Around when your child is 10, play this mental game - “Grab a live chicken. Got ‘em? Ok, now pluck all the feathers off the chicken. Get in there and pull them from the wings, the back, the tail. Get ‘em all. Are they all gone? Ok, now, put all the feathers back on the chicken.” A plucked chicken is good and plucked. Some decisions are irreversible. I don’t know where this came from, but [...]

There is something meaningful about the beginning of every school year. Whether you're walking your five-year-old into kindergarten for the first time, watching your middle-schooler confidently disappear into a crowd of classmates, sending your teenager off to high school, or hugging your son or daughter goodbye at a college dorm, every new season asks parents to do the same difficult thing: Release a little more. Each year our children take another step toward the adults [...]

Every day, we hear from moms and dads who want to build a stronger family. They want healthier communication, stronger marriages, and the confidence to raise resilient children. Like all of us, they're doing their best—but many simply need practical encouragement, trusted guidance, and proven tools to help them navigate marriage and parenting. That's why OneFamily exists. Everything we create—our podcasts, articles, classes, conferences, workshops, and family resources—is designed to help couples reconnect, equip parents [...]

In these OneFamily Letters, we try to support families with principles, techniques, encouragement, and examples from our own lives and from the many healthy families we know. We often write about what worked well for us. But there is another side to the story. Let’s be real. Parenting is filled with dilemma after dilemma. You make decisions in real time without fully understanding the long-term implications. You act with love, conviction, fear, exhaustion, hope, immaturity, [...]

Last week, in Part One, we explored the first four principles from The Father’s Mandate from Growing Kids God’s Way, a teaching that has had a profound impact on our marriage and family. We discussed how fathers can build connection and trust by: Cultivating a strong family identity Regularly demonstrating love to their wife Respecting their child’s private world Giving their children the freedom to fail This week, we’ll wrap up the remaining four practices [...]