Category Archives: Relationships

Posted on

One Common Parenting Pitfall To Avoid [Video]

How My Son Being Bullied Taught Me Something Important About Myself

Are you a parent who’s ever been accused of over-reacting? If so, then this video is for you! I’m telling the story of one of my biggest lessons from a recent trip with my son to Spain and how him being bullied taught me something that I had to share with you.

Sometimes on our parenting journey we get surprised by a difficult situation that our kids are going through. And sometimes those situations can help us learn a LOT about ourselves…

Even if you’re not a parent, you’ll still get something from this story that will help you shortcut your success in everyday life and avoid one of the biggest mistakes so many of us make in our interactions with others.

Watch me tell the story and be sure to tell me what you think in the comments!

Posted on

Why Mother’s Day Isn’t Just For Moms

Group of Diverse Women

We do ourselves a grave disservice by only celebrating the women who hold the title of “mother” on Mother’s Day. Since we focus in on only those women who have given birth to us we miss out on the opportunity to identify all the women who function as mothers in our lives. The truth is, for some of us, Mother’s Day is not a pleasant holiday.

Whether it’s dysfunction, abuse, abandonment, or worse — there don’t seem to be any cards on the shelf that quite express how you might feel if your mom’s love was more hindering than nurturing. Not to mention all the women who have tried and failed to become natural mothers, the people that are reminded of their mothers who are no longer with them, and all the single women who have no aspirations to be mothers but still want to experience the honor of a day set aside just for them. This Sunday morning many of these women will hear the message that they should “Honor their mother” because the Good Book told them so. But would it surprise you to know that the language of the Bible sees motherhood a bit differently than we do? 

Posted on

What Every Parent Needs to Know (But Doesn’t Want to Hear)

Back in 2007, when I was a full-time stay-at-home-dad, I was at a neighbor’s house for their four-year-old daughter’s birthday party and had an unforgettable experience. For tons of toddler fun, my neighbor had an inflatable climb and slide in the backyard where the kids were clamoring their way to the top and rushing down the other side. While helping my neighbor police the excitement, I saw a six-year-old boy jump off the top of the slide and land on his sister’s head. Knowing him from around the neighborhood, I addressed him straight-away and informed him that he would be losing his next turn because of his behavior. Without even a thought, he looked up at me and flipped me off with his middle finger! Looking around for some help from his parents I realized that not only were his parents not present at the party but that it would indeed be a complete waste of time and energy to track them down and inform them of his indiscretion. Why? Because I had just met his parents through him.

What Every Parent Needs To Know

You see, there is something every parent needs to know (but doesn’t want to hear). And it’s simply this:

Posted on

3 Huge Reasons Moms Rock

This weekend, we celebrate Mother’s Day by honoring the women in our lives that function as our moms.

Moms Rock

Moms help us in so many practical and spiritual ways to become our best and guide us on our journey. They sacrifice their needs to help meet ours. They help us gain perspective when we need it most. They give tirelessly to make our homes places of refuge and peace even when they’re feeling exhausted and drained. Moms provided our first embrace and are the last people on the planet that we want to let go of.

Moms are awesome! So, in honor of the women in our lives that we have the privilege of calling “mom,” here are 3 huge reasons moms rock. 

Posted on

3 Key Ingredients For Creating A Remarkable Relationship

Always include these three things if you want a love that lasts

Have you ever found a recipe that you were just dying to try only to find out after you had made it that it just didn’t live up to your expectations? They look great. They smell great. We get excited to try them and then…not so much.

3KeyIngredientsForRelationshipsArticle

One of my most vivid memories of this happened to my mom. I grew up in a house where all the books we owned were cookbooks. So, my mom tried many recipes out on us at the dinner table. But none were as famous (or infamous) as the Tofu Cheesecake. That’s right, tofu cheesecake.

My mom had spent all day cooking for a dinner party at our house that evening and had made what appeared to be a delectable cheesecake for dessert. We (my dad, my brother, and myself) were all excited to devour it and dove right into it after we had our meal. I don’t know if I’ll ever forget the look on my dad’s face when he took the first big bite. It was screaming, “Warning, warning! Do not let this pass your own lips!” It was a dinner party disaster. Luckily, my mom had a back up plan to save the night because it was that nasty.

Sometimes we think we have everything we need to make something delicious because we’re following the recipe we’ve been given, but then it turns out to not be so great and we don’t know why. We end up asking ourselves, “Did I make it right? Maybe I left something out? It looked so good, what went wrong?”

This happens everyday in relationships as well. We follow the recipe we’ve been given and we input the ingredients we think are going to make a great relationship and then one day we realize that this isn’t quite turning out the way we thought it would.

Maybe it’s time to take a second look at our recipe for love and see if we’re missing some key ingredients for creating a remarkable relationship.