Last week I read a book, a whole book. (Pause for applause.) Okay, I’m not the veracious and speedy reader that my wife, Ruth, and daughter, Marissa, are. I pretty much stick to professional articles and only dive into an actual book if I anticipate getting some...
Summer is upon us the time, the time when families load into everything from minivans to 747’s to get away from the grind of daily work and do something just for the sake of fun. In some families great sacrifices will be made to assure...
If you are interested in reading about Kevin Durant’s contributions to the game of basketball, you might want to skip this article and turn to the next section of the paper. But if you are interested in true heroism—doing something brave and admirable in the...
It can be very discouraging to watch your children veer away from the values you hold dear and embrace those of their peers. Most parents are surprised to see just how temporary those meanderings are. Informed parents can take hope and not get distracted by...
My two older sons, Trevor and Christopher, are very competitive. They married eight months apart, had their first daughters two months apart, and their sons six days apart. Easter did double duty as a birthday party for the boys and let us enjoy some time...
No, this is not a spin-off of a Jane Austen novel, nor an example of Common Core’s new spelling methods gone awry. It is a discussion of the connection between parents respecting their children enough to let them experience the consequences of the decisions, and...
It takes courage to be a teen. Courage is not the absence of fear but the confidence to take a known risk for a known purpose. It takes courage for a teen to work at making good friends, trying out for a school play, or telling...
I was fourteen years old when I saw Robert eat the baby mouse. He and his friends found five nearly-naked rodents under a hay bale outside of Midway Junior High and dared each other to eat one. I watched from a distance as Robert excitedly took...
In the 1970’s comedian Flip Wilson created a ridiculous character whose signature line was, “Here comes the judge! Here comes the judge!” That phrase has often passed through my mind as I work to help people recognize the problems with judgment—even those small, seemingly-harmless thoughts that...
As I work with couples to help restore love, and individuals to enjoy life more fully, I am wracked by the price we pay for judgment. “What a jerk!” “You have no right…” “They have no idea…” “I was so dumb.” “Utah drivers!” Judgment has many forms but comes down to...