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 [...]
Often, it’s not the big issues that determine direction, but the small ideas we choose to adopt along the way. And occasionally, one small idea can compound into something transformational. That was our story. Our kids were very young, and our marriage had barely begun by our 10-year anniversary. We were “happy”, but in our mid-30s, we were just figuring things out. The arguments, the snipping, and the frustrating power struggles were a function of [...]
Have you ever explained something clearly, only to be asked a question about the exact thing you just said? In that moment, you realize your message never truly landed. We’ve all experienced it—and it can be very frustrating. The truth is, active listening is often a blind spot, not only for the people we speak to, but for us as well. And if we’re honest, when was the last time we intentionally listened to truly [...]
Loving intentionally is one of the most influential things we do as human beings. The love we give today carries into the future through our family. It can be expressed in many ways, yet it remains the greatest gift we can offer our spouse and children. With that in mind, we want to share a few practical ideas to help you express love within your family that are meaningful and lasting. Here are three specific [...]
What does it mean to be a Marr? This became one of the most important questions we faced as a young family. It wasn’t something we thought about when we got married. Coming from different cultures—Lis from Sweden and Dave from California—family identity wasn’t a concept either of us grew up with. But as we raised our three children from childhood into adulthood, we discovered that family identity played a significant role in our children’s [...]
Hey guys, this is Dave. In trying to come up with a topic for today’s letter, I was thinking back on all the things I thought were difference makers, you know, those actions on my part that stood out as a family builder. I did the ‘dad writes a note’ in the kids’ lunch sack, and that was really good, but Lis was the one who reminded me to do it. I ate dinner at [...]