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Sometimes one conversation can change everything. When I first found out I was going to be a dad, I became a nervous wreck. My own family didn't give me much of a blueprint for what healthy [...]

  Let’s face it: connecting with our kids as they get older--especially when they become tweens and teens--can sometimes feel difficult. Between the busyness of life and the awkwardness of [...]

Traditions are great...but sometimes they can create unforeseen expectations among siblings. For example, I've made it a habit to build certain "milestone" celebrations into my parenting with my [...]

Growing up in Chicago with a large extended Italian family meant four things during the holidays: We never went to the Olive Garden - those commercials lie. We'd gather together and eat lots of [...]

I chose the budget. She wanted flowers. It’s typical in our marriage, actually. (Not the budget part. “Budget” is a bad word in my world.) It's typical, because I thought I knew what Katie [...]

I once took my teenager aside as she was preparing to sing a song onstage. She was visibly nervous, so I generously said, “What you're about to sing doesn't matter. It doesn't even matter if [...]

For anyone out there who has a rebellious or wayward family member---especially if this person used to have a pretty good spiritual foundation and it's hard to understand what happened---here's a [...]

I think the everyday stories of our messy, real lives need a place to be shared, which is why  I’m not normally a fan of posting book excerpts. But I wanted to follow on the heels of the story on [...]