After speaking at an event on the power of words, a man said to me, “I’m 83 years old, and I still remember my mother telling me as a child that she loved me, but she didn’t like me.” I wasn’t shocked to hear this....
For some reason, I have the compulsion to overanalyze everything. I blame it largely on Amazon. Recently, I just wanted to order a new pair of running shoes. But, like always, I waded first through the results, and then all the other categories—highly rated, more...
We all try to encourage, guide, and nudge our kids, with the hopes of them becoming great adults. We try to get better at knowing what to say and when to say it. Then your version of something like this happens. You’ve been telling her...
When my kids were younger and would fall and get hurt, I would immediately get frustrated with them: “Why were you running? Kids shouldn’t run!” Then, almost as quickly, I would comfort them. If you are judging me right now, get in line behind me....
One of the first things we hear from our kids is, “Daddy, watch this.” Watching is a huge part of being a dad. We watch them learn to walk and talk. We watch them jump off the side of the pool. We watch them play...
Growing up, my favorite part of summer was playing on the lake. My dad taught me how to water ski as a child, and I’ve loved days on the lake ever since. My kids have grown up playing on the same lake. They get to...
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...
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...
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,...