My 9 year old promised his mom he'd finish his homework before playing video games. He tried to sneak in some gaming time when she wasn't looking. I had to sit him down and explain that a man's word is his bond and nobody's going to trust you if you don't do what you say you're going to do. He seeme...
Been reading some books lately about what real leadership looks like in a marriage. I realized I've been condescending to my wife about some decisions she makes. She's every bit as capable and smart as I am, sometimes smarter. Started actually listening instead of just waiting for my turn to talk an...
Had this whole fishing trip planned with my buddies for this weekend but my youngest got sick. Can't leave the wife alone with all three kids when one of them is under the weather. Fishing trip is off. Trying not to be too bummed about it because parenting comes first but man I was really looking fo...
I work from home 4 days a week and I thought it would be perfect. But honestly the lines between work and dad time have gotten so blurry. I'm in back to back meetings while they're doing online school in the next room and even though I'm physically there I'm not really present. My wife is frustrated...
Been a Christian my whole life but honestly I've been pretty lazy about prayer. Now my kids are asking me to pray with them at dinner and bedtime and I feel like a total hypocrite. I want to lead by example but I don't even know where to start. Do I just admit to my kids that dad needs to work on th...
My kids told me that their mom lets them stay up until 10pm on school nights and doesn't make them do homework. I'm trying to keep them on a routine on my days but it's hard when they're exhausted or not doing school work. I tried texting her about it but she got defensive and said I'm undermining h...
We can't go five minutes without some argument about the kids. Everything turns into a fight. Our lawyer suggested maybe using a co-parenting app but I'm not sure if that's overkill. Has anyone used one of those OurFamilyWizard things? Does it actually help or is it just another way for her to nitpi...
She's saying she needs to swap weeks because her new boyfriend has some family thing planned. We literally finalized everything three months ago and the holidays are supposed to be set in stone per the agreement. I've already made plans with my parents. Do I have to accommodate this or can I just sa...
Want to raise my boys with a real heart for service and not just teach it in theory. We did a food pantry volunteer day once but it was kind of awkward and my kids didn't really get it. Looking for ideas on how to make serving others actually meaningful for them at their ages (9 and 12). Should we d...
So I'm trying to teach my kids to be patient and kind but then I lose my cool over something stupid like them being slow getting ready for school. Yesterday I yelled at them about moving faster and then later felt terrible because I'm literally telling them the opposite. Anyone else struggle with wa...
Started doing this a few months ago just wanting to build the habit and now it's honestly the best part of my day. We sit on their bed and each kid says what they're thankful for and what they want to pray about. Last night my 7yo prayed for his friend's grandma who's sick and it just hit different ...
Had this conversation with my 6 year old yesterday and I honestly froze for a second. I didn't want to badmouth his mom or make him feel like it's his fault. So I just said that mommy and daddy love him very much but we decided it's better if we live in different places. He seemed okay with it but n...
I've been WFH for 2 years now and I gotta say it's been a game changer. I'm not gonna pretend like I'm working and parenting simultaneously perfectly because I'm absolutely not. But being able to have lunch with my kids, take them to their afternoon appointments, and actually be here when they get h...
We pulled off my son's 8th birthday party at the park without a single meltdown from him or us. Got the setup done in like 20 minutes, all the kids actually played together, parents sat around and didn't create drama, nobody forgot to bring the cake (that was my biggest fear), and it wrapped up righ...
Look I'm not against gaming but these loot boxes and battle passes are basically slot machines for kids. My 11yo spent 40 bucks on Robux last month before I caught it. I've locked down the payment methods but how are you guys handling this? These games are specifically designed to extract money from...