It’s been a long, hard day at work. You want to come home and just relax and have fun with your kids. You don’t want to deal with discipline. But Mom has had the children for most of the day and she’s tired of the fighting and bickering. So she starts to discipline and wants you to help. This is not your idea of unwinding.

So what do you do? Support her. Absolutely. Children need a unified front from parents, and when Dad is viewed as the Softie, it makes Mom look like the Bad Guy and makes her job so much more difficult. And marital tension increases dramatically. If you have an issue with the way Mom is disciplining, wait to talk to her about it after the children go to bed. Short term, backing up your wife will be extra work. But long term it will be well worth it as your children will be unable to pit Mom and Dad against each other. The softer you are on discipline now, the harder it will be for your family. ... read more >>

Have you realized the most important thing in a young girl’s life? It is her FATHER!

A father carves the way for their daughter’s lives, and when a father strengthens and rebuilds his bond with his daughter, it shapes her life and his for the better. But how ever much a father loves his daughter if he doesn’t realize what a girl child usually expects of him, his relationship would be strained.

Girls seek for a sense of protection and safety from their fathers. They feel that fathers should be available when needed. The real value of a father in a girl’s life is that it is from fathers that girls learn about males in the world; ... read more >>

by Bruce Linton, Ph.D.

Congratulations you have made it to month two of fatherhood. The first month of fatherhood is occupied by adjusting to your new situation. The changes in your schedule and routines, settling into how and when your baby needs to be fed, changing diapers and giving baths, trying to get enough sleep, communicating with your wife in your new roles as parents.

Many new fathers comment on how wonderful and difficult that first month is. Your baby is still small and helpless but by the second month you may feel a difference as you hold him. He may seem to be more of a person. ... read more >>

A German proverb says: “He who would the daughter win, with the mother must begin.” If you’re at a loss as to why you’re not connecting with your daughter, start thinking about how you treat her mother. Are you kind and gracious? Are you soft-spoken and encouraging? You build parental credibility with your baby girl by how you treat her mom. If your walk doesn’t match your talk, she is not going to listen to you.

Want to have a great relationship with your daughter? Respect her mother and treat her kindly. ... read more >>

In his book Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours, Dr. Kevin Leman writes: “The permissive parent essentially says, ‘Oh, do your own thing. Whatever you want is OK.’ My years of counseling parents and children have shown me that in a permissive environment, kids rebel. They rebel because they feel anger and hatred toward their parents for a lack of guidelines and limit setting. In one study involving elementary grades, the children were allowed to eat anything they wanted in the cafeteria over a period of thirty days. The study showed that although children predictably would ‘pig out on sweets’ and other junk food first, after a few weeks they tended to go back to a quite balanced diet.” A tangible lesson that children do indeed want rules and boundaries. Permissiveness is wimpyness, and your kids will end up hating you for it.

Be firm with your boundaries and guidelines, but be gentle as well — it’s the formula for happy, well-adjusted kids. Do it now — they deserve it, and so do you! ... read more >>

Fill in the blanks, and discuss with your spouse tonight:

I wish my wife and I had more time to _________.

I love it when my spouse ___________.

The thing we argue about the most is ____________.

If I could change two things about myself, to better please my spouse, it would be _________ and __________.

For the four key patterns that destroy oneness in marriage ... read more >>

It seems everywhere you look today, marriages and relationships are falling apart … I know I’ve been shocked when friends of mine have split up – people who I thought would be together forever.”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a Sleepless In Seattle marriage, but I’m trying to be a cool dad and husband … to listen and learn and work out what makes my wife happy.
And I just read a great book on this whole thing, that you can knock out in an hour … literally – called The 60 Minute Marriage!
It has really helped us, to go through it together … but, prepare yourselves, if you do take my 60 minute challenge and read this book as a couple, it brings up some issues that make the road a little rockier before it gets smooth … but as I’m learning, the rewards are worth all the hard stuff.

You know what the key to it all was? Our wedding day vows! You know, we say that we’ll love in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad times. ... read more >>

This interview has been posted with the kind permission of Warwick Pudney.

-Stef

This interview has been posted with the kind permission of Warwick Pudney.

-Stef

Greetings! Fathers can often feel unappreciated in their families. Usually what this means is that they’ve forgotten a fundamental rule of being successful in their family relationships. If you ever feel unappreciated in your family, this article might be just for you. Enjoy!

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I’d had about as much as I could handle for one day.

My computer was frozen, I was tired from a weekend with little sleep, and I was working in a yard that would soon need a scythe to cut it. Kids activities were crowding an already crowded schedule, and there seemed like no time to relax.

When do other people find the time to do all these things? ... read more >>