In families, the most important relationship is the mother-father relationship. You’ve heard it said that “happy parents make happy kids?” It’s true. The stability of the family rests on the mother and father (or parent and stepparent) maintaining a strong and healthy bond. Every so often, this column will be devoted to providing information that is designed to enrich the couple relationship. This month, I want to share a couple of important relationship skills. The first is called “Sharing Withholds,” and the second is “The Habit of Happiness.” Both of these skills were taught to me by Dr. Les Parrott, a well-known author and marital expert. More information on his writings and teaching can be found at http://www.realrelationships.com. Continue
My Articles about communication
Well-disciplined children become well-disciplined and responsible adults. A great method for instilling responsibility and discipline in your children is to use natural and logical consequences. Natural consequences are results of actions that happen as expected. For example, when you eat too much you feel sick and have an upset stomach, when you stay up too late you are sleepy the next day, etc. We learn a great deal from simply understanding that actions have certain predictable consequences. Children learn valuable lessons from experiencing the consequences of their choices. For instance, my 5 year old son is learning that when he leaves his toys outside they can get ruined or stolen. He’s learning to take care of his things. If I always pick up after him he won’t learn how to be responsible with his things. Continue
Some very compelling research on marriage has emerged from the University of Washington in the last few years. Psychology professor John Gottman and his team of researchers have developed a lab the press has dubbed “The Love Lab.” In their laboratory which is set up like an apartment, Gottman and his fellow researchers observe couples as they interact. They see it all; the good, the bad, and the ugly interactions that can take place in marriage. Each partner’s stress levels are measured several times a day through heart rate monitors, stress hormone levels, video monitoring, blood pressure, and interviews. This data is then used to create mathematical models that can predict whether a couple will divorce or not in the next three years. Research has shown their prediction models are more than 90% accurate! Continue
