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.
How Well Do You Know Your Spouse?
My husband and I have had the opportunity to go on several cruises over the years, and one of the typical activities for entertainment during the week is a live version of “The Newlywed Game.” The cruise director finds three…
It’s a Big World After All (And Our Kids Need to See It)
As parents, we often want to shield our children from being exposed to certain influences. However, there are times when we should actually choose to intentionally expose them. And one of the ways this is done is through travel. Exposing…
The Power of Music
Music has the power to motivate, validate, comfort, energize, inspire, lift us up, or bring us down. I’ve seen it in my own life, and I’ve seen its effects on each of my children. My five kids (now teenagers and…
An Education in Life: Taking Advantage of Teachable Moments During the School Years
Not all lessons taught during the school years involve textbooks. And they’re not all taught by teachers in classrooms. In fact, most important lessons are taught by us parents, and we do our teaching at home, in the car, in…
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…
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…
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…
Boy, Oh Boy!
LEGOs, comic books, football, video games…These all have two things in common. (1) I have never had much to do with them. (2) My son is crazy about them. Caleb Partridge is my only son, and he’s sandwiched between two…
