TOPIC: Parenting
Fathers and Divorce
I’ve been reading about several divorced celebrity dads and the varied connection they have with their children. What are factors within the divorce process that make it so difficult (or easy) to provide good parenting? Is the other spouse to blame? Is it possible that some of these fathers are good parents in a horrible circumstance? It seems there is no love lost between some celebrity couples, while others still act as best friends.
Ask Hal – Four Boys and a Traveling Husband
I have 4 boys, #3 is the most disruptive from morning until night. Dad has been on the road for the past 4 weeks. Tonight I LOST IT. I really started screaming. Now after 30 min of a quiet house I understand how destructive it was. So how do I do this? There’s no one here to say, “Take 5 minutes to yourself.” There’s only so many times that I can be the bulldog. I get tired of it all. Can anyone tell me how to stop in the midst of it all?
Getting Real about the Kind of Kids You Want to Raise
Here are some of the characteristics we wrote on a note card that afternoon:
Emotionally secure
Hopeful about his personal future
Relationally savvy and connected to others
Persistent in his goals and undertakings
Respectful and kind toward friends and strangers
Thoughtful and effective in his decision making
Deeply reverent toward God and grounded in his Word
These traits weren’t in any particular order, and our list wasn’t exhaustive. But it was enough to guide us toward the qualities we would need to embody if we wanted to raise this kind of child.
Common Discipline Mistakes Even the Best Parents Make: Part 1
Because we’re always parenting our children, it takes real effort to look at our discipline strategies objectively. Good intentions can become less-than-effective habits quickly, and that can leave us operating blindly, disciplining in ways we might not if we thought much about it. Here are some parenting mistakes made by even the best-intentioned, most well-informed parents, along with practical suggestions that might come in handy the next time you find yourself in one of these situations.
Bouncy Kids
People ask me all the time how my kids are handling everything…and I never quite know how to answer them. I don’t even know the answer to that question about myself. To be quite honest, that has been one of the hardest parts of this whole thing—watching my kids struggle with my illness. How do I know they struggle? For the last few months, my son Brandon has been frightened to go anywhere alone.
How to Become the Parent You Want to Be: An Exercise
After surveying hundreds of parents about the personal parenting traits they desire to exemplify, we have identified ten traits that seem to matter most. In other words, we’ve identified the ten traits that received the most votes.
Is it Time for a Training Weekend?
No matter how wonderful your marriage and spouse may be, there are moments when you think your partner just doesn’t get it. Those “I love you but you haven’t a clue and you’re driving me crazy” moments are especially frequent when you have a baby in the house. Many first time moms are amazed at [...]
Every Day is Mother’s Day
Undoubtedly, many of us heard this exact question this past Mothers’ Day: “It’s no fair Mommy gets a day; why don’t we get a kids’ day?” And undoubtedly, many of us came back with this exact reply: “Every day is kids’ day!”
I remember having that same interchange with my parents when I was a kid. Seems almost universal and timeless—kids don’t think mothers and fathers should get their own day, and mothers and fathers think kids should be more grateful that every day is all about the kids.
Well, both are wrong.
I’m Sorry, Butt
“If I don’t scream, how can I get my kids to do anything?” That’s the question on the minds of many at the beginning of my seminars. At the end, hopefully, the question(s) run something like this: “How can I start over with my kids, now that I know I’ve blown it time and time again? Is it okay to apologize and start anew?”
Obviously, I like the latter questions better. And obviously, I like to answer those questions with a resounding “Yes”. Yes, we can reverse bad patterns of interaction with our kids. Yes, we can always start anew with a ScreamFree approach to our parenting.
The First Born Advantage?
In recent studies published in Science and Intelligence, and reported by the New York Times, the eldest children in the family tended to develop higher I.Q.’s than their siblings; a slight but significant difference that may have a big cumulative effect. The researchers also stated that the results clarify the debate on nature vs. nurture. [...]
