Wodonga’s Victory Lutheran College will host two evenings with Steve Biddulph on August 27 and 28, titled Raising Girls and Raising Boys respectively.

The sessions link in with the college’s participation in The Rite Journey, an international educational program that aims to develop self-aware, vital, responsible and resilient adults.

Year 9 co-ordinator and The Rite Journey facilitator Kareena Musgrave said the year-long program was well-established at Victory Lutheran College and sought to mentor the students through the transition towards adulthood.

Service activities feature among the challenges for the year 9 students.

Biddulph’s first visit to the school resulted from the four Rite Journey teachers training with him at a three-day conference several years ago.

“I’m really excited to have him here,” Mrs Musgrave said.

“I think it’s going to be great for us as a community in Albury-Wodonga to get some real solutions-focused ideas from him about how we come around our young people and support them and that’s what it really should be about.” 

Born in the UK, Biddulph came to Australia with his parents in 1963 and later studied at Melbourne University and the University of Tasmania.

He began working as a psychologist in 1976 and published his first book two years later.

His books The Secret of Happy Children, Raising Boys and Raising Girls have been widely read and translated in Australia and overseas.

Biddulph’s work often focuses on parents making time available for their children and letting them know they are important.

“Being a good dad is not dramatic or heroic, most of the time it’s the ordinary things,” he told Fairfax.

“He shows up. He keeps his promises. He is strong, not in the sense of muscular strength, but being true to his word, reliable and there.

“How he treats (his daughter’s) mother of course is another way that she sees his attitudes to the woman she will become.

“One way to convey specialness is to have regular dad and daughter times - going for a meal or to a movie, just the two of them, but it can be just a trip to the shops and a hot chocolate on a Saturday morning.  

“Of course, dad and son times are just as important.

“It’s the one-on-one aspect that says: you are unique, I want to catch up and also have fun just with you.”