4 Sexuality-Related Conversations You Must Have With Your Kids and Tweens

In Julie and my case, sex has had five amazing effects. When my wife was pregnant with twins (kid number 4 and 5), I bumped into an old friend who slapped me on the arm with a, ‘Well done, you horny bugger, you!’ At that point I realized that my reproductive abilities had been noted…

Tag: humour, the-sex-talk

There’s Only One Method I’ve Discovered That Gets Kids To Listen The First Time Almost Every Time.

Parenting often feels like hostage negotiation with drunken, bipolar pirates. When our kids run amok, many of us parents resort to either just giving in to their mutiny, or by bombing them with rage-driven cannon balls. But there is a much better way. As far as I know it is the only way to bring…

Tag: boundaries-rules, discipline, enlisting-co-operation, misbehaviour

Eat, Move, Sleep and 3 Other Daily Keys to Becoming A Healthier Family.

How does a family become healthier every single day? By that I mean cultivating the all-round wholeness of interpersonal connection, of body, of mind and of soul. There is something about the pace and busyness of life nowadays that mitigates against healthiness in families. So many of us have forgotten that pursuing achievement (such as…

Tag: exercise, family-habits, food, health

Teen Sexting – Everything Parents Need To Know

If only us parents had been more clued up before an online sexual predator targeted the teens in our faith community. Worse still, it was one of our youth leaders who assumed numerous fake online identities to entice over 50 teen boys (from inside and outside of our church) into sending semi-nude or nude online…

Tag: kids-and-screens, masculinity, parenting-is-hard, teen-sexuality, teenagers, the-sex-talk

8 Things Every Teenage Son Needs Their Dad To Say

This week, I spoke to a hall full of dads seated next to their teenage sons. Here’s what I said… “This theme of dad-teen son relationships is really important to me personally because: My dad died when I was 16, and I cherish the memory of those last few years with him. The fact that…

Tag: masculinity, teen-son

6 Ways To Herd Halflings

Parent, here’s how to save kilowatts of energy and sand dunes of sanity as you more skillfully guide your kids’ daily behaviours, attitudes and cooperation. I’m thinking of getting them to… climb out of bed, get dressed, wear underpants, eat their breakfast, take their bag, climb in the car, get off the jungle gym, change…

Tag: enlisting-co-operation

12 Tried-and-Tested Skills to Get Your Kids to WANT to Do What You Say

Want to know how to get your kids to want to listen to you? Not just because they’ve got to, but because they get to? In this post I will share the 12 skills you need to do so. But a disclaimer is in order: just because Julie and I know this list does not…

Tag: enlisting-co-operation

Why Small Kids Misbehave

Kids who misbehave need more than just correction. They need understanding. I am not saying don’t correct them, but if you correct them but fail to understand why they’re acting like a demon, you’re missing a trick. By misbehaving I think of things like your child climbing on the baby, shouting, hitting, throwing things, or…

Tag: misbehaviour

The 3 Crucial Modes of Parenting: Which Is Missing In The Way You Parent?

There are 3 paramount modes of parenting: being a Pants-wearer, a Pied Piper and a Pal. Like a 3-legged chair needs all 3 legs, so we need all 3 aspects in the way we parent our kids. Before I explain these terms, let me tell you how I came to understand these 3 modes. It…

Tag: authority, enlisting-co-operation

How To Enhance Your Family Dinners With More Fun And Better Conversation

One of the signs your family is disintegrating is the decline in the quantity and quality of family dinners – where fun, food and conversation converge around a table. And yet, in just a few decades, something like 1 in 2 families in the Western world seldom have a meal together. And those that still do…

Tag: family-dinners