CBS News Interviews Me!

Here’s my first national TV broadcast.

Parentville.com Recommends my Book

I’m thrilled that Parentville has taken notice of my work. Here’s their review of my book.

Myth #1: The More Attention We Give Our Kids, The Better They Turn Out

Many parents believe the more attention we give our kids, the better they’ll turn out, but our kids are not healthier or happier than they were a generation ago. In fact, today’s children are more troubled because we’ve started marrying our kids instead of our spouses.
We claim we’re too busy to spend time with [...]

Myth #2: Arguing Leads to Divorce

Many couples believe their marriage is strong because they seldom argue. But the real silent killer of marriage is when we distance from our spouse in order to keep the peace. We have become experts at justifying how busy we are; most couples have come to believe they simply do not have time [...]

Myth #3: If We Feel Unfulfilled in Our Marriage, It’s Because We Married the Wrong Person

Our own inner anxiety is at the root of the drama in our relationships. This information is crucial because anxiety is what makes us irritable and quick to overreact, and that’s what causes drama in families. Once we understand how anxiety works within ourselves, we can notice and manage it to transform our [...]

My New Book: “To Raise Happy Kids, Put Your Marriage First”

My New Book: “To Raise Happy Kids, Put Your Marriage First” can be ordered at Amazon:

Today’s children are troubled because we’re marrying our kids instead of our spouses.
Many parents believe the more attention we give our kids, the better they’ll turn out. But our kids are not healthier or happier than they were a [...]

How Families in India View American Families

I recently spent 10 days in India, and the people I met were always intrigued to hear I wrote about marriage and parenting. Some people politely asked why Americans don’t understand what Indians take for granted; namely, that marriage is about commitment, and it harms the children to divorce. I did my best [...]

Raising Citizens Instead of Consumers

Here’s the best of the comments (the last 2 are KILLER!) on the Wall