Entries in the Category 'How to win and influence your kids'

7 Blindspots of Homeschooling

October 18th, 2011 / 3 Comments

Reb Bradley of Family Ministries wrote a very convicting article titled “Solving the Crisis in Homeschooling – Exposing the 7 Major Blindspots of Homeschoolers”. This article is not just for homeschoolers, but for every parent who is serious about bringing their children up in the Christian faith. I saw myself making many of the mistakes […]

How many minutes should I let my children text?

July 6th, 2011 / 1 Comment

A parent asked me this question: “Our cell phone plan allows unlimited texts, but I think our 8th grade son is overdoing it with over 3000 minutes a month. What should I do?” First of all, check his phone and make sure there are no inappropriate texting of words and pictures, or with strangers. Be […]

Getting your kids to do chores, Part 1 – Stop the nagging!

May 5th, 2009 / 9 Comments

A reader asked, “I would LOVE to hear some tips on how to get the kids to do their chores. You know, without making me turn into the Wicked Witch of the West???” This is one of the most common question I get asked by parents. First, we all know that mothers are known to […]

Can parents avoid making kids angry?

April 1st, 2009 / 1 Comment

The Bible tells fathers not to irritate and provoke their children to anger (Ephesians 6). Children are naturally selfish, undisciplined and irrational. They want to play all the time, they don’t want to share, and they rarely act rationally. It seems to me that to be a good parent, given the job of  teaching our […]

Not a perfect parent

February 2nd, 2009 / No Comments

It’s still hard for me to believe that my son turned 21 a couple of weeks ago! It is true what they say, children DO grow up fast! Time crawled when my kids were babies when all I saw were dirty diapers and midnight feedings. But time, though it may have seemed slow, does not […]

How to deal with bad influence

January 17th, 2009 / 3 Comments

A reader asks, “How hard do you push your opinions when your kid has a friend that you really don’t approve of?” How hard you push depends a lot on the age of your child.  You have more influence on a child in single digit age than a teenager. With kids of all ages, this […]

Building a positive home

January 3rd, 2009 / 4 Comments

“Would you want to come home to yourself?” That question changed my life. Would I want to come home to hear myself nagging at me? Would I want to come home to be criticized by me? Would I want to come home to negativity, pestering, and meanness? If I don’t want to come home to […]

Improving communication with your kids

November 14th, 2008 / 7 Comments

“My kids don’t talk to me.” You’d think that since we’ve known our kids all their lives and even live with them every single day of their lives, communication would be natural. But those very factors may work against us. Our children may have had too much of us! All we get is a grunt […]

Talking about life

October 14th, 2008 / 2 Comments

In the course of the day, with meals to cook, messes to clean up, and homework to do, it seems inappropriate to talk to your children about those deeper issues of life. Yet, as days and months pass, pants get outgrown and the training wheels are off, it seems inappropriate to not have talked to […]

Training a child

October 1st, 2008 / 7 Comments

My family had a great time at the Los Angeles County Fair this past weekend. At the “Bark Park” the stunt dogs performed a number cute tricks. For one of the tricks, two small children were asked to be volunteer helpers. Usually kids love that sort of thing. However, one of them, a little 4-year-old […]