Pitching a Fit
Confession: Sometimes I watch the show Hoarders. It totally freaks me out and yet I watch. I don’t know if it inspires me to clean my house or I just like freaking out over a house filled with cats. Anyway, the other day I was watching it and a 40–year-old woman threw...
The Next Question
Your kids are back in school and you're focused on helping them excel. You want them to learn. To grow. To master knowledge. If you bring things back to their simplest form, knowledge often answers the question: "What?" What do I need to know to do well on the test,...
Grace and Discipline
No one would pretend that raising kids is easy. It's a constant tension between grace: I love you. I see value in you. I will never quit on you. And discipline: You can't write on the walls in crayon. You can't hit your brother on the head with a mixing bowl. You...
Just Being Honest
Sometimes I struggle with telling my kids the truth about themselves. Not so much the good…but the bad and the ugly. I know it’s my job to help them grow. I want to be their cheerleader. I want to believe they can do anything. I want them to go for their dreams. But...
Marking Moments
You've heard it before and some of you are currently living it. Time does move more and more quickly as your children grow up. When my boys were preschool age, time seemed to move very slowly. The time before kindergarten seemed like a lifetime because, well, it was a...
Nothing Is Actually Free
Years ago, one of my best friends and I were talking about something I got for free. I can't remember what it was, but it was something like a free donut, a free lunch or free movie tickets. He said, "Sure, it's free to you. But somebody paid for it. Because nothing...
Stealing Life from Your Kids?
There are two kinds of people you encounter: people who give life and people who drain life out of you. You have dinner with a friend and leave feeling refreshed and energized. Conversely, you can spend 10 minutes with someone who drains you and walk away feeling like...
What Are You Missing?
Several years ago my family was going to the beach for spring break. It was a really hectic time at work, conferences were coming, deadlines were looming, and I didn’t feel like I could be gone for a week. So I decided to bring work with me and explain to the kids...
Too much too soon?
Did you hear about the New York mom who sued her daughter’s preschool because it hadn’t properly prepared her four-year-old for entrance exams for an elite education? “It is no secret that getting a child into the Ivy League starts in nursery school,” reads one tenet...
Best Friends?
Most of us like to be liked. At least I do. And all of us start the parenting journey with this dream that we are going to have the best relationship ever with our kids. I have run into more than a few parents over the years who talk about being being best friends...
Emotional
I'm not the most emotional guy. But emotions can play a powerful role in shaping our response to what's happening around us, in us and in our families. If there's a song that makes me tear up every time (did it again, writing this post), it's Harry Chapin's Cat's in...
Shifting Rhythms
As a parent, you fight hard to find a family rhythm because what you make time for ultimately shapes what your child will value. In the first few years, parents fight hard to try to find a rhythm. In the pre-school and early elementary years, parents hone the rhythm...