Routines are those planned, recurring activities and habits that add health and value to your family on a regular basis. What follows is a list of five simple routine ideas to try with your family. Find the one that works best for you or start with number one and work your way down to see which routine fits your family best.

1. Playing Together

The family that plays together stays together! We like having fun as a family. Most everything we do turns into a game. I don’t know if it’s everyone’s competitive nature in our family or that we just like to play; either way, we find ourselves playing. You don’t necessarily have to play board games. I know that board games are spelled “bored” games for some families. What I am suggesting is that you get together––inside

How would you finish the letter in the above picture? Wait, before we get to that let’s back up for a moment.

Are you familiar with the story of Mary and Martha? If not, take a look at Luke 10:38-42, I’ll wait.

Ok, now that you are back what do you think? If you are like most people you agree with Mary and disagree with Martha. We draw conclusions about Martha’s relentless hurry while Jesus was sitting in her living room. But there is something about Martha’s behavior that connects with me as both a leader and a parent.

I identify with her personality and driven spirit because it’s not my nature to sit and listen and totally unplug. I admire Martha’s personality and her ability to get things done. Then I had an idea...what would it look like if the story was changed just a bit and instead of Jesus sitting in the living room it was their kids.

What would it look like if I, if each of us, parented

What Is FOMO?
Fear Of Missing Out

Symptoms:
Irritability, frustration, anxiety, argumentative, crying, eye rolling, anger.

Onset:
Symptoms follow closely after having an electronic device such as a computer, tablet or phone taken from them, usually by a parent.

FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out, infects about 90% of kids today. Most parents are immune but will, on occasion, catch the virus. Symptoms manifest themselves in different ways for adults. The symptoms often seen in adults are not being present in the moment, multitasking and generally unpleasant demeanor if not connected to the outside world through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or Words With Friends.

Our culture is faced paced and if you are offline for even five minutes you may “miss it,” whatever “it” is. It could be

Have you ever worried about your kids? Dumb question, right? Of course there are times when we have worried or still worry about our children. Here are a few moments when we have worried about our kids.

• When your kids were born.
• Their first day of Kindergarten.
• Their first day of Jr High.
• Their First day of High School.
• When they start driving.
• When they don’t get home when they were supposed to.
• When they graduate.
• When they start college.
• When they start that new job.

Of course there are several other times when worry can be worse. Times when we feel helpless. We may see our children making choices that we know will hurt them or at the very least not help them. We cry, we pray, we hope and...we worry. We desperately want our kids to get through whatever difficulties or challenges they