: if a curriculum is designed to provide a full intervention, fathers need enough access and support to receive that full dose. Dr. Perry also challenges programs to resist cookie-cutter models. What works in Louisville may not work the same way in Morehead, Owensboro, Paducah, or another community entirely. Transportation vouchers matter where public transit exists. Other communities may need different solutions. The point is not to copy incentives blindly, but to understand the fathers being served and build supports around their lived realities. This conversation is essential for anyone designing, funding, evaluating, or delivering fatherhood services. It reminds us that if we want fathers to show up, we must build programs that show fathers their time, dignity, and realities matter.

  3. Aug 16

    The Co-Parenting Team Matters: Undrenia Burnside on Father Support, Grandmotherhood, and Dad & Co.

    In this episode of I Am Dad Podcast, Dr. Matisa Wilbon speaks with Undrenia Burnside, a grandmother, mother, and one of the first "and-co" participants connected to Fathers Incorporated’s Dad & Co. co-parenting team model. Dad & Co. centers fathers while also recognizing that fathers do not raise children in isolation. Children are shaped by a larger village that may include mothers, grandmothers, aunties, coaches, clergy, and other caring adults. In this conversation, Ms. Burnside speaks from the important perspective of a grandmother who loves her son, loves her granddaughter, and chose to participate in the program to better support both. Ms. Burnside shares how her son, Tomar, invited her to join the program as he worked to strengthen his relationship with his daughter, Amira, and her mother. She reflects honestly on what it meant to recognize that her love, concern, and involvement sometimes showed up as over-involvement. Through the program, she began to better understand how to support her son without undermining him as a father.

  4. Aug 9

    Human Flourishing, Co-Parenting Maturity, and Fatherhood with Kenneth Braswell & Dr. Matisa Wilbon

    In this episode of I Am Dad Podcast, Kenneth Braswell sits down with Dr. Matisa Wilbon at the 2026 National Fatherhood Summit for a thoughtful conversation on human flourishing, fatherhood, co-parenting, and emotional wellness. The conversation begins with the idea of human flourishing, drawing from the framework of happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships. Kenneth and Dr. Wilbon then place that concept inside the developing framework of Co-Parenting Maturity™, asking what it looks like when fathers and co-parents are not only functioning, but truly flourishing. Together, they explore how fathers often enter fatherhood programs carrying barriers connected to child support, custody, parenting time, legal issues, relationship strain, grief, fear, shame, and systems that may not always see them as whole human beings. But this conversation does not stay in the deficit. It pushes toward hope, joy, maturity, resilience, mindfulness, steadiness, covenant, partnership, and the emotional health required to keep children at the center. This episode explores: • What human flourishing means in the context of fatherhood • How Co-Parenting Maturity™ connects to resilience, mindfulness, and steadiness • Why co-parenting must remain child-centered • How communication can either block or build understanding • Why fathers need to be honored as whole human beings • The difference between happiness and joy • How systems can disrupt fathers’ ability to flourish • Why maturity includes learning to find joy beyond barriers • How gratitude, perspective, and emotional wellness can shift fatherhood practice • What “co-parenting flourishing” might mean for fathers, mothers, children, and families Kenneth and Dr. Wilbon also reflect on the importance of language. Words like repair, recovery, rebuilding, maturity, joy, and flourishing matter because they shape how fathers see themselves and how programs support them. Rather than treating fathers as broken, the conversation invites us to see fathers as worthy, resilient, capable, and still becoming. One of the central ideas in this episode is that fathers are not simply program participants. They are human beings with feelings, fears, hopes, dignity, relationships, and children who need the best of them. When fathers flourish, families are strengthened. When co-parents mature, children benefit. When joy becomes part of the work, the conversation moves beyond crisis and toward transformation. This episode is for fathers, mothers, co-parents, practitioners, researchers, faith leaders, family-serving organizations, and anyone interested in the future of fatherhood, family wellbeing, and healthy co-parenting.

  5. Aug 2

    Teaching Young Athletes About Money: Tom Henske on NIL, Financial Literacy, and Fatherhood

    In this episode of Sideline Dad, powered by the I Am Dad Podcast Network, host Javin Foreman welcomes Tom Henske, founder of Total Cents and Total Cents University. Tom is a certified financial planner, University of Virginia professor, former two-time All-American soccer player, three-time NCAA champion, author, and financial education leader helping young people, athletes, parents, and universities build stronger financial habits. This conversation connects the world of sports to the world of money. Just like athletes do not wait until game day to prepare, young people should not wait until their first paycheck, NIL deal, endorsement, or career opportunity to learn how money works. Javin and Tom discuss how parents can use ordinary moments such as car rides, dinner conversations, sports fees, shoe purchases, and youth athletics to teach children discipline, decision-making, saving, stewardship, responsibility, and gratitude.

