As a strong advocate for healthy marriages and families, I am feeling invigorated and encouraged. There's something in the air -- something refreshing that’s been missing for a while. In the midst of frigid winter blasts, sweet comforting breezes blew through my neighbourhood at noon Eastern on January 20th, 2025. Ever since then, I’m finding… Continue reading Something in the Air
Given the profound and far-reaching election news this past week, I was hoping to write a short piece that underlined America's clear repudiation of Wokeism, allowing the family of faith a temporary and needed respite from the incessant attacks these past four years. While struggling with the right words, I happened upon this articulate piece… Continue reading Morning in America, Again
Was it a year or lives ago We took the grasses in our hands,And caught the summer flying low Over the waving meadow lands,And held it here between our hands?" ~ Bliss Carmen (1861-1929), from Low Tide at Grand Pré Here at the front edge of summer, I always enjoy revisiting this stanza. For me… Continue reading Fatherhood — Three Dads Chime In
I feel a pressing need to repost an updated version of an article first published in February of 2022. Attacks on the family, especially those against the bodies and minds of our precious and vulnerable children, have escalated in ways few would have ever imagined, even two years ago. The immoral left has no limits… Continue reading Everyman’s Guide to Woke Terminology II
No other success can compensate for failure in the home." J. E. McCulloch After discovering I work with distressed couples, people sometimes ask me what I consider the leading cause of marital breakdown. Great question. I’m sure every counsellor or therapist has an opinion on this. Get ten of us in a room, and you’ll… Continue reading Who’s Orbiting Who?
Be sure and check out a recent blog post by Cindy Dawson of Real Christian Women entitled, "This Is A Baby". Hoping it will touch your heart as it did mine … https://realchristianwomen.blog/2023/11/04/this-is-a-baby Blessings on your home,robert P.S: I am deeply grateful this article was brought to my attention by Lisa Lynn, author of the… Continue reading This is a Baby
When I was a single guy, I gave little attention to someday becoming a father. Parenting wasn't among my top ten future aspirations. Of course, that all changed in the delivery room when our first arrived. My marriage is surely my highest family priority, but I love the privilege of being a father. So, here… Continue reading Fatherhood: 12 Thoughts
When our youngest daughter was eight, she wanted a mouse. A white mouse. We already had a pretty good dog, but Leah wanted a mouse. My wife, Melissa, has an aversion to rodents, so you can probably guess who Leah approached to maximise her probability of success. As a management consultant in one of my… Continue reading I Can’t Talk!
I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion is already born."Ronald Reagan American babies are leaping for joy in their mother’s wombs today, after the US Supreme Court brought to an abrupt end what the ADF calls "the disastrous and deadly Roe v. Wade" decision. (Jurisdiction for laws impacting abortion has been sent back to… Continue reading Jumping for Joy
A lie stands on one leg, the truth on two." Benjamin Franklin Melissa and I have been lying to our kids for over twenty years. We had three of our four babies when we were living in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Our house was a hundred and twenty-five-year-old late Victorian with a slate Mansard roof. An historic… Continue reading The Disappearing Pool
Many of God’s creatures will put up with a lot of adversity, but when precious offspring are threatened, some parents will defend their young to the death. Consequences for offenders can involve mauling, bites, missing eyes or ears, or even election loses. Mothers and fathers in Virginia (USA) rose up and sent a clear message… Continue reading Don’t Mess with our Kids!
I was spoiled by my family yesterday. The five of us (plus our Rough Collie) took a rigorous Father’s Day hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, followed by appetisers and beverages at a local brewery. After late afternoon showers and naps, we prepared supper together and kept the day’s celebration going. Heading… Continue reading More Than Neckties
The second smartest thing I’ve done in my life was to record my childrens’ words — those funny, profound or egocentric things that pop out of their mouths between the ages of two and eight years. Let's all have privacy together!" R, age 2.5 There’s something special about that fleeting six year period when kids… Continue reading The Second Smartest Thing
I just pulled the plug on Netflix. Been dragging my feet for a long time, but finally got fed up enough to do it for my family's moral safety. Of course, Netflix co-founder and CEO, Reed Hastings’ programming decisions made my job a whole lot easier. Terminating the popular streaming service didn’t take 13 reasons… Continue reading Strike Three on Netflix
With so many school-aged children at home these days due to the China virus, I’m hoping many parents will consider continuing to home school their precious sons and daughters after the health risks of the virus have receded. That’s my goal with this post. Melissa and I home schooled our children for seven years. We… Continue reading Keep on Home Schooling
(This is Part II of teaching children responsibility through consequences. This post will make more sense if you first read Part I entitled, “Dogs Can’t Talk”) At the end of our last episode, we left our hero standing on his suburban front lawn, waiting for “the shoe to drop”. Actually, there was no hero —… Continue reading Stewing in Juice
(Part one of a two-part article on responsibility and consequences) A man reaps what he sows. Galatians 6:7b When I was eleven, I accidentally set fire to my parent’s house. Mum and dad had left for work, and I had an hour to kill before school. Normally that wasn’t a big deal, but on this… Continue reading Dogs Can’t Talk
Most families treasure their traditions. Some even pass them down from generation to generation. At our house, one of our traditions is designed to create tension and suspense in my wife, Melissa. Maybe even some anxiety. Whenever Melissa travels out of town, my son and daughters and I conspire to do something that Melissa would… Continue reading Coming Home
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 107:1 In the autumn of 2002, my three-year-old son, Andrew, and I visited his sister, Elizabeth, while she slept peacefully in her cozy incubator in the neo-natal intensive care unit of Boston's New England Medical Center. As Andrew and… Continue reading Growing in Gratitude
When I founded a marriage and family organisation while still at seminary, I struggled with what to name it. Many of the cool biblical phrases were already taken. A colleague with Family Life suggested a variation on a wedding vow, “Til death do us Partington”. That didn’t fly. Around that same time I discovered the… Continue reading Building Your Dream Home
Peace in the Home 