What to Do When Your Family Meeting Turns into Target Practice… Literally.
Sometimes it can be hard and scary to start something new, especially with a blended family, and especially with teenagers! See how Tom and Shelly handled things when their first family meeting blew up in their faces… literally!
Compliments that Nourish Kids’ Character
We do it all the time. “Nice work! Great job! You’re so awesome!” It’s nice to take notice and give energy to the good things our kids do. But throwing kids compliments like this without any substance is akin to throwing them popcorn when they’re hungry. It tastes good and kids want more, but it […]
The Benefits of Letting Our Kids Experience Conflict
Sometimes it can be a good thing to let kids fight. This played itself out last week as I was caring for my niece and nephews (4th – 7th grade). During dinner they began to argue the sort of argument that I wanted to immediately stop. I felt my anxious chemicals kick in, but I […]
A Simple, Fun Cure for Dinner Time Chaos
Is dinner at your house a bit crazy? Perhaps it needs a little injection of purpose. When the meal is all about getting kids to settle down and eat their food, it’s bound to be a struggle. But when it’s about meaningful stories and questions, it can take on a whole new tone. Consider Tim’s […]
Does Your Family Have a Purpose?
Our family likes to have plans in the works for the upcoming year. A possible Florida trip this spring to see family? What about our family’s favorite summer vacation spot in the Colorado Rockies? In order to make these dreams a reality, with the family calendar looking more like a 3-D puzzle, some advanced planning is […]
A Surprisingly Powerful Strategy to Spice Up Your Christmas
Last Christmas I pulled out God’s Word to read the familiar passages of Luke 2:4-20 to my niece and nephews and extended family. The version I read from was the Hawai’i Pidgin Bible (“Da Jesus Book”), a Wycliffe translation of the New Testament into the language of Native Hawaiians. The Hawai’i Pidgin language is a mix […]
Why Do Kids Tantrum?
Simply stated, kids have tantrums because they pay off. In some convoluted sort of way they get what they want. Even if it means they lose their cool and wear themselves out. The challenge for a parent is determining what exactly a child might need in the midst of an all-out emotional outburst. What they want may not […]
Does Your Help Actually Hurt Your Kids?
“Oh, honey, come here. Let’s fix that.” Or, “Hey kiddo, let’s clean up that mess.” Nearly every parent has repeated phrases like these, perhaps many times. With small kids, there’s probably no harm in using this phrase or approach to things from time to time. You see a smear of mustard on your child’s face […]
Is “Being the Parent” Actually Good Parenting?
I just read another decent parenting book by a well-known author. It’s got some good ideas in it about how to manage kids’ misbehavior. But like so many of the parenting books I read, it is laced with what I think is a subtle but huge parenting mistake: Arrogance.
Why did two teenage boys demand daily family devotions?
Zeke and Andrew are two teenage boys in a family that started building a tradition of reading the Bible together during Advent when they were pint-sized. Each night they lit the candle, read that day’s page from their advent book, and some scripture or a brief devotional. Then they moved the figurines for Mary, Joseph […]
