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...
My daughter left to work at a summer camp just four days after her high school graduation. A couple of weeks later, my wife says to me, “I really miss her.” My knee-jerk relational reaction was to fix things for her by giving her thoughts...
It's hard to learn how to stop getting angry at my child when my child triggers me. As dads, we’ve all been there. Your child triggers you and you react in regrettable ways. Your toddler throws a tantrum. Your reaction is too loud, which only...
I recently came across a photo of my sons and me, who were 3 and 6 at the time. Not pictured is our 1-year-old daughter. They are all now young adults. The photo is of me sitting on the sofa with my boys on each...
When we think about having empathy in marriage, many of us assume having empathy only involves emotions like anger, sadness, grief...
For years, any tension with my wife, Nancie, had the same steps—just different topics. They were as follows: Step 1: My wife shared something bothering her. Step 2: I tried to fix her problems with suggestions and encouragement. Step 3: She argued why all my suggestions and encouragement...
This summer I had the opportunity to speak on top of a ship in the Adriatic Sea. You know, suffering for Jesus. I spoke 30 minutes each night for six nights, the rest of the time I was free to spend with my wife and...
PEOPLE SAY MARRIAGE IS SO COMPLICATED. While I think we are all complicated people, I don’t think how we love is always as complicated; it’s just not always easy. I think the more accurate description is: marriage is so close. When we get married, everything about...
I LIKE PEOPLE. I DO. In fact, my wife, Nancie, said to me once, “I love this about you, but I think you even like people most people don’t.” But even I have my limits. There is one person who has always been in my life,...