Family by God&#039;s Design

Nurture Your Children’s Muscles of Optimism

Optimism is not about wearing rose-colored glasses. Optimism is the muscle that focuses on “what I can do” rather than “what I cannot do.” It focuses on the importance of effort to grow and learn. It also realizes most difficulties are specific to a context and situation rather than “ruining everything.” Difficulties are temporary, not permanent....

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June 12, 2017

The Wings on Which Your Children Soar

Did you know intelligence (IQ) only predicts about 20% of a person’s success? It’s true. Brains alone do not equal success. On the other hand, 80% of what predicts a person’s success involves social and emotional intelligence (More in Why Emotional Intelligence is More Important than IQ). To prepare our children for success in relationships...

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June 3, 2017

6-Step Resiliency Strengthening Program for Your Children

Resilience: the muscle that gives our children the strength to bounce back from adversity, persist through obstacles, and stretch through the pain toward maturity. It is an essential muscle for all of us, especially our children. Our children need resilience to experience greater happiness and more success. If you are wondering how you can coach...

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May 29, 2017

Build Muscles that Matter in Your Children

Our children need to have strong muscles to survive in this world. No, I’m not talking about biceps and pecs. I’m talking about the really important muscles, not the ones that will help them do chin-ups. These important muscles do more than look good and help them carry heavy grocery bags. These muscles help maintain...

emotional health emotions healthy development optimism parenting resilience

May 22, 2017

Down the Rabbit Hole of Cooperation

Sometimes I am impressed and amazed by the simplest things. For instance, a study on children swinging together recently sent me on a journey down the rabbit hole of cooperation. Let me explain. The University of Washington released a study in which they randomly assigned pairs of four-year-old children (who did not know one another)...

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May 13, 2017

Don’t Let Your Child Become a Pushover

As parents, we do not want our children to become pushovers. Sure, we want our children to be polite. We want them to listen to credible authorities and obey legitimate requests. But a pushover? No way! Instead of becoming a pushover, we want our children to stand for what is right. We want them to...

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May 8, 2017

3 Simple Ways to Bond With Your Child

Children who have a strong bond with their parents feel more secure. They listen to their parents better and internalize positive values more readily. Children with strong parental bonds are less likely to become drug users and tend to earn better grades. With all this in mind, parents want a strong bond with their children....

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April 30, 2017

What I Learned About Parenting Fixing My Wall

I had to fix a hole in our bathroom wall. The towel rack had pulled out leaving a hole; so I set about to fix it. Unfortunately, I am not a handy person. I did my best, but when I pulled the towel off the newly hung towel rack it pulled right out of the...

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April 24, 2017

My Children are Copy Cats…Now What?

My father worked as a chaplain in a nursing home. I often volunteered there on Sundays. One Sunday, while walking down the hall, a patient said, “You walk just like your father.” My daughter came home from college to tell a story about combing her hair (don’t worry, there’s a point). As she adjusted her...