Most grandparents love that all they must do is love their grandchildren—then give them back. So I was surprised when I heard a grandfather express something different. He said, “I wish my children could have experienced the man I am now,” to which I immediately...
While vacationing with family friends, our toddler had a meltdown on the beach. The volume of his come-apart was louder than the ocean and elicited stares from everyone in the tri-state area. We were embarrassed and didn't handle it the way we had previously decided...
If you're trying to learn how to improve your marriage, well done. It may not be as complicated as you think. Sure, your spouse may be complicated, your situation may be complicated, and you are certainly complicated. But often it’s the uncomplicated, micro moves that...
Sabotaging your marriage can come from a culprit you've maybe never thought of—your inner critic. Part of my job is speaking at events. For years, after speaking, my inner critic immediately, hurtfully, and hatefully told me everything I should and shouldn’t have said on stage....
You may not always know how to help your child with anxiety. I sure didn't, especially when my 15-year-old daughter had her first panic attacks during the chaos of 2020. I attempted to talk her panic and anxiety away using my go-to: logic. You may...
We are encouraged to explore wounds from Dad, but what about lessons from Dad? We all want our kids to remember what we did right. So I've loved that my older kids have started sharing fun memories of me as a dad. But my son...
I typically do all our lawn care by myself. On a very hot day, my sweet wife felt sorry for me and tried to help. As I was mowing, I glanced over to see her using the weed whacker in an area I could mow...
There was a fascinating brain scan study focused on married couples who reported being madly in love after an average of 21 years. One of the commonalities of these happy couples’ brains was an area of the brain responsible for positive illusion. Positive illusion is...
Labeling a child is an easy thing to do. I recently asked on social media, “What label was put on you as a child that you still remember today?” My feed was quickly filled with labels like motor mouth, sissy, pesty, shy, drama queen, bossy,...
As a young dad, I dove into parenting books. But despite my good intentions, I somehow made a major false assumption: All parts of a child can be molded or changed with the right parenting approach. Looking back, it is so clear that this is...