Give the Gift of Connection
Category Discipline
How to Avoid Combat with Your Kids
When your kids act up, Stop and Breathe. Breathing clears your mind and calms you down. When you don’t breathe, your brain stays in fight or flight mode and you can’t think clearly. You usually charge in and start a battle.…
“Why Can’t You Just Do What I Say?”
I’m often tempted to discipline my children with the goal of gaining immediate results. While this might get me what I want in the moment, it often leads to greater frustration later because I didn’t really teach the value behind…
10 Screen-Free Ways to Have Fun With Your Kids
We have talked before about some “DOs and DON’Ts” of how to peel your kids off the screen. It may seem difficult to help your kids discover fun alternatives to their action-packed video games or TV shows, but it can…
How to Peel Your Kids Off the Screen
It’s halfway through the summer, and you’re finding yourself in power struggles over screen time with your kids. Why can’t they simply obey you and get off the TV/video game/internet respectfully — when asked — with no whining, complaining,…
A 3-year-old Broke Our Hearts
Eli and his single mom Kari lived with us for 3 ½ years. We took them in, believing that God could use us to strengthen and prepare them for life’s next chapters. Though raised in a Christian home, Kari struggled…
Connection in Correction (Love No Matter What!)
Our belief is that what makes a discipline technique effective is not what parents do, but how they do it. This is where the most effective technique we’ve ever seen comes in. We call it “Connection in Correction”. It’s a way of…
Solving a Child’s Big Spiritual Problem
As parents who care for our children’s spiritual well-being, we try to teach them right and wrong and help them tackle whatever spiritual problems they encounter. However, other than the fact that they’re born into sin, it may well be…
What You Really Need for Mother’s Day
Hint: It’s not flowers, or chocolates, or a day at the spa! Mother’s Day. The one day a year when we moms are officially recognized for working our fannies off to be “all things to all people.” The other 364…
Parenting Goals You Can Meet
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s or child’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? Matthew 7:3 (italic portion inserted by CF)” When parents tell Lynne or me about their discipline struggles with their kids…
Discipleship, Consequences, and Toothbrushing
We recently got the following email from a loving, caring parent. We believe others among you might have similar questions, so we thought we’d share! Hope this conversation answers questions you might have and sparks a few new ones: Dear…