500 Fridays Newsletter - 3 min read Season: The Long Summers (5 of 11) Where Does It Come From? At various times during our power-decade of parenting, my wife or I said one of the following statements to our kids. Somewhere between 3-13, our kids heard us say these and dozens of other statements a lot like it... "Hey, sweetie, I want you to go to the window and order the snow cone by yourself this time." "Buddy, it's time for you to hop out of the car and head to the soccer tryout for your...
10 days ago • 3 min read
500 Fridays Newsletter - 3 min read Season: The Long Summers (5 of 11) 👶🏼Wait, You're Pregnant? It was exactly 21 years ago this week when my wife and I found out some surprising news. It was the summer of 2004 and our oldest daughter was 6 months old at the time. My wife walked in with a baby in one hand and a positive pregnancy test in the other. I couldn't believe it. We weren't trying to get pregnant, but little did we know she was already 2 months along with our son. We had 7 months to...
17 days ago • 3 min read
500 Fridays Newsletter - 3 min read Season: The Long Summers (2 of 11) 7 Years Today's story starts 10 years ago when my two daughters were sharing a bedroom. It began as a functional choice for us, two sisters in one room. It wasn't without friction but they managed well. They were still young with normal 9 and 5-year-old challenges. But 5 years into sharing a room together, those words could not be said. It was ROUGH. Drama every single week.Frustrations over each small issue.Teen and...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
500 Fridays Newsletter - 1 min read Season: The Long Summers (2 of 11) Stories Shape Futures Kids gravitate towards great stories. So many of them follow “The Heroes Journey.” Classics like Moana or Toy Story are legendary kids movies because of how well they accomplish this. Stories in the lives of your kids, end up shaping and molding them. Stories capture the mind and heart. They are big and powerful.They create awe and wonder.They generate hopes and dreams. Stories aren't only fantasy....
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
500 Fridays Newsletter - 2 min read Season: The Long Summers (1 of 11) A Volume of Words Repetition. It's how all people learn new things. Handwriting. Presenting. Cooking. Tying shoes. Throwing a ball. In families, the repetition of words matters ... a lot. They help form the thoughts and emotions that everyone carries in the back recesses of their minds. Repetition leaves life-long grooves. As a parent there will be words that you say without much intention on a frequent basis. They can be...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
500 Fridays Newsletter - 2.5 min read Season: The Springtime (11 of 11) The Payoff of Doing Hard Things Am I being too soft on them?Am I being too hard on them? I questioned my approach all the time as a dad when we were doing the daily work of raising our kids. I know I worried more that I was too hard on them when they were younger and too soft on them as they grew older. But I wanted them to be ready for real life. I hoped they'd develop some grit. I prayed they would be able to withstand...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
500 Fridays Newsletter - 3.5 min read Season: The Springtime (9 of 11) The Guilt The summer schedule is descending, and power-decade parents everywhere are now caught in the emotional battle. Yeah, for more time with kids, and Oh-No, for what to do with all the time with the kids. The increase in the amount of time together during the summer days brought out a lot of my head trash as a parent. I was more afraid of the things we were getting wrong than what I might be doing right with my kids....
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
500 Fridays Newsletter - 3 min read Season: The Springtime (8 of 11) The Last Drop Off Yesterday morning was my last school drop-off as a dad... ever. My youngest daughter turns 16 next week and will be driving herself around town, back and forth to school or work. I think it popped into my mind about 5 minutes away from her high school yesterday morning, today's the last day. From August 17th, 2009 until May 17th, 2024, my wife or I drove our kids to school. It's been 15 years of drop-offs...
2 months ago • 3 min read
500 Fridays Newsletter - 2.5 min read Season: The Springtime (7 of 11) Maycember What is Maycember you might wonder? It’s an honest and humorous attempt at describing the month of May as if it’s as busy and chaotic as the month of December. Every parent feels it. Maycember is a very full month in our home. 3 Birthdays, Mother's Day, and a Wedding Anniversary... not to mention all the sports, graduations, and parties that pile in as well. So, as the month shifts into 6th gear (yeah, I still...
2 months ago • 2 min read