Family by God&#039;s Design

What We Can Learn About Parenting From FDR’s Father

I recently started reading a biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), the 32nd president of the United States. (If you’re interested, I’m reading FDR by Jean Edward Smith.) Self-assured and optimistic in the midst of hardship, FDR “rescued the nation from economic collapse” and “led the nation to victory” in WWII. Elected for four terms,...

character father intimacy parent child relationship parenting time

December 24, 2016

What We Can Learn About Parenting From FDR’s Mother

parent child relationships parenting structure student

December 19, 2016

A Christmas Pickle? You Bet!

In our family we started celebrating the “Christmas Pickle” several years ago. I tried to find the reason for the Christmas Pickle when we began this celebration. Rumor has it that the pickle is an old German emblem of good luck. So, the tradition began. Hide the Christmas Pickle in the tree and the first...

Celebration

christmas family intimacy fun traditions

December 17, 2016

2 comments

A More Powerful “No” to Parent Effectively

Our children don’t like to hear it, but we need to say it…and they need to hear it! It’s true. They need to hear us tell them “no” at the appropriate times. They need to hear “no” so they remember they can’t have everything they desire or do everything they want to do. They need...

consequences limits parenting

December 12, 2016

Vitamin “Be” Encourages Your Children to Talk to You

When I was in college, one of our professors preached a sermon on “Vitamin B.” It was a sermon on the “Be”-attitudes from the Sermon on the Mount. It was a fun sermon. Thinking back on this “got me to thinking about” what “vitamin be’s” might benefit our families and children. Here is the “Vitamin...

attention availability communication family intimacy parent child relationship

December 10, 2016

Play for a Better Marriage

Play offers innumerable benefits to your marriage. Let me name a few. Play allows you to spend time with your spouse and enjoy your spouse’s company. This builds intimacy. Play can deepen and broaden your marital relationship. It provides a time in which we are absorbed in your marital relationship. Play helps to heal any...

Celebration

acceptance family intimacy fun marriage play trust

December 5, 2016

Parents, HOW You Say It Is As Important As WHAT You Say!

I remember hearing people telling me, “Think before you speak.” As a child and teen, I could avoid saying hurtful things, stupid things, and unnecessary things when I remembered to “think before speaking.” Unfortunately, I sometimes spoke before thinking…and then suffered the consequences. Well, that advice holds true for parents as well as children. Parents,...

communication discipline effort intimacy listen teach

December 3, 2016

Beatitudes for a Happy Marriage

Happy the couple who humbly serves one another; that couple shall inherit a joyous intimacy. Happy the couple who is attentive, observant, and studious of one another; they shall know their spouse deeply. Happy the couple who is intentionally responsive to one another; they will know a secure connection and deep friendship with one another....