There’s something about the start of a new school year that feels a lot like a new year. New schedules. New routines. New expectations. New opportunities. And while most of our attention naturally goes toward getting the kids ready—school supplies, clothes, activities, schedules, and homework—the beginning of a school year can be an important reset for the entire family. For our boys, it was an opportunity to refocus, take on new responsibilities, and build on [...]

For many of us, summer means big vacations, a series of camps, summer sports leagues, pool days, amusement parks and other excitement to make it memorable, meaningful and fun.  While all those activities are wonderful, parents feel a lot of pressure and wonder: “How do we sustain the ‘fun’ on a day-to-day basis for the rest of the summer?” Fred Rogers once said, “Play is really the work of childhood.” What we often forget as [...]

With Father’s Day coming up, we thought it would be a great time to revisit a teaching that profoundly impacted our family. The Father’s Mandate, from Growing Kids God’s Way by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo, outlines eight intentional practices to help fathers connect and build strong, trusting relationships with their children. This teaching became an important catalyst in our marriage and parenting journey. It provided Rich with practical ways to be more purposeful with [...]

Parenting is a year-round journey. However, we discovered that summer can be an especially productive and meaningful season in this journey. With school obligations and hectic schedules dialed back, the excitement of sunshine, family vacations, and backyard barbecues naturally brought our family together and created a more relaxed, receptive environment to address — or revisit — important areas in our parenting. Certainly, kids need downtime, but we decided to take advantage of our summers rather [...]

Early in our parenting journey, we made a decision about the kind of children we hoped to raise. We wanted kids who felt secure, demonstrated self-control, were emotionally regulated, able to focus and pay attention, and who were good listeners. These are essential life skills that help children succeed academically, socially, and in every aspect of life. There was also one more “little” thing that we knew was actually a big thing — we wanted [...]