Weekend isn’t all about fun. Is it?
“I don’t want to get up. It’s too early.” I’ve gotten that a couple of times with my four kids. Unfortunately, they come at 10:30 or 11:00 in the morning. While it’s a proven fact teens do need more sleep [...]
A pet or no pet? That is the question.
A lot of parents think that getting a family pet is going to help kids learn responsibility and love for animals. While that may be true in most cases, kids won’t learn anything if you don’t have a plan. So, [...]
Didn’t I ask you to clean your room?
I read a story1 the other day on LittleThings.com that made me laugh. Alice Velasquez was sick of telling her teen daughters to clean their rooms. So fed up that she decided to put everything (yes, everything!) into garbage bags. [...]
It’s like he’s not even thinking. What am I going to do?
I was a teen driver once. Right after I got my license, I had to drive in a light snow. Not a big deal in Michigan. But I wasn’t cautious enough. Long story short, I scratched the entire side of [...]
My kids are going to be scarred for life!
How many of us have been there? Your kids are driving you crazy. They’re arguing, smacking each other, and not listening. You’ve got to go to the store, and rather than controlling themselves, they ratchet up the bad behavior. You [...]
I want to go on a short-term mission trip!
Intercultural travel is a great experience for anybody, including our kids. I recommend taking the kids in your life on a trip where they can experience a different culture—where they can see how others live outside the United States. It [...]
We’re just so different. I don’t know what to do.
You love your family. But they’re not followers of Christ—your values are just so different. You want your kids to know their grandparents, but you don’t like the fact that they smoke, cuss, or drink, even though not as much [...]
Mom and Dad, you’re not fair!
If you’re anything like our family, there are wide gaps in our kids’ ages. My oldest son is 34. My youngest daughter is 17. I don’t treat my adult kids like I do my teenage daughter, and she reminds me of [...]
How do we talk to our kids about cancer?
That dreaded “C” word. We’re all frightened by it. We know God is in control and has a perfect plan, but, in our humanness, it’s easy for us to begin wondering the obvious. Live or die? Pain or comfort? Or, [...]
Should I hover, or ignore?
Are we as involved in our kids’ lives as we need to be? Are we more or less involved compared to other parents? Ann told me one of her daughters begged for her to be a room parent, but another [...]