"Anyone can be a father, but only a truly dedicated dad becomes a real daddy." This is how Liviu Tverdostup, a father from the IPLT Waldorf Fathers' Club community, begins his story – a happy and grateful dad to his two daughters, aged 5 and 7, with whom he learns every day to explore the world from new perspectives.
For him, being a father is both a responsibility and a gift, a gift that comes the moment you stop seeking love and start giving it. He has realized this in simple moments: in the mornings when his daughters take his hand, in their bursts of laughter over the smallest things, and in the spontaneous way they teach him to live with enthusiasm, curiosity, and passion.
Among their favorite activities are exploring nature and bonding with animals. At home, they have a true “extended family”: three dogs, a cat, a chameleon, a parrot, a turtle, a donkey, a foal, a little donkey, and a mare. The girls know each one’s name, their routines, and share a special bond with all of them.
Through caring for the animals, he shows his daughters what responsibility, empathy, and gentleness truly mean. He explains everything in simple words they can understand, turning every moment into a life lesson.
"Being a father has taught me that the only real way to educate is by setting an example," he says. And his daughters learn not from what they hear, but from what they see from his patience, and from the way he gives time, presence, and a sense of security.
He learned about the Fathers' Club by chance, through a Viber group. What caught his attention was the idea that a father’s presence has a decisive impact on a child’s personality and he decided to join.
He discovered a space where fathers learn from each other, where vulnerability is not weakness but courage. The most valuable lesson he has taken from this experience is the importance of mental flexibility regarding gender roles.
“In a family, a man and a woman are not in competition, they are a team. A family built on partnership and equality is the only formula for a happy couple and emotionally healthy children.”
Participating in the Fathers’ Club has helped him realize just how precious a father’s involvement in a child’s upbringing is.
“Only by educating myself can I educate my daughters,” he says sincerely.
In their quiet evenings, after the day has settled, the girls sit with their father to share the story of their day. Sometimes they speak one at a time, other times over each other’s words, with the enthusiasm of children who know they are truly being heard. He lets them say everything that’s on their hearts. These are simple moments, yet within them gathers all their strength to keep moving forward.
Sometimes, one of the girls leans on his shoulder, takes his hand, or hugs him unexpectedly. These gestures remind him of her, the same gentleness, the same calm, the same warmth. In these moments, he realizes how much their mother lives on through them: in the way they show affection, in the delicacy of their touches, in how they seek closeness when someone needs it. And perhaps that is why, no matter how hard some days can be, they never truly feel alone. Their mother’s love remains there, discreet and natural, in their everyday life - in their laughter, in their gestures, and in the way they find strength to support each other.
This is how their journey continues: a father and his two daughters learning together to be strong in their own way - through good days and hard days, moments of fear and bursts of joy that keep all three of them standing. They grow through each other and for each other.
And even though life has placed them in a situation where they rely only on the three of them, they are never truly just three. Their mother is present in everything they do: in the way the girls give hugs for no reason, in the silences they share together, in the courage that emerges exactly when it’s needed. She lives in their small gestures, in the way their father strokes their foreheads, and in every step they take successfully together.
Perhaps this is their strongest truth: her love has never left them. It keeps them close. It nurtures them. It supports them. It lights their path with a gentleness that is unseen, but deeply felt.
Although these experiences preceded his participation in the Fathers’ Club, the program provided a safe and supportive space to share them, dedicated to the active involvement of fathers in their children’s lives. For this father, the Fathers’ Club has been a support group that offered him encouragement, confidence, and the confirmation that being a dad means, above all, being present in his children’s lives.
The Fathers’ Club is a project developed under the regional program “EU4Gender Equality: Together Against Gender Stereotypes and Gender-Based Violence,” funded by the European Union and implemented by UNFPA Moldova and UN Women Moldova, with the support of the Child Rights Information Center.
This article is produced in the framework of the “EU 4 Gender Equality: Together against gender stereotypes and gender-based violence” programme (phase 2), funded by the European Union, and implemented jointly by UN Women and UNFPA. This article was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of UN Women and UNFPA and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
