Do You Need to Save Your Kids From Overachievement

Are your kids trying to do too much in high school? My daughter’s senior year of high school started out to be brutal. Signing up for several Honor classes, she found herself glued to studying and homework 7-days a week. This took a toll in a number of areas of her life. Classes vs Life…

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Moms Don't Need to Be Perfect Just Awesome

Do you feel like you haven’t lived up to being a “Good Mother”? Are you anti-Mother’s Day due to the pressure of being a “Perfect Mom”? Confusing Awesome with Perfect I bet you’re an awesome mother. I bet you’re more amazing than you think you are. I bet you aren’t perfect. And I bet that’s…

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Why You Need to Let Your Kids Punish Themselves

Parents. Yes, you and you. Gather round. I have a little trick for you that’s going to blow your Parenting Mind! In my hand, I’m holding the power to dole out punishment. Closing this hand I say the magic words: waka waka kersplunken hooey! Now, open your hand. Go ahead, check it out. You now…

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Are You Putting in the Parenting to Raise Awesome Kids

Parenting is hard. – Captain “Rusty” Obvious There’s irony in the saying, “Parenting doesn’t come with a manual.” When in actuality, there are around a gazillion different books out there on parenting. Okay, maybe not a gazillion. It may only be about a bajillion; give or take a baker’s dozen. With all the information available,…

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Watch Out! Viral and Virus Aren't the Same Thing!

Let me get this straight… Virus = Bad Viral = Good If I “get a virus,” that’s a bad thing? If something I put out there “goes viral” then I’m praised? Our language is a crazy thing, ain’t it? And More… Growing up, if something was a good thing, it was “cool.” But don’t mistake…

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grandma ellis and little roy

Another grandson was born recently, so my wife and I traveled to North Dakota to spend time with him (and his parents, too). While holding Little Roy and listening to his grunts and cooing, I couldn’t help but consider the LIFE before him. What will he become? Will he choose to follow his mother and father’s…

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Is It Worth Raising Remarkable Gentlemen

Are we losing the battle of raising gentlemen? Does the world even value these traditional traits anymore? Is There Room In Today’s World For Gentlemen? I refuse to make an excuse for these expectations, even in a climate frowning upon such gentleman basics. The threat may be a misperceived notion that I am teaching my…

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Life Lessons: These 5 Successful Fundamentals Deliver

Let’s be morbidly honest, my life is more than half over. I’m okay with that. Save the pity party for someone else, unless you are serving Oreos, then I’m in. Wow, I am ‘so’ able to digress. Focus. LIFE and I have a wonderful relationship. At times we argue, at times we embrace and laugh,…

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My 1968 Calico Dream Machine

My parents promised to go in halfsies with me on my first vehicle. They had no idea of my expectations. Let me back up a little. In the Beginning The day I turned 16 years old, my parents dropped me off with our 12-passenger family van at the local DMV to take my driver’s test—really,…

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