Rookie moms and dads often struggle with their new role as parents. Will I ever be good enough? Am I up to the challenge? How can I possibly withstand the immeasurable weight that is the blind confidence of an innocent, little child? We see other mothers and fathers, perhaps our own, and wonder how we’ll [...]
Being a father is a radical responsibility. One that’s been neutered of its uniqueness and weight and turned into just another equal participant in the human economy. Well, we may have produced an economy of hard working men (and women), but we’ve also enabled a generation of slacker dads. Even the “good dads” are slackers. [...]
Marriage serves two primary purposes. It is for both “the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring” [CCC 1601]. Yet, when we celebrate our wedding (marriage) anniversaries, we normally emphasize one of those things more than the other by turning it into a night or weekend away from the kids. In [...]
[photo source] “Every father should remember that one day his son will follow his example instead of his advice.” And actually, I’ve realized now that “one day” comes a lot sooner than you expect. In fact, kids understand the language of “example” far sooner than the language of “advice.” My toddler has been mimicking what [...]
“When we find ourselves grousing about having so little time for ourselves, for being asked to do so much, let’s try to remind ourselves that that’s the way it’s supposed to be. God gave us our families to serve. We are being asked to give everything for our families. Indeed, we are being called to [...]
Here’s a little poem I wrote as a hypothetical future elegy for Marriage. It’s partially modeled after Niemöller’s famous “First they came…” statement. And it’s to point out that our culture has already been “redefining” marriage in numerous ways for a long time now. — First, they said it was no longer ’til death, and [...]
“Making the decision to have a child – it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” – Elizabeth Stone I didn’t understand this before I had a child of my own. Now I certainly do. How often do we take for granted the marvelous thing that [...]
How long is a marriage? And I don’t mean how long do you hope a marriage lasts, or how long you hope your marriage lasts. I mean, by its own definition, how long is a marriage? When does it end? There are two popular answers to this question. 1) Marriage lasts for as long as [...]
Last year I mentioned the movie “Babies” and that it would be coming out in 2010. Last weekend I finally saw it. I liked it. There is no plot or story line really. And there is no dialogue or script. There is a little bit of talking from the mothers. And there is some crying [...]
I love this video. When things don’t happen just like I expect them, or when somebody else (like my wife, son, family member, dog, etc.) does something that interferes directly with what I was doing or planning on doing, my gut reaction is normally one of annoyance or frustration…and sometimes anger. I hope that one [...]
A lot of parents indicate that they don’t want to influence their kids too much as to which religion they choose. They want their kids to be able to choose their religion freely for themselves without any kind of bias. I think that’s a really neat idea.
