Helping Our Kids To Get Up Again – A True Story

One of the most difficult things for us parents to do is helping our kids to get up again when life and others knock them down. Yesterday I did my best to do just that for one of my boys. It was his first day back at school. Late yesterday afternoon he asked to do…

Tag: acknowledge-feelings, belayer-parent, life-lessons, listening, power-of-words, responsive-listening

The Surprising Reason We Had Five Kids And Named Them As We Did

The Surprising Reason We Had Five Kids And Named Them As We Did Christmastime is the celebration of the gift of a Child. For a decade now, it is also a time when Julie and I are reminded that every child is a gift from God. In our case that’s five kids. Five gifts. Five…

Tag: faith-and-family, listening, my-story

Something Brighter Than A Screen

I have stumbled across something brighter than a screen. Two nights ago, after the second family movie night in just three days (it’s school holidays) ended in exhaustion-related meltdowns in my youngest kids, Eli (10) and Fynn (8) my oldest kids made some recommendations: Eli: ‘Dad, we like movies and all. But I think we…

Tag: family-habits, kids-and-screens, time

Don’t Let Your Kids Do Anything that Makes You Dislike Them

Don’t let your kids do anything that makes you dislike them That’s because society doesn’t care about your child nearly as much as you do. If you dislike your child’s behaviour at times, imagine how other people will react to them. So a general guideline is to intercept unsocial and unruly behaviour in your kids….

Tag: boundaries-rules, discipline, misbehaviour

One Surprising Secret To Parenting That No One Ever Mentions

One Surprising Secret To Parenting That No One Ever Mentions I have read hundreds of books and articles on parenting, but not a single one mentions this secret to a happy family. In fact, I’ve only ever heard one parent touch on it… on a flight. Mom, dad and four teens were all together, looking happy…

Tag: family-habits, happiness, music

#MeThree

Here’s regular guest-blogger Julie (my wife) reflecting on how boys should treat girls, and why. I’ve watched the sea change over the past few years, cresting in the spring tide of #metoo, and although there are bound to be excesses in any pendulum swing like this, I am thrilled to live in a time where…

Tag: masculinity, mothers, pep-talks, sibling-conflict

Seeds and Swords: The Power of Our Words to Our Kids

This blog about the power of a parent’s words is the third post by guest-blogger, Julie Williams, who is a professional wordsmith and the mother of my kids. We live in a world awash with words. They gush from our mouths and spill over our fingertips onto our keyboards. They seep into our ears and…

Tag: inner-voice, power-of-words

The astonishing scientific connection between love, parenting, brain development, education and poverty.

The other day a perfect stranger helped me understand the astonishing scientific connection between love, parenting, brain development, education and poverty. And what it means for parenting my kids to greatness, and helping the most vulnerable in our country. I was MCing an event where critical development-based research was being released when an elderly man…

Tag: brain-development, responsive-listening, south-africa, unconditional-love

The Most Puzzling Part of Parenting (by Julie, my Wife)

My parenting co-pilot (wife) is a better writer than me (or is it ‘I’). Which is why she is my guest blogger today. I found her post in her journal. It wasn’t written with you in mind, but I think you’d love to read it. Let me explain. I write my thoughts about parenting in…

Tag: mothers, mundanity-of-parenting

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