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“Why Can’t You Just Do What I Say?”
I’m often tempted to deal with my children in ways that gain 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...
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The Power of Questions: One Child’s Surprise Solution for Misbehavior
When kids misbehave, parents are often quick to impose consequences. We’ve found that when parents instead ask kids questions about how they want help, the kids often come up with some pretty cool...
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When Kids Reject Affection, Don’t Give Up!
Parents love to connect with their children. But it’s not always so easy. Some children (whether tots or teens) respond to their parents’ affection in a way that says “‘Private property, No...
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What to Do When We Blow Up
As hard as we try to parent like God would, we are human, and sometimes we mess up. We lose our cool, we speak harshly, or sometimes we even blow up at our kids. See how one mom handled her blow-up:...
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T.E.A.C.H.ing Values in Real Life
Renee and Randy were in a common repeating cycle with their 5-year-old, Peter. “We felt like we were constantly on eggshells because of his daily meltdowns.” We showed them the T.E.A.C.H. framework,...
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How a Pipe Cleaner Can Stop Your Child’s Meltdowns!
Does your child sometimes unexpectedly meltdown at the drop of a hat? Does unexpected change or inflexibility lead to frequent tantrums? If so, you’re not alone! Despite Jen’s best efforts, her goal...
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Is My Anxiety Holding My Child Back?
You have good desires for your kids. You probably want them to learn neatness, diligence in homework, good eating patterns, and all sorts of other helpful habits. But if you are anxious as you try to...
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When Things Go Wrong, Don’t Fix the Problems!
Jeremy and Anna were frustrated about the chaotic dinners at their house. It was definitely a “herding cats” experience to get their two boys to the table and then a “managing monkeys” experience once...
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R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Can I Get a Little?
No matter how hard we try to keep calm, sometimes we blow it. When that happens, we can be open to ideas from the Holy Spirit, as was Brenda, a mom who receives our email tips. When we heard her story...
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The Powerful Role of Empathy in Discipline
Could it be that the reason Jesus is so appealing to us, the reason we want to follow him, is that we see throughout the Gospels that he “gets” people? He knows us. He understands us. He meets us...
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Helping Kids Deal with Trauma [video]
Broken bones, scary surgeries, or moving to a new school — all these things can be traumatic experiences for kids to handle. How can parents best help their kids survive and even learn from difficult...
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What Will Your Child Say at Age 18?
It’s scary to ask your 18-year-old daughter to jot a few words about how she was impacted by her parents. But I did it. Shelbi leaves for college in a week or so and we are so excited for her. As I...
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An Often Overlooked Motivator of Good Behavior…
Many parents think that some sort of painful punishment is the best motivator for kids to improve their behavior. Other parents “focus on the positive” and offer rewards when kids do well. Research...
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So You Killed Your Cat. Now What?
“Do you think we should tell the kids what really happened? What they don’t know won’t hurt them, right?” Recently we received these questions when a parent accidentally ran over the sleeping, aging...
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How to Get Kids to Care about School & Grades
Misty anxiously told me about her seventh grade daughter, Greta. “Her grades are tanking! She’s sassy and defiant most of the time! I know she is capable of so much more, but she won’t dig in and live...
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Do Your Questions Help or Hurt Your Kids?
Mark Bowden | iStockphoto.com Ed was trying to be patient and thoughtful, but he was at the end of his rope. Instead of helping him fix dinner, his two daughters were upstairs arguing loudly and...
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How Your Support Helped a Child Learn to Take Her Own Time-Outs
Today’s post is written as part of “Give to the Max Day,” a large scale effort to call attention to the TONS of great causes and to inspire giving. We’d be honored if you’d add or again include...
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Krista’s Story: “Overwhelmed by the message of grace and connection.”
Dear Friends, Krista (not her real name) emailed us just before Christmas, wanting to make her first donation to Connected Families. She said she has been deeply impacted by the ministry and wants to...
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Anna’s Story: When Traditional Parenting Just Doesn’t Cut It
Today we’re excited to introduce you to Anna, an adoptive mom and Connected Families supporter. We hope you are as inspired by the story of her family’s transformation as we are. We adopted our first...
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A Valentine’s Surprise for Helping Us Reach 6,000 Subscribers…
Thanks for helping Connected Families reach 6,000 parenting tip subscribers! As a way of saying thanks, we’ve put together a fun infographic to highlight some milestones you’ve helped reach along the...
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