How To Become A More Relationally-Focused Parent
As I shared in my last post, like some of you, I am a task-oriented, A-type person. It took me a while to figure out that the habits and practices we get rewarded for in the workplace can be the very things that work against us (and our families) at home. While tasks...
Five Tensions Task-Oriented Parents Face
I remember taking a personality profile for work shortly after I started into my first full-time job. It told me what I already suspected: When it comes to working on a task or spending time with people, I'll almost always choose the task. I actually do value...
Resisting the Rescue
By Tim Walker The other day in the drop-off, car-rider lane at my boys’ elementary school, one of my kids realized that he accidentally threw away something he needed for school. My first instinct was to jump the curb, go home and dig through the trash to find it. In...
God Don't Make Junk!
I remember a bumper sticker from years ago that used to say “God don’t make junk!” I remember it because a) it was true, and b) it was a rusted out car that was up on blocks. Obviously, the sticker wasn’t referring to the rust bucket. It was talking about people. That...
Piano Lessons
By Cara Martens Like many kids, I was enrolled in piano lessons at a young age. For the most part, I liked it. Not that I liked practicing, but luckily I could cram beforehand and usually finesse my way through. I had the same piano teacher my last few years in...
The Cure for the Common Complaint
My kids and I spent a month this summer living with their grandparents. There were cousins to play with, a new puppy, cable and On Demand, and a gorgeous pool out back. Popsicles appeared every 30 minutes and fruit snacks abounded. My children were living the high...
Out of the Box
Have you ever noticed that we tend to put ourselves in a box? Think about it. It’s so easy to define ourselves by specific things or circumstances that show up in our lives. In my personal box, there’s my incredible wife, my two teenage sons, my house, my job as a...
A House Divided
It used to frustrate me as a kid. I would ask my parents if I could stay up later than my bedtime to hang out with my friends. If I didn't get a "No," I would usually get "I have to check with your dad." Having a devious kind of mind, I would go to my dad before my...
5 Ways to Overcome Child-Centered Parenting
We've already seen that child-centered parenting maybe isn't the best approach to parenting. A child who grows up to believe she is the center of the universe will have a far more difficult life than a child who grows up to understand she has a place among many in the...
Love…No Matter What
LOVE: Choosing to give someone your time and friendship, no matter what. In a few days, my family is headed on 14 hour road trip. We’ll pack up the car with snacks, “goodie bags” filled with books and games for the kids, and lots and lots of music for me. Because I’m...
Have Patience
When I was a kid my mom taught us a song about a snail named Herbert who needed to learn to have patience. Being the awesome big sister that I was, I often sang it to my brother whenever he was getting impatient. Of course, this always helped to bring him...
She Laughs at the Time to Come
April is National Autism Awareness Month. Autism is a condition which is now thought to affect a staggering 1 in 88 children. With so many parents and families affected by an increasing rate of autism, we wanted to highlight a few stories this week on Orange Parents,...