  6. Jul 26

    Christopher Emanuel on Fatherhood, Shared Parenting, and Turning Pain Into Purpose

    In this episode of I Am Dad Podcast, host Kenneth Braswell interviews Christopher Emanuel, co-founder of Sky Is the Limit Foundation, during the National Shared Parenting Summit in Washington, D.C. Christopher’s story is one of faith, fatherhood, pain, purpose, and perseverance. After his biological daughter became involved in what he describes as human trafficking through adoption, Christopher fought for her, gained full custody, and transformed that experience into a larger mission to serve families, youth, and fathers. In this conversation, Christopher talks about his daughter Skylar, the power of a child’s voice, and the importance of helping young people discover their gifts, talents, and calling. He explains how Sky Is the Limit Foundation began as a community response to truancy, gang involvement, and the lack of father presence, and how it has grown into a safe, gender-specific, trauma-responsive space for youth and families. Kenneth and Christopher also discuss the shared parenting movement, responsible fatherhood, the Responsible Father Registry, adoption trafficking, community healing, and the need to create spaces where fathers feel seen, heard, supported, and equipped. This episode explores: • Christopher Emanuel’s fatherhood journey • How pain can become passion and purpose • The story of Skylar and the power of a child’s voice • Why fathers need safe spaces to be heard and seen • How Sky Is the Limit Foundation supports youth and families • The Responsible Father Registry and adoption trafficking concerns • Why shared parenting advocacy must reach more communities • How fathers can model healing, leadership, and purpose • Why awareness is one of the biggest challenges in shared parenting • The importance of bringing responsible fatherhood and shared parenting work together At the heart of Christopher’s message is a powerful truth: fathers are not asking to replace mothers. Fathers are asking to be recognized, respected, and included in the lives of their children. This conversation is for fathers, mothers, advocates, practitioners, policymakers, youth leaders, and anyone committed to protecting children, strengthening families, and building communities where fathers are fully seen.

  7. Jul 19

    Shared Parenting, Fatherhood, and Family Court Reform with Mark Ludwig

    In this episode of I Am Dad Podcast, host Kenneth Braswell interviews Mark Ludwig, President of the National Council on Equal Shared Parenting, during the Shared Parenting Summit in Washington, D.C. Mark shares the deeply personal story that brought him into this work: a custody experience that left him separated from his son for 204 days and forced him to confront the emotional reality many fathers face when trying to remain present in their children’s lives. What began as one father’s fight became a national mission to educate policymakers, build coalitions, support parents, and advance shared parenting reform across the country. Kenneth and Mark explore the evolution of the fatherhood and shared parenting movement, including the challenges of moving beyond anger, trauma, and old “father’s rights” narratives toward mature, strategic, policy-focused advocacy. They discuss how legislative change requires relationships, trust, language, credibility, and the ability to meet lawmakers where they are. The conversation also touches on: • Mark’s personal custody journey and why he wrote letters to his son every night • The importance of protecting children from feeling unwanted or abandoned • How the shared parenting movement has matured over time • Why advocacy must be strategic, not reactive • The role of women, veterans, military families, child welfare, child support, and domestic violence voices in shared parenting conversations • Why child support and Title IV-D reform are central to the shared parenting debate • How federal funding structures influence family court systems • The importance of training advocates to work effectively with legislators • Mark’s book, The Parental Alienation Playbook • Kenneth’s emerging concept of Co-Parenting Maturity • Why responsible fatherhood and shared parenting advocates must collaborate This episode is not simply about custody. It is about children, systems, family stability, and the urgent need to create policies that do not force parents into unnecessary conflict. At the center of the conversation is a shared belief: fathers should not have to prove that they matter after the fact. Systems should begin with the understanding that children need meaningful relationships with both parents whenever it is safe and appropriate.

  8. Jul 12

    The Standard: John Damon on Performance, Fatherhood, and Youth Sports | Sideline Dad

    In this episode of Sideline Dad, powered by the I Am Dad Podcast Network, host Javin Foreman welcomes John Damon, former Division I football player at Boston College, performance coach, gym designer, and founder of The Cave in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more than 30 years, John Damon has trained and advised Hollywood talent, Fortune 500 executives, professional athletes, coaches, and high performers. His work has shaped elite training spaces from The Sports Club/LA to Equinox, Active Fitness, IRON, and now The Cave, a private training and recovery sanctuary built around discipline, detail, recovery, and intentional excellence. But this conversation goes far beyond fitness. John and Javin explore what it means to build “The Standard” in sports, parenting, leadership, and fatherhood. They discuss how young athletes are shaped by environment, expectations, love, habits, recovery, and the people around them. John challenges parents to think deeply about the culture they create for their children, the standards they model, and the importance of giving kids both love and good information.

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About

The I AM DAD. Podcast is an exploration of fatherhood insight, information, and inspiration for dads, their families, the people who love, and those that support them.

Information

  • Creator
    Kenneth Braswell
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright {2025} All Rights Reserved
  • Show Website
    I Am Dad