New Year, New Decade, New Resolve

It’s easy to get caught up in the daily chaos of raising children. And honestly, that can be a good thing sometimes. When we had our first baby, the pediatrician told us, “Don’t worry about setting habits right now. You are in survival mode—just do what it takes to get through the day.”
It might sound like weird advice, but it was some of the best parenting advice I ever received. It freed us to focus on just helping our child the best way we knew how, minute by minute and hour by hour. If you have a newborn in your house or are dealing with another major change or challenge, I encourage you to lean on God’s strength to love your child as best you can today. He will carry you.

3 Questions to Shape Better Dinner Conversations

I have four sons who range from ages fifteen down to three years old, so dinner table conversations can go in many different directions in our house (not to mention that boys—and men—are not always eager to communicate their deepest dreams and ambitions!). 

But I’m working on finding better questions that will help shape these conversations, both at dinnertime and other times throughout the week. I want to suggest three questions that might help you engage with your kids over the table and “while you walk in the way" (see Deuteronomy 6:7).

Baby in the House? How to Go from Survival Mode to Strategic Dad

When we talk about parenting infants, it’s all about survival mode. Being strategic is too much to ask, right?

There’s no denying that the first few days or weeks feel like you’re just hanging on. If we just make it through the sleepless nights, the endless diapers, and the incessant feedings, then we can get on to the business of raising our son or daughter, or so the logic goes. But that logic instills a destination mentality to our parenting practices ...

Becoming the Dad You Want Your Kids to Imitate

As a kid, I did a lot of drawing, mostly of baseball cards, and mainly of Ozzie Smith, the legendary shortstop of the St. Louis Cardinals. He was my favorite athlete, and I wanted to play ball just like him—everything from wearing #1 to turning double plays without opening my glove. I would draw him at the plate, running the bases, tracking down pop-ups—whatever he was doing on the cards I had in front of me. I drew him because I wanted to imitate him. It’s the same reason my kids draw me. And yours draw you.

Most every dad knows what this is like. Whether it’s a school assignment or doodles during a church service, our young children have a knack for drawing us. Can you recall the last picture your children sketched of you? Do you have it nearby, maybe close enough to study for a minute? Don’t write it off as mere childishness; there’s something deeper going on.

The Joy Of Being A Dad

In the first moments of meeting my first child, I specifically remember thinking, “What a gift! What a miracle!” I was blown away by the way God uses nature and humans to create new humans—little miracles. “God, you made that little child through us...wow!”

But my second thought was, “Oh God, you are entrusting me with this miracle? Me? I can’t even be trusted to drive a car well, and you are giving me a boy?

Dads, You Were Made for This!

Most of us are good at achieving goals. We know where we want to go, and we map a route to get there—whether we are planning our careers or pursuing our hobbies. Our strategies can be simple and practical, and they can be comprehensive and long-lasting.

We carefully plan out our work and our workouts, but how often do we think about our goals and plans for our parenting? Our kids are so much more important than our job title or our fitness. Let’s give our children the strategic attention they need to help them be truly successful.

Social Media, Smartphones, and Gaming: Practical Help for Your Family

"Can I have a smartphone?” “Just one more hour of Fortnite?” “Why can’t I be on Instagram?”If you haven’t fielded these questions from your kids yet, you’ll hear them soon enough. And part of what it means to parent strategically is making a plan for how you’ll answer.

Raising Confident Kids

We want our children to face the world with courage. We want them to speak honestly and tell us what’s really going on. We want our children to be confident. But a lot of so-called confidence is all about us. So how do we help our children grow in real confidence?

Your Kids Change Fast: Here’s How to Keep Up

“I wish someone had told me.”

This statement could be made about so much in life—from college to marriage to retirement—but I’ve said it repeatedly about being a dad. I grew up an only child, and now I’m a father of five kids ranging in age from a newborn to a soon-to-be thirteen-year-old. There was so much I did not know about life in a large family. I’ve bumbled my way through over a decade now—learning as much from my failures as my successes about what it means to parent through various seasons of life.

3 Ways to Serve Your Family Without Adding More to Your Plate

Sometimes it feels like there aren’t enough hours in a day. After a long day at work or a stressful day corralling the kids, it can be difficult to muster enough emotional energy to serve those we love.

But what if you were able to serve those closest to you more effectively without adding anything to your calendar? What if all that was needed wasn’t more time, but simply a change in perspective?