3 Things I Wish I Had Learned Earlier About Emotions

I’m in the middle of writing a book on handling emotions in marriage. In the beginning, I thought I was the perfect guy for the job. After all, I must be in touch with my emotions because I cry at manipulative holiday grocery store ads,...

7 Giant Things Your Kid Needs You to Be

The average height for a sixth grader is around 4’10”. The average height for a man is 5’9”. Therefore, if you are a dad of a sixth grader, then you are probably 23% taller than your kid. For perspective, it would be like your boss...

3 Messy, Mixed Messages You May Have Learned About Emotions

I recently asked on social media, “Growing up, what were you taught about men and emotions?” My feed was full of answers like: • “Taught? About emotions? What?”• “If you don’t stop crying, I’m going to give you something to cry about.”• “Take that look off...

6 Ways Not to Give Up on Your Marriage

Sociologist Linda Waite from the University of Chicago studied 550 adults from a national database. Sixty-four percent of those who said they were unhappy in their marriages but stayed together reported they were happy five years later, while 50% of those who divorced or separated...

unstructured-time
6 Ways to Help Your Kid Have Unstructured Playtime

One of my all-time favorite movies is The Sandlot. Young Scott Smalls moves to a new neighborhood. His mom encourages him to get out, make friends, and even “get into a little trouble.” The movie is based on Scotty and his friends’ adventures on and...

marriage-help
5 Reasons Not to Wait to Get Help With Your Marriage

As someone who works with married couples, I hate this type of message from someone I haven’t heard from in a while: “Hey, I was wondering if you would have time for a call, coffee, or lunch.” Translation, 99% of the time: “My marriage has...

red-flags-in-marriage
10 Red Flags That Tell You Your Marriage Is in Trouble

On my first scuba dive, we were instructed to go down the anchor rope and wait at the bottom. The instructor said to me, “You go first; you aren’t scared.” He was right. I was 18 and wasn’t smart enough to be scared, because what...

5 Reasons Kids Need Unstructured, Self-Guided Play

At first, you may think my dad made one of the biggest parenting mistakes. Thinking it was safer than a motorcycle, he bought me a three-wheel ATV when I was 12. The Consumer Product Safety Commission eventually banned these tricycles of terror due to countless...