Fathers From lone wolf to team player. What happened at the 18th Tato.Net Forum?

More than 500 fathers, leaders and entrepreneurs from Poland and abroad gathered on October 3 at Targi Kielce and online for the 18th International Tato.Net Forum, “Grateful – Just. A Father in a World of Loneliness and Chaos.” But the stakes were higher than one inspiring day. It was about something more: building a culture in which a father no longer tries to carry everything alone.

Today’s father has access to more knowledge than ever before, yet increasingly faces time pressure, overload and loneliness when making important decisions. Tato.Net Forum was designed as an answer not through another dose of theory, but through pausing, meeting and sharing experience.

We don’t play solo. Fatherhood is a personal responsibility, but it does not have to mean a lonely struggle – this message returned throughout the Forum.

Dariusz Cupiał, founder of Tato.Net, described the Forum as a modern agora of fatherhood built on four pillars: Family, Friends, Faith and Fun – family, genuine relationships, values and spirituality, as well as renewal and the joy of being together.

A relationship that became truly important many weeks later

One of the stories shared during the Forum shows particularly well why such meetings matter long after the stage lights go out.

One panel participant recalled a friendship formed at an earlier edition of the Forum. At first, it was simply a good conversation and a new acquaintance. Only many weeks later, when he found himself in a serious crisis involving his relationship as a father, did he discover that he had someone he could call.

This may be the most important “outcome” of the Forum: not only notes from a lecture, but a person whose number remains in your phone for the moment when your own answers are no longer enough.

In this sense, the 18th Forum was more than an event. It was practice for a new model of male culture: fewer lone wolves and more team players – men who can ask for help, share experience and become a source of support for others.

Gratitude and justice as practices, not slogans

The Forum program led participants from reflection to concrete action. Gratitude was presented as the ability to notice what is good and communicate it, while justice was understood not as cold judgment, but as seeing the broader context of a child’s life and the life of the child’s mother, expecting first of oneself, and building safe boundaries. Jay Payleitner reminded fathers that children need more than rules: they need to know that their father remains on their side even when they make mistakes. Tomasz Zieliński encouraged fathers to regularly “update the data” they have about those closest to them: assume less that they already know, and listen more.

The same direction was developed in a dozen TatoSPHERE thematic groups – from relationships with teenagers, single fatherhood and health, through artificial intelligence and the digital world, to spirituality and resilience in times of crisis. The shared question, however, was not “How much new knowledge will you take away?” but rather: “What one step will you now introduce into your everyday practice as a father?”

MAX: an award not only for experts

The symbolic finale of the Forum was the MAX Awards Gala. This year’s awards highlighted three different ways of shaping the culture of fatherhood.

Marek Kiersnowski from Podlasie (East Poland) is not a professional fatherhood expert. He is a father who chose a path of change himself – from giving orders to listening and dialogue – and then began helping other men by establishing a Tato.Net Fatherhood Club. The MAX statuette in his hands is a sign that a new culture of fatherhood is not born only on conference stages. It is born in an ordinary home, when a father recognizes that he can do something differently and then shares that experience with others.

Jay Payleitner from Chicago (USA) was recognized for his many years of writing books for fathers – in a field that only a few decades ago was almost empty. His work shows that words, stories and practical books can also change the way a man understands his presence in his child’s life.

The third sign was the film “Odzyskany” (“Reclaimed”), directed by Marcin Kwaśny – a story of a broken bond between father and son, and a reminder that responsibility also means the ability to return, acknowledge one’s mistakes and rebuild a relationship.

The Forum ended in Kielce. Its work is only beginning

The 18th Forum was not meant to leave participants only with the emotion of a good event. Every father was encouraged to create his own TatoPlan – one concrete action that would carry inspiration from the stage into the home.

A second response is the continued development of O.K. – Tato.Net Fatherhood Clubs. The community’s ambition is to build local environments where men can learn from one another instead of “putting out life’s fires” alone.

Perhaps this is one of the most important changes needed in the culture of fatherhood today:

for a man to be able to say not only “I can handle it,” but also “together we have everything we need.”

Media contact:
Robert Jakubczak
Biuro Prasowe Tato.Net
tel. 720 791 303

Tato.Net

SPONSORZY I PARTNERZY 18. FORUM TATO.NET