Jim and Lynne Jackson
5 Ways to Find Sanity During Family Car Trips
Ahh, the bliss of car-trip vacations. Do family car trips tend to drive you insane? Does it feel like your kids will have more memories of annoyed parents than exciting memories of adventure? Whether our children are toddlers or teens,…
Is Your Discipline Too Tough, Too Soft, or Just Right?
Kids are struggling these days. There is more confusion about life and the pace of life keeps us scrambling. We are not as thoughtful as we would want to be. We tend to parent from a confused place of anxiety…
The Awesome Thing About Your Kid’s Misbehavior…
The rough-looking teen’s tough veneer had softened. I detected tears in his eyes. “No one has ever said anything like that to me.” Just minutes before, I met this teen in a line at our local amusement park. After a…
The Powerful Role of Empathy in Discipline
Could it be that one of the main reasons Jesus is so appealing to us, a reason we want to follow him, is that we see throughout scripture that he “gets” people?He knows us. He understands us. He meets us…
Biblical Discipline
Disciplining our kids is usually the most frustrating, confusing part of parenting. The stakes are high because what kids learn when they are disciplined will last a lifetime. In our work with parents, we have seen that well-intentioned efforts often…
Is Your Child Lazy?
Lazy Child, Lazy Adult? As parents, we hope to raise children that turn into productive, helpful adults, but the path to getting there can seem rough. Getting kids to do daily chores; like making their beds, helping with meals, or…
Respond to Sibling Conflict with Wisdom and Confidence (Video link)
Kids fight. Sibling conflict is a reality in just about every family. It is hard to know how to parent with wisdom and confidence in the middle of a battle over who has the most space in the backseat or…
Announcing our new tagline!
Hey friends, We’re excited to introduce our new tagline to those of you who helped form it. With your fantastic suggestions regarding the value you find through Connected Families, we condensed and interpreted what you told us. Here it is:…
An Open Letter to the Cincinnati Zoo Mom
Dear Cincinnati mom, You. Your son. An encounter with a gorilla at the zoo. These things have made you an unsuspecting internet sensation. We don’t know you. But, we do know that parenting is hard enough without the world scrutinizing…
The Big Do-Over
Here is another story from Joel and Amy Nelson, parents of two sons, who have previously shared their story here. Enjoy! Parenting may not come with a manual, but I sure have read a lot of the parenting books out…