Pathways for Pater Familias

Each dad approaches life's difficult differently and — and even if not asked — will dispense it in his own way. Those who are currently trying to explain the big and small to fathers (and others) include a dad preaching religious solutions, a pop who joined with his daughter to offer insight into the infinite as a way to understand one's own place and an old man who just wants to rock with his boys.

Tony Dungy, the former Indianpolis Colts coach is currently sojourning about the country promoting his evengelical-based outreach program, All Pro Dad to young and old fathers, and his book, "Uncommon: Finding your Path to Significance."

Offering a significantly less religously inspired answer to the big questions is astronomer Stephen Hawking, who has teamed with daughter Lucy, to write the second of their proposed trilogy for dads to read to (and probably try to explain to) their kids, George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt.

Heading out on a very short road trip with his teen sons is suburban Atlanta rocker John Boydston, author of lyrics along the lines of "I’m sitting here wondering with a clothespin on my nose/I’ve changed so many diapers, I might as well change my clothes."

Obviously, Boydston offers answers to fathers that are a bit more down-to-earth and harmonic than Dungy or Hawking, but, as noted above, each dad has to find his own way to the answers and his own way to share them.