Parenting Pep Talks

There's a family in my neighborhood that constantly plays together in the street. It's a beautiful thing. I honestly have no idea how they pull it off in their schedules. If I was completely [...]

The homes we spent time in as a kid had a particular feel to them. Maybe it was the way the backyard sounded at night, along with how your grandparent's house smelled during the day. Maybe your [...]

I can remember the birth of my first son, Dylan, like it was yesterday: the way he looked and smelled, how he felt in my arms, and how unprepared I felt. I’d carried this baby for 38 weeks and in [...]

By the time we finished praying we both were in tears. You see, my daughter and I had spent almost an hour working through the first chapter of a book on godly friendship for tweens (10 to [...]

Teenagers! Just that one word evokes many different responses, doesn’t it? I only have one teenager so I’m not sure how qualified that makes me to talk about them. And truth be told, she's a [...]

Many years ago I resolved against setting New Year’s resolutions. Though I know not everyone feels the same, for me they seem like desperate declarations made at midnight while sitting on my [...]

This year my wife and I gave our 5-year-old daughter permission to fight back against any boy trying to overpower her. Her response? "YES!" Unfortunately, the first recipient of her ninja skills [...]

One of my favorite Christmas memories happened by accident. It was December 23rd and our then 3-year-old son ran to the window and pressed his face to the glass at the sound of sirens in the [...]

Every year I feel the pressure swell sometime around November. I used to be able to stave it off until after Thanksgiving, but each year it comes just a little earlier. I want the perfect [...]

This morning I was mentally processing my to-do list during my drive to work like always. It included the usual run-down of the day’s meetings and project deadlines, but also much more than what [...]

Three weeks ago I had to break the news to my kids that their great-grandpa had passed away. Though my grandpa had been sick for a while, and we’d had the chance to visit him several times before [...]