With holiday’s fast approaching, we are often asked if we played along with society’s idea about Santa Claus. Many parents, today, seem very concerned about The Santa Claus Issue. More so, now, than in the past it seems. On one side of the issue, they are concerned about “lying” to their children and on the other, missing out on all the holiday fun. Either way, parents are concerned that they will scar their little ones [...]
We were always glad when Halloween was behind us. Sure, we enjoyed many aspects of trick or treating like the time a 4 yr year old Elvis impersonator came to the door and said, “Thank you. Thank you very much” in his deepest little voice. But, with all the fun and excitement, there is also a certain kind of craziness that is driven by the childhood narcotic – Candy. It’s as if EVERYTHING goes out [...]
In our Overcompensating letter, we mentioned that CouchTime was one of the most impactful tools we had implemented from the Parenting from the Tree of Life class (formerly Growing Kids God's Way). Since mentioning it earlier this year, we have had many parents ask us to provide more insight regarding CouchTime. So we thought it might be helpful to provide a little more detail regarding the why, when, where, and how of CouchTime. Why The [...]
The teen years are fantastic! Both our boys are turning into fine young men and yesterday we celebrated our eldest “baby” turning 18. As we reflect on all the seasons of our parenting, there was one thing we did when our boys turned 13 that made a significant difference in all our lives as they became teenagers. We came up with a Year of Discovery, which is compilation of ideas we took from many different [...]
According to research, we are considered the last “low-tech” generation and, generally speaking, our kids have (or will have) more knowledge than we do about technology and how to use it. This brings up a lot of questions. We need to ask ourselves, who or what is the authority in our kids’ lives, or our own lives for that matter? Who is in control? What kind of example am I to my family and friends [...]
What’s the one thing I can do to… Improve my marriage? Find balance in life? Lose weight or get healthy? Get out of debt or become financially independent? Be the best mom or dad? … and the list goes on and on and on! There are so many virtuous intentions that often we are looking for the one thing – a cure all – to find peace, health, happiness, and fulfillment. And usually the one [...]
As our boys have gotten older, one parenting tool that we have utilized the most is planting seeds. While the generic concept of planting seeds is not new, our friends Dave and Lis provided us with a perspective that took the concept to a new level in our parenting with a 2 step approach – Planting seeds (initiate an idea or topic with a question) and Cultivation (ongoing conversation follow up). This tool has been [...]
Back to school has always been very similar to the start of a new year for our family. It marks the start of a new school year with renewed expectations and resolutions not only for our boys, but also for us as parents. For the kids, it’s a great time to get them refocused on their schedules, routines and revisit some lessons that were learned or challenges faced in the previous school year. For mom [...]
Emotional control or self-discipline is being able to manifest the appropriate expression of our emotional state. Our ability to manage our emotional responses is a lifelong skill that can define our character positively or negatively. Unfortunately in today’s society, this skill is often taken for granted in our own lives and the lives of our children. Anger, frustration and disappointment are a part of life as a child and as an adult. There will always [...]
The parenting runway is getting very short for us as our boys are getting ready for takeoff. Our precious little boys are now in high school with graduation fast approaching for our oldest! When they were first born, we felt like the diaper years would never end and now we are living the cliché of “they grow up so fast!” As we reflect on our parenting years, we thought it might be encouraging to provide [...]