Family by God&#039;s Design

How I Had to “Break Out” to Become a Better Parent

I am not the most emotionally expressive person in the world. Truth be told, I’m a little overwhelmed when people become very emotionally expressive. I would much rather quietly, and privately, experience emotions. My mother recalls my two-year-old self opening Christmas gifts one at a time, calmly setting each down to open the next, with...

Family Shepherds Honor

emotional health emotions healthy development parent child relationship personality

August 24, 2019

How Emotions Build or Destroy Trust in Your Family

We all want to have a home environment that allows us to trust one another. You know, a home in which spouses trust one another, siblings trust one another, children trust their parents, and parents trust their children. A home environment in which we can trust what someone says. We know they will not lie....

Celebration Honor

emotional health emotions family intimacy intimacy trust

August 19, 2019

The Superpower You Can Give Your Spouse

I love love…and I love reading experiments about the power of love to influence our lives. If love is powerful, then the love of a spouse is a superpower. For instance, researchers at Brigham Young University subjected 40 couples to intentionally challenging tasks on the computer while measuring their pupil diameter (a rapid and direct...

Celebration Honor

emotional health intimacy love marriage stress management support

August 17, 2019

Parents, Are You a Buzz-Killer or a Responsive Encourager

As parents, we want our children to learn and grow. After all, who wants to spoon-feed a child for twenty years? No, we want them to learn and grow, to become independent and self-sufficient, responsible and mature. And do you know how children learn? They learn by exploring…and they explore everything. From the time they...

Celebration Family Shepherds

development emotional health learning play support

August 10, 2019

What Bullies & Their Victims Have in Common…Really?

I know it’s a bit of a risk to say, but bullies and their victims have some similarities. At least that’s what a recent study completed by researchers from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg suggests. The researchers obtained data from the World Health Organization who had interviewed approximately 3,000 adolescents from various countries. Specifically, the researchers...

bully emotional health kindness parenting relationships

August 6, 2019

Your Child’s Toolbox for Self-Soothing

Children ride an emotional roller coaster. They get angry, happy, excited, bored, and so much more. You name it, they feel it. Unfortunately, they don’t know how to manage those feelings in a mature way…YET. One of our parental jobs is to teach them the skills necessary to manage emotions in a mature and effectively...

development emotional health emotions parent child relationship parenting

July 29, 2019

4 Tips to Help Your Children Overcome Anxiety

The number of children and teens diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression has increase from 5.4% in 2003 to 8.4% in 2011-2012. The percentage of children who experience a clinical level of anxiety has increased from 3.5% in 2007 to 4.1% in 2011-2012. Those may sound like low percentages but take a moment to consider what...

anxiety emotional health encouragement

June 15, 2019

It’s Not Easy Being Green… But It Is Definitely Happier

Remember Kermit the Frog’s song: It’s not easy being green…But green is the color of spring. …And green can be cool and friendly-like. ….And green can be big like an ocean or important like a mountain or tall like a tree…. Maybe it wasn’t easy for Kermit to be green; but green truly is cool...