This is fatherhood: Crashing mom groups, managing rebellious teens and channelling your inner kid

Our ideas about fatherhood are constantly changing — especially in an era of pandemic parenting, #MeToo, and shifting ideas of masculinity.

The relationships we have with our dads have a big impact on us, even in their absence. But how how well do we really know our dads? What lessons are we learning from them, and what are we determined to do differently? On this episode of Now or Never, you'll meet dads in the middle of navigating their own moments of uncertainty, challenge and joy. 

Host Ify Chiwetelu asks her dad Chris for his thoughts on fatherhood, and confesses a childhood secret.

Gerry Humphries had a rocky start with his step-son Jesse Lavallee. But today, they both describe their relationship as one of the most important connections of their lives. Gerry and Jesse sit down for the first time to reminisce on how they went from constant battles to renovating a home together.

After leaving his busy Wall Street career to be a stay-at-home dad in Toronto, Amar Lohana struggled to find parenting support for dads. So he decided to create his own. Today, the Toronto Dad's Group has blossomed into a diverse community of 500 dads who get together for play-dates, dads' nights out, and honest conversations about being a dad.

Lenard Monkman first became a dad at the age of 17 — and now, 20 years later, he is about to welcome another. Lenard shares what's on his mind this time around, from how to raise a mixed-race child, to why he feels like "an old dad" at 37.

When 10-year-old Jun Doshida was bored during the pandemic, he asked his dad Kenji to play cards — and they ended up inventing a whole new game together. How re-living his own childhood is the key to Kenji connecting with his son.

And three years after her husband Andrew's death, Tanya Brown gave birth to their daughter Abigail. Now, she's fighting to have his name added to her birth certificate and ensure his legacy is more than cancer.