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Why We Lose Our Children When They Become Teenagers

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“My quiet, respectful, rule-following little angel has become a rude, pushy, aggressive little tyrant.” Yes, I have heard a parent say that. What happened? The child grew up.

I can remember when I was about seven years old. We had a decent-sized back yard, a swing set, a few trees and a four-and-a-half-foot red-stained fence around the entire yard. The fence was there for a number of reasons but mostly for my mom’s peace of mind and my safety.

If I was in the fenced-in yard, she could run into the house for a minute and come back out without worrying about my behavior too much. The fence around our back yard

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How Do We Teach Healthy Values To Our Kids?

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If you were to Google ”parents’ values” or ask other parents on Facebook what are the best values to teach our children you will get a list that looks something like this.

1. Humility
2. Respect
3. Kindness
4. Honesty
5. Courage
6. Perseverance
7. Self-discipline
8. Compassion
9. Generosity
10. Dependability

We would agree that’s a good list but a list isn’t the hard part; practicing the list is the hard part. Printing the list and hanging it on the refrigerator is easy. We have done similar things as parents. When a list is visible, it can serve as a reminder and help prompt you to make better, wiser choices, and I understand that.

However, simply memorizing a list

Disagreeing With Your Spouse on Parenting Matters? Here Are Three Ideas Worth Considering

If you and your spouse disagree, from time to time, on how to parent your children, you are not alone. According to Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott it’s one of the top five things couples argue about!

If you find yourself in the occasional or even frequent conversation with your spouse about how to parent your children then take a look at the following three ideas that will help you find a pathway to agreement and less frustration.

 

1. Get On The Same Page

The solution for just about every parenting issue is to be on the same page, unified and of one mind. For some reason, kids are amazingly skillful at cracking that parental bond of solidarity. It’s like they have studied it or

What Can A Leader Do When They Are Down, Depleted & Discouraged?

When You Are Down…Be Thankful

Be thankful for what you have, not what you don’t. I’m writing this post sitting near my son’s hospital bed with a bad bone infection in his hand. He had an accident a month ago to reattach the partially detached finger, revascularization surgery to repair an artery and two pins to hold the bone together. And, just when everything was going well, a bone infection, another surgery and a long road to recovery. Now what? Mad, upset, blame, yes…I have felt all three. However, when I stop and take an inventory of the room for the last 45 minutes I can choose to focus on the circumstances or the possibilities. Here are seven

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This Is The Biggest Obstacle Facing Today's Modern Family & What To Do About It

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Below is a chart put together by Stephen Von Worley showing the original 8 colors produced by Crayola in 1903 through the many choices they offered in 2010. According to his math, Crayola will have over 330 choices by 2050. Here is the question, “Do we need 330 colors or will 8 do?” The answer may be different for everyone and that’s my point.

 

The biggest obstacle facing today’s modern family is too many choices.


A question I like to ask parents when speaking at family or parenting events is this, “Is it easier to raise kids today or was it easier to raise kids 20 years ago?” The overwhelming answer is,

7 Ways To Create Family Connections

Creating family connections isn’t always easy with our schedules so I thought I would throw out a quick process and a few ideas that will help family’s connect at least once everyday for the next 7 days.


Number 1

Monday: Just before bedtime, read aloud Ephesians 5:15-16 together as a family; then pray this prayer. “God, help us to be careful with our time. Give us wisdom as a family to know how to make the best use of our time together. Amen”


Number 2

Tuesday: Invite each family member to tell

11 Phrases To Get Your Kids Talking

One of the most important things you can do with your family is eat together. The reasons?

  • It Gets the Family Sitting
  • It Gets the Family Connecting
  • It Gets the Family Talking

When we first started having our family eat together on a consistent basis it wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be. We started with three strong willed, openly opinionated and verbally blessed children around the table. On the first attempt we met with some resistance. “Why are we doing this?” “Are we in trouble?” “What’s the point?” These were just a few of the