Playing with our kids is not only fun, but crucial for strong families. NICK THORPE hears how one pioneering organisation has engaged dads as well as mums in building strong bonds with their children.

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation,” the philosopher Plato once said. And when that person is your child, the benefits can transform your whole family.

In a rare visit to Greenock prison, NICK THORPE talks to inmates and facilitators on a Mellow Dads pilot project – about their struggles, strategies and parenting breakthroughs.

PAUL Cowan will never forget the first time his daughter came to visit him in prison: the sadness of it is with him still.

The phenomenon that is Dads Rock this week took another giant stride with the announcement of three years’ Big Lottery funding. NICK THORPE faced the music for our Focus on Fatherswork series – and liked what he heard.