The Dope Black Dads Podcast is an adult-only podcast for all parents or adults preparing for parenthood. Led by Marvyn Harrison with contributions from the Dope Black Dads leadership as well as a host of special guests from the world of healing, media, parenting, TV/film, music, and beyond. We discuss everything from co-parenting, masculinity, and the Black experience all the way to our favourite Netflix show. Don't listen if you're expecting conversations about nappies! Hosted on Acast. See...
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Episode List

Why Your New Year Goals Keep Failing

Dec 31st, 2025 6:01 AM

Most New Year goals fail for the same reason: they’re fantasies, not systems.In this episode, Marvyn Harrison breaks down why “New Year, New Me” thinking collapses every time — and what actually creates change. This is not about motivation, manifestation, or vague intentions. It’s about identity redesign, constraint awareness, and building daily and weekly systems that survive real life.The conversation covers why outcomes don’t stick without identity, why willpower is overrated, how to design progress around limited time, energy, and money, and why evidence beats affirmation every time. Along the way, real life interrupts — parenting, noise, humour — reinforcing the point: growth has to work inside chaos, not in spite of it.This episode is a grounded framework for approaching 2026 without self-deception, self-punishment, or false optimism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anthony Joshua Survives Nigeria Car Crash: RIP Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele

Dec 30th, 2025 7:09 AM

Anthony Joshua has survived a serious car crash in Nigeria that killed two close friends and long-standing members of his team. Physio Sina Ghami and personal trainer Latif “Latz” Ayodele were pronounced dead at the scene after a collision on the Lagos–Ibadan expressway.In this emergency news episode, we break down the confirmed facts, timeline, and reactions from the boxing world, including tributes from Chris Eubank Jr and statements from Matchroom Boxing. We also examine the wider context — Joshua’s recent fight with Jake Paul, his Nigerian heritage, and the deadly reputation of the expressway where the crash occurred.This episode focuses on clarity, respect, and accountability in reporting, amid widespread misinformation and the circulation of graphic footage online. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Post-Christmas Reflections

Dec 30th, 2025 6:27 AM

This episode is a quiet audit of Christmas, fatherhood, and attention.After two uninterrupted weeks with his children, Marvyn reflects on what it feels like when family life fully aligns — no school runs, no fragmented schedules, no performance. Just presence. The result wasn’t productivity or achievement. It was peace.The episode moves through gift-giving without panic, buying throughout the year, shifting from material presents to experiences, and what it means to fund joy without excess. It explores how children thrive when safety is consistent, how traditions are built deliberately, and why Christmas Eve now belongs to the house — not the shops.There are reflections on idleness, masculinity, hobbies, strength, and the discomfort of having nothing urgent to fix. Golf enters the picture. So does grief, gratitude, and the reality that joy and loss often sit side by side at the end of a year.This is not advice. It’s a lived reflection on slowing down, protecting what matters, and carrying the right things forward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christmas Isn’t About Stuff. It’s About Family

Dec 21st, 2025 4:22 PM

We’ve been trained to treat Christmas like a performance: spend more, buy more, post more, prove more. But the truth is simpler—and harder to defend: Christmas is about family. In this episode, I’m pulling the focus back to what lasts. The moments your children remember aren’t the receipts—they’re the feeling of the home. The laughter in the kitchen. The safety of being together. The un-rushed hours where nobody’s “doing” anything, but everyone’s okay. I talk about how easy it is to slip into survival mode at the worst possible time, trying to fund a “perfect Christmas,” carrying the whole season on your back, and turning love into pressure. And I lay out a different standard: protect the atmosphere. Protect the time. Protect the relationships. There’s also a personal reflection on childhood Christmas memories and what they teach us: the gift might be exciting, but it’s the people, the warmth, and the stories that become the real inheritance. If you’re a parent feeling the weight of this season, this is your reminder: your kids don’t need a perfect Christmas. They need you. They need peace. They need family. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 “Perfect” Green Flags That Secretly Blow Up Your Relationships

Dec 14th, 2025 12:00 AM

You were told to chase green flags.You were never taught how some of them hide the biggest red flags of your life.In this episode, Marvyn Harrison pulls five “perfect” green flags apart and shows the shadow side underneath: limerence, trauma bonds, emotional shutdown, manipulation and cruelty dressed up as “being real”. Across romantic relationships, friendships, family and work, Marvyn unpacks:Intense Chemistry From Day OneThe “we could marry right now” energy that feels like destiny.Why you feel deeply connected on almost no information.Limerence: the repeat pattern of getting obsessed, acting like it’s real and only understanding it years later.How trauma bonds, nervous system chaos and mirroring can feel like soulmate energy while your body is actually in crisis.Why neurodivergent people often feel this intensity and believe it’s “how love is supposed to feel.” People Who Respectfully Hate Everybody But You“They’re just honest, they see through everyone” – the seductive packaging.The contempt, gossip and dehumanising that’s actually rehearsing how they’ll later talk about you.The difference between feedback, sharing and constant judgement.Why “it’s us against the world” often means “you’re next when the honeymoon ends.”Extreme Independence And Having ‘No Needs’“I’m low maintenance, I’m drama free” as a brand.Emotional shutdown disguised as maturity.The triple problem: they can’t ask, can’t receive and can’t repair.How fear of abandonment sits behind “I don’t need anything from anyone.”You end up doing all the emotional labour, while they quietly protect a chaotic inner world they don’t want you to see. Total Overlap In Values, Opinions And Tastes“We’re literally the same person, we never argue” – why that feels like winning.People-pleasing and mirroring as manipulation: pre-written caring responses, no behavioural change.Why genuine adults have differences, and why tolerating disagreement is actually intimacy.The truth about “peaceful” relationships that never argue: someone gave up bringing their full self.Brutal Honesty With Zero Empathy“I just tell it like it is, I keep it 100” as a personality costume.Cruelty cosplaying as truth.Why timing is a core part of empathy: the film-premiere example where “honesty” is actually violence. How real friends hold their feedback, let the moment pass, then come back with thought, care and context.Why brutal honesty is often laziness and emotional illiteracy, not integrity.Marvyn closes by turning the lens back on you:Why you keep choosing intense chemistry, “low maintenance” partners or brutally honest friends.Why you might secretly want spontaneity, chaos and “life of the party” energy, then demand they calm down once you’ve got them.How to notice the patterns you recreate, instead of taking internet advice “cold” and blowing up relationships that could be repaired with awareness and conversation. This is not a call to go home and dump everyone.It’s a call to see what’s really happening underneath your favourite “green flags” and work out whether you’re genuinely safe, genuinely seen – or just addicted to the chaos you were never taught to name.Content WarningsThis episode includes discussion of:Trauma bonds and nervous system dysregulationEmotional shutdown and abandonment fearsManipulation, people-pleasing and cruelty in relationships Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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