A brief bio:

My name is Michael Byron Smith and I am a father of three, two daughters and a son; and a grandfather of four, three girls and a boy. I am married to the same wonderful woman I wed in 1975.

I am the oldest of six children born to parents who were not educated. My father was an alcoholic and for the most part not a contributor to our family either financially or emotionally. This fact had a huge negative impact on my mom, brothers, and sisters. My father's father was also an alcoholic and therefore my dad no role model for fatherhood. This is why I write this blog, and why I wrote a book on the importance of fatherhood. To help fathers be dads!

I received a full academic scholarship to a Washington University in St. Louis. In 1972, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering; then I joined the U.S. Air Force and fulfilled my lifelong dream of becoming a pilot.  

In 1978, I left active duty but joined the Missouri Air National Guard, of which I was a member until my retirement in 2001. I retired as a full Colonel and Vice Commander of my unit. While in the Air National Guard, I was also a civilian engineer for the U.S. Government in the aerospace industry. I retired from my civilian occupation in 2008.

My interest in fatherhood came from two fronts. One was my personal experiences as a child who, along with my sisters and brothers, suffered from father absence. The second was the conversations with my wife who was a parent educator and teen parent mentor. In 1999, I started studying taking notes on fatherhood. In 2002 I began organizing these notes into the form of a book. As an inexperienced writer, my book took form in a very unorganized way. My daughter, April, a Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of Missouri Journalism School, helped me to become much more organized. I continued working on this project for many years adding, subtracting and reorganizing. I promised myself that I would see this project through to a published book. On April 28, 2015 my book was officially released.

“The Power of Dadhood; Become the Father Your Children Need"

My thoughts on fatherhood are my own. I am sure many would disagree on specifics,
but the discussion in indispensable!