With the recent election of Scott Brown to the United States Senate in Massachusetts, there is now a race to fill his vacant seat in the Massachusetts State Senate.  One of the candidates is running on a fathers' rights platform.  Richard Mitchell is a registered Independent but is making reform of the family court system and the probate system in Massachusetts part of his campaign.   While his candidacy has been invalidated by the State because one of the signature pages in his list of sponsors failed to include his street address (which Richard is appealing), he hopes to be reinstated in the campaign and to continue to advocate for fathers' rights.  You can visit Richard's Facebook campaign page to learn more about him and follow the signature controversy.

The relationship between children and their grandparents can be special--and should be. But that relationship is best developed when the children's parents are involved. Parents are well advised to set ground rules when visiting grandparents and to work through issues like discipline and behavior in advance. These ideas for communicating effectively with the grandparents will help dads have these sometimes delicate conversations and improve relationships among all involved.

Image courtesy of Bruce Laurance/Getty Images.

Have a story about fatherhood you would like to share?  I am trying to collect some stories about dads and their children and their life experiences, and would like to invite your contribution.  If you have a story you want to share with our readers, then visit one of these submission forms and enter your information.  You don't need to register, but we will need at least a name or nickname (and an email address if you want to be notified when the story is posted).  Stories are moderated but are usually posted up within a few days.

So if you have a story to share in one of these categories, submit it here.  If you can't find a category that interests you, leave a comment to this entry and I will create a form for your story category.

• Your Father-Daughter Wedding Story
• Your Child's Birth Story
• Stories of Father and Child Reunions
• A Tender Moment with the Kids
• How You Survived a Divorce

US Attorney General Eric Holder spoke last week at a meeting in Washington DC about fatherhood.  His forum was the Alliance of Concerned Men, an organization working on addressing problems facing young black men.  Here are a couple of the Attorney General's comments about fathers:

"I have held many titles in my life, but the title that I am most proud of is father. A father's role in the life of a child is irreplaceable."

"We as men need to spend more time with our sons and daughters. We need to teach our sons to have respect for women and daughters to demand respect for themselves."

Read more about Holder's comments in this article from the Washington Informer, or you can find the full text of his speech at the Attorney General's website.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images News.