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Why Kids Need to Struggle
My heart is hurting today. Does your mama heart or daddy heart ever hurt when you see your kid suffer or struggle? That’s what’s going on for me. You see, one of my kids has been on the receiving end of some unfair treatment, not getting something he deserves. Injustice strikes a nerve in me. […]
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Ask the Expert: Having a Strong Marriage While Being a Parent
“In your seminars, you talk about how one of the best things we can give our kids is a strong and healthy marriage. As much as I agree, my husband and I are finding it hard to even breathe, much less connect with each other. I thought things would get less hectic as our kids […]
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Prom-Posals and Other Nutty Trends
It’s April, the time of year when many high schools hold their proms. You remember prom, right? That dance where she would put on a long, fancy dress and he would wear a tux. They’d buy each other a corsage or a boutonniere, go to a nice dinner, and dance the night away. It seems […]
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Think You’re Not a Screamer? Think Again!
When people learn that I work for the ScreamFree Institute and lead trainings in ScreamFree Marriage and ScreamFree Parenting, the reactions I get are…interesting. Some folks readily admit that they scream. “My kids won’t listen to me if I don’t scream.” Others are quick to point out that they’re not screamers. I wonder if they […]
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Four Traits That Will Launch Your Teen Into Adulthood — Part 4: Self-Discipline
Earlier this week, we started a discussion of the traits that your teen needs to be successfully launched into adulthood. Those traits are resourcefulness, grit, curiosity, and self-discipline. Today’s discussion is on self-discipline. Self-Discipline: the act of disciplining or power to discipline one’s own feelings, desires, etc., especially with the intention of improving oneself In […]
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Four Traits That Will Launch Your Teen Into Adulthood — Part 3: Curiosity
Earlier this week, we started a discussion of the traits that your teen needs to be successfully launched into adulthood. Those traits are resourcefulness, grit, curiosity, and self-discipline. Today’s discussion is on curiosity. Curiosity: The desire to learn or know about anything It seems that little kids have a natural curiosity. If you ever visited […]
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Four Traits That Will Launch Your Teen Into Adulthood — Part 2: Grit
In yesterday’s post, we started a discussion of the traits that your teen needs to be successfully launched into adulthood. Those traits are resourcefulness, grit, curiosity, and self-discipline. Today’s discussion is on grit. Grit: Firmness of character, indomitable spirit, toughness, resolution For all of you parents who complain about how stubborn your kids are, you […]
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Four Traits That Will Launch Your Child Into Adulthood — Part One: Resourcefulness
For those of us who are parents of teens, the idea of sending our kids off on their own can be daunting. Some days, that launch date can’t come soon enough, but sometimes the fear (will he make it?) and the questions (did I do enough?) are overwhelming. If all goes as planned, our kids […]
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Having a Two-Track Mind in Your Marriage
Marriage is a tricky thing. And by “tricky” I mean hard. And beautiful. Marriage is a hard, beautiful thing. It provides fertile grounds for knowing another person in great depth, and simultaneously, it reveals things about ourselves that we’d rather not know. It asks us to grow up — which can be a really difficult […]
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How I Became a ScreamFree Mom and (More Importantly) Why
Recently I was asked why and how I became a ScreamFree mom. It’s a story I love to tell because it’s a hopeful message, and I love inspiring others to change their lives. I had been a screaming mom for about 9 years when I read ScreamFree Parenting. Not that I wanted to be a […]