Category Foundation
“I Was Meeting HIS Disrespect with MY Disrespect”
November is adoption/foster care awareness month. We often have the privilege of coaching parents who have built their families through adoption. Even though adoption can add intensity and complexity, the challenges adoptive families face are ones we can all relate…
“Mommy, I’m Gonna KILL You!”
After decades working with parents one of our favorite things continues to be hearing from parents transformed by the Connected Families Framework. We love to hear stories of long-term goals and changes that bring deeper connection. The following story was…
“Don’t Mom Alone”
We’ve had the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with Heather MacFadyen’s multiple times for her website and podcast Don’t Mom Alone (formerly God Centered Mom). Heather is warm, gracious, and so much fun. It feels like sitting down with…
Stay Curious During Tough Conversations
I remember a tough conversation I needed to have with our third-grade son, Daniel. I wasn’t very happy about the company he was starting to keep. His behavior was getting worse as he hung out with what I concluded must be…
“Spread Yourselves THICK!”
“Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial.” I Corinthians 6:12 Our oldest child, Daniel, made a grand pronouncement one morning upon learning that we all had to go to church early, and stay through three services, because of our…
Sometimes I Cry About My Parenting Mistakes
There are some mornings when I wake up with a knot in my stomach and questions on my mind. Sometimes I even cry about my parenting mistakes. Maybe you’ve been there too. (Or questions and worries nag you while you’re…
Feel Like Swearing at Your Kids? This Is for You.
As a parent coach, primarily working with parents of teens, I’ve found commonality in the issues parents want to address—especially wanting their kids to obey. NOW! For the past 20 years, I’ve been doing some form of helping parents and…
Tired of Not Feeling Christian Enough?
Here’s a confession: throughout my life I have periodically wrestled with the suspicion I was somehow “not Christian enough.” In some ways, it sounds silly, because being a Christian isn’t a quantity that you can have more or less of.…
Need vs Want
I plopped down on the couch with a friend and lamented about my latest parenting challenge. “I just need to learn to calmly follow through with a clear consequence. I keep getting in this nagging cycle. I need to stop…
Christmas greetings from Connected Families
Messes. You’re likely surrounded by a bunch of them. Piles of dishes in the kitchen. Wrapping paper on the floor. Tired and over-sugared children. Stressed relationships. Just like parenting, Christmas is both messy, and beautiful. Today we celebrate Jesus coming…