The Best Dad Program with Steve Anderson

Steve Anderson is a Life Coach for fathers, a stepfather, husband, the former executive director of the Boys to Men Mentoring Network of Minnesota from 2011 to 2022, and he has led men and boys through transformative weekends in multiple states across the U.S. and internationally. He is a Certified Professional Coach and completed the Certificate Program in Applied Neuroscience from The Neuroscience School.

For this first conversation with Steve, the Dads discuss the benefits, power, and privilege of carrying the title “Father.” To be able to embrace fatherhood regardless of our biology is an honor, and something not to be taken lightly. If you are a step or “bonus” parent, be sure to listen to this episode.

We also discuss the importance of self care. As fathers, we can find ourselves wanting to serve and provide for our families without taking into consideration our own well-being. But as we know, extending ourselves too far can take its toll at home as well as at work. In this first part of our talk with Steve on self care, we begin to affirm fathers and what we can do to strengthen ourselves to best show up at home.

You can reach out to Steve at his website, https://steveanderson.coach/. Steve’s program, The Best Dad Program, will move you from feeling hopeless to empowered to become the father you are meant to be, and build and maintain healthy relationships with your children.

About Steve

My dad wasn’t around much when I was a teenager, but I thought that was normal. He’d come home angry from work, go to his home office, and that was it. I started to get angry. I wanted a dad who was there for me, but I wasn’t the one who could make that happen. When I was 15, he had a nervous breakdown from stress at work, but it made little difference to me if he was at work, in his office, or detained for his own safety in a mental institution. Absent was absent. I realized I was on this path to manhood on my own.

When I was in my 30s, I was in a toxic relationship, and I realized that something needed to change, but I just didn’t have the strength or know-how to do so. I started on what was to be a long journey of self-discovery, with the help of many courses, support groups, counseling, and qualifications. Eventually, I had the strength to leave that toxic relationship.

My life changed from that moment on. I met and married a wonderful woman who already had two boys, aged 4 and 9. I adopted them after their biological father drank himself to death a few years later. This was hard for them, but I was able to be there and support them.

Being a son or daughter is hard, no matter what kind of parents one has. We are all shaped by our past and current circumstances. We are not trapped by them. I’ve spent the last 15 years developing the skills, knowledge, and experience to help men become better fathers.