Podcast: “When Parenting Hurts”
I had the opportunity to join in an important conversation with the folks at Ministry to Parents on “When Parenting Hurts” (And it does.). You can listen to the podcast here.
Whose Move Is It Anyway?: How to Proceed in Decision-Making When You and Your Spouse Don’t See Eye to Eye
My husband and I had three days to look at 30+ houses, visit three different schools, and decide where we wanted our young family to live. It’s no wonder I developed a migraine. These were not easy decisions! We were…
ELECT to Have Teachable Moments with Your Kids
The harvest is ripe for teachable moments with our kids during election season! Seriously, they’re everywhere, just waiting to be picked and used. Parents, are we looking for them? The obvious one is to make sure our kids understand that…
Fighting Fairly with Your Spouse
“Fight.” “Disagree.” “Discuss.” Call it whatever you want, but if you’re married, it happens. And that’s okay! I’m not saying we should unleash our anger and let careless words fly whenever we feel like it. We can, in fact, still…
Battle
There are some nights when I collapse into my bed in complete weariness. Most nights I am ready for sleep, tired from all the running around and dishes and laundry and logistics and cleaning up, etc., etc. But I’m talking…
Reflection Is Good for the Soul…and the Relationship
A friend of mine has worked with teenagers and parents of teenagers for more than two decades. During the particularly trying times of the teen years in a family, he encourages the parents to get one of their favorite pictures…
IDK
I told my husband that what I really needed to put in place of my column this month is a big question mark. Because it seems that the older I get and the longer I parent, the more I feel…
Do-Overs
Remember when we were kids, and there would be a disagreement over a game, and we would end up calling “Do-over!”? Well, we are trying to do more of that in our home. Specifically, we have been using this method…
Hard Conversations
Hard conversations are part of life. And for those of us who really don’t like confrontation, these conversations can be extremely taxing. The easy way out would be just to avoid them altogether–to “keep the peace”–, but we all know…
Nose-to-Nose, Heart-to-Heart
Recently I had to have a difficult “nose-to-nose” conversation with my daughter. She was having a lot of trouble admitting that she was wrong about something, and Kevin and I had been noticing that this issue with her had been…
