Category Discipline
20 Statements that Communicate Empathy to Kids
If you want your children to know they are loved, beyond the shadow of a doubt, start practicing empathy. But, let’s be honest, it’s not always easy. When you’ve got a child unraveling before your eyes, you might be tempted…
When It’s Good for Kids to Say No!
Dads often joke about what some young lad will have to do to get past dad to the daughter. But it’s no laughing matter. Most dads with daughters, having lived through adolescence themselves, are irrationally suspicious or even downright…
How to Turn a Parenting Fail into a Parenting Win
It was a Sunday evening. I was emotionally and physically done for the day and looking forward to a quiet house. Suddenly I overheard squabbling about who was the rightful owner of a large stuffed panda bear. My engagement with…
The most sure-fire road to respectful kids!
“Knock it off! Stop it! Get over here, NOW!” These are familiar phrases for most parents. When kids act up we get frustrated. We get demanding and even disrespectful. Kids may comply with our demands in the short run…
10 Best on the Connected Families Blog 2014
We can hardly believe it’s 2015 already! Before we dive into a year of new blog posts, we thought we’d dwell for just a moment on some of your favorites from 2014. Here are the ten most-clicked parenting tips of…
Some Practical Tips for a Truly Christ-filled Christmas
Whether you’re feeling totally frazzled or totally prepared, here are some of our favorite parenting tips to help you and your family not only survive but find connection, faith, and the peace of Christ through this Christmas season.
Practical Skills to Pick Up the Pieces After You Blow It
Are you wondering what to do when you blow it? Overcoming parenting mistakes isn’t so much about not making them (which is good because we made TONS of them), but about being intentional to develop three specific things that will help…
How do you grow when you’ve blown it?
Lynne and I blew it a lot. We had a lot of great moments as a young family, but we also had a lot of bad moments – the kind of stuff that over time can lead to growing disconnection…
How do I talk to my kids about race?
Parents, are you struggling with how to address the recent racial tension that has exploded across the United States? At Connected Families we are on the side of Justice, Grace and Peace, without any judgment about how to legislate those…
Five Strategies for Gaining Your Kids’ Respect
Parents usually have good desires for their kids. They want kids to be respectful, responsible, faithful, obedient, and so on. But when parents make these behaviors their primary goals for parenting, their kids tend to resist. Why? Kids tend to resist because…