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 [...]

Our mindset plays a powerful role in our happiness, relationships, and success. And in today’s world — filled with rapid change, constant comparison, and growing pressures — resilience is more important than ever and requires a lot of deliberate effort. Parents today are navigating challenges that didn’t exist a generation ago: social media pressures, academic expectations, busy schedules, and an always-connected world. Many families are feeling overwhelmed, and children are experiencing higher levels of stress, [...]

One of the greatest joys in parenting is when your child invites you into their private world. What is the private world? Generally speaking, it is the place within each of us where we hold our deepest thoughts, treasured memories, and most vulnerable feelings. It is the essence of who we are. Our private world is the space we usually share only with a spouse or our most trusted and closest friends. Interestingly, research in [...]