My son, Tom, is 5 1/2 years old and I split up with his father about a year ago. In 2 weeks time his Dad is moving to Singapore for good. For the past year Tom has spent alternate weekends with him and he looks forward to these weekends and adores his Dad. He will now be lucky if he sees his Dad more than 3 or 4 times a year. During the weekends that he does spend with his Dad, all they ever do is play computer games and watch TV & films. I have long since realised that there is nothing I can do about this despite trying to encourage his Dad to play football with him and do other interactive activities. Tom is starved of all the normal things which kids do with their Dads and this is only going to get worse. He idolises his friends' fathers. I don't have any close family and socially he is surrounded by women in the form of my friends and other mums. In Canada, apparently there is an organisation called Big Brother which provides "big brothers" for just such situations but I know of nothing like this locally. How can I fill this yawning gap in his life?? Any suggestions would be most gratefully received.

Hi Shellie and welcome to SFV,

Yes in Canada and the U.S. there is big brothers but they aren't the only organization doing that kind of work. In my area and others there is the Boys And Girls Clubs. Also I suggest minor sports. Coaches make great role models and he will be amongst his peers. Have you tried your local phone book or online search engines like Google? Search under "social services" or "family services". They can give you more leads.

Hope you enjoy the site. Look around and add your voice where you feel comfortable. No-one will mind. Just tell 'em JD sent you.