Strong families keep their priorities straight. They put the family first. They commit their time and their energy into building the family up and strengthening the bonds within. They don’t let other activities or people come between them.   Strong families trust their guts. If they get an uneasy feeling about something; say agreeing…

Spiritual well-being is the feeling one has that inspires them to move beyond their egocentric point of view to empathize and coalesce with others (whether those others are members of the family or members of the world community).  It’s the feeling of being part of a group; one that cares for and nurtures its…

Members of strong families are good at listening and enjoy talking with one another.  They may not agree on every topic, but they are interested in each others’ thoughts and they keep an open mind because they respect and love each other.  Communication flows easily and they genuinely enjoy each others’ company. One of…

Saying “thank you, I love you, I really like that shirt on you, you’re really good at that, and you are a really great guy…” can make a huge difference in our relationships.  Telling the people we care about that we like them, and love them, can inspire a domino effect of courtesy and…

This is a strange time in America.  Emotions run the gamut.  And next week we will celebrate, as a country, a holiday which embodies graciousness, togetherness, and plentitude.  We will take a moment and reflect on what we have to be thankful for and look back on where we were a year ago.  Some…

The best way we can teach our children how to behave and to be nice is to be a good role model. When talking to our children, it can be helpful to imagine ourselves speaking to our most favorite people: a best friend, a favorite aunt, a beloved grandma… and make sure that we…

Making a tradition of eating dinner together as a family can be one of the most effective parenting strategies we can use in guiding our children into, and through, adolescence. Creating a family principle that having dinner together is important sets the foundation for communication with our kids when they reach the age where…

We all know that play is very important to child development, but did you know that “play” with mom and dad is equally important?  From birth to adulthood, our kids need us to give them at least 20 minutes a day of undivided (this means paying total attention, no phone in hand, no TV…

It seems that our kids are receiving more homework, and at a younger age, than ever.  Between working parents’ own time constraints, shuffling kids to and from extracurricular activities and the pull on kids’ time from popular culture (namely video games, smart phone apps, TV, and YouTube) parents wonder how they’ll ever find time…

“I’ve been thinking about how I make decisions when you ask me for something.  Sometimes I say ‘no’ when really it could be a ‘yes’ and sometimes I say ‘yes’ and then think about it more and feel I’ve made a mistake.  So then I have to take back that ‘yes’ answer which really…