Today’s Letter is from Dave to the Dads I put my hand on Dano’s forehead and started shaking it back and forth in a way I knew would make him laugh. “Ok, I see it. Here it comes¦. Wow! It’s a rocket ship and you’re blasting off into outer space. Dano, this is going to be a great dream. Ok, you’re pressed back into your chair as the rocket leaves the earth’s orbit” as I [...]
Perfection is an impossible standard. Yet, in our results driven society, its amazing how the pursuit of perfection continues to be coveted in almost every aspect of life even though it derails us in our pursuits. The pursuit of perfection often leads to disappointment, shame, frustration, and feelings of failure. However, the pursuit of excellence leads to accomplishment, confidence, contentment, and feelings of fulfillment. This distinction was not only something we passed along in parenting [...]
It's graduation season... albeit celebrated much differently this year! Yet, in spite of current circumstances, there are preschoolers graduating to Kindergarten, Kindergartners to Elementary School, Elementary to Middle School, Middle Schoolers to High School and so on. All graduations, to varying degrees, have commencement addresses. These speeches are designed to impart wisdom and encourage students as they move to the next chapter in life. There is one commencement address that has really resonated with our [...]
Our mission with OneFamily is to equip, encourage and sustain couples in their marriage and parenting journey. During this unprecedented season when families are required to stay home and maintain social distancing, we want to be an encouraging and sustaining resource that will equip you with practical insights and tools to help you take hold of the opportunities for a productive and fruitful family time. ____________________ This week we want to share some great ideas [...]
A friend was approached by his son-in-law who asked, “With this Coronavirus, how do you stay so calm?” My friend appreciated the question. Here his son-in-law had a young growing family who knew there was some small personal risk, but more than anything, there was this energy of emergency. Everyone was talking about and concerned about a single topic – the world pandemic! It’s this heightened sense of “We’re all in this together” and “What [...]
Last week Rich and Shelly talked about Success in Marriage Excellent points in there! Each marriage has an era where things are going well or where issues need attention - where a little idea can mean a lot. That little idea can compound over time into something fantastic. That was the case with us. At a time when our marriage was at a fork in the road, we discovered 2 important things that helped our relationship [...]
We have a very cute Mallard duck family that lives in our neighborhood. We often see them in the late spring, tending and leading their fuzzy ducklings near the water feature at the entrance to our community. As the “parent ducks” go back and forth from the water feature, the little ones follow in a perfect line behind them. For these ducklings, it’s instinctual for them to follow with complete discipline and obedience. We never [...]
As we wrap up several of our fall parenting classes this week, we were reminded of our own family journey and how far we have come. Looking back 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 [...]
Thanksgiving is three weeks away and who doesn’t love all those Thanksgiving traditions? For our family, Thanksgiving has always been about making gratitude a hallmark of our Family Identity. From the time the boys were five and three years old, we would go around the table and each take turns saying what we were most thankful for over the past year and we would write them down in a notebook. Early on the boys were [...]
“You can do anything for 1 minute” is not just an easy phrase for parental encouragement, it’s a brick in the foundation of a child’s life. It isn’t long after babies become toddlers that parents should begin the long process of building character through self-discipline. Every era in childhood will present new opportunities for parents to develop in their children the ability to face the arduous ability of sticking with a task and persevering through [...]