How To Fail At Communication
It's summer, which means your kids are around. And whether you are juggling toddlers or trying to wake your teenager up before noon, you've probably realized it's not hard for tempers to flare. I think it's kind of fun that God puts families into a little box called...
One Seventh
I took this picture at the campsite my wife Toni and I spent three days at last summer. No cell phone, no laptop, no electricity... (my world unraveled). It was quiet and I was quiet. That almost never happens in my life. There is a world of difference between...
Intentional Time
According to some new research, parents are spending more time interacting with their kids now than generations before. In 1965, the data from the Americans’ Use of Time Study shows that mothers spent 10 hours weekly on childcare as a primary activity. Fathers spent 3...
White Space
If you look six months ahead in your calendar, most likely you'll see white space. Nothing booked - just a lot of free time. Now look at this coming week...if your week is like mine, there isn't much white space. Between work, meetings, sports and a few social...
Reframing Reality
I took this picture for our 2008 family Christmas card. While I'm not really a photographer, our friends and family loved the snapshot. In fact, we've probably had more comments on this photo than most of the other ones we've sent out. Strange. Because it actually...
The Tension in Serving
So it's confession time. I've followed the blog posts that Reggie and Kara have posted in the last few week, and I admit it stirs a tension in me. I think it's generally true that people change when the pain associated with the status quo is greater than the pain...
A Heart for Service
If I were to ask your kids, what would they say is at the heart of what it means to be part of your family? When our firstborn was still in the womb, we settled upon four phrases that summarize our deepest desires for who our family is and will become. They capture...
More than Words
How we communicate with our kids is important—how we say it and when we say it and what our body is saying too. In fact, every message has at least 3 different parts. The actual WORDS we say The TONE in which we say it Our NON-VERBALS (facial expression, body posture,...
Grace or Truth – Which Parent Are You?
There are two kinds of parents: grace parents, and truth parents. You know grace parents...they're always kind. They bake cookies or always have time to turn on the barbecue to make dinner for all your friends. If you push them on an issue like bonus allowance or...
Phone in hand (or out-of-hand)?
It’s addictive. The ding of a new email and the chirp of a new text. All these messages just begging to be answered. Did you know that the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London found that people constantly interrupted by e-mails and instant messages did...
What's Your Rhythm?
You've already seen on the blog that we believe parents are highly influential. In fact, while the average church leader gets about 40 hours a year with your son or daughter, a full time working parent who gets eight hours of sleep each night and doesn't homeschool...
Get a Plan
This week on the blog we've talked about being imperfect parents and how even imperfect parents need to focus their priorities on what matters most. Two statistics help put this all in perspective. The first reality is that parents continue to be the most influential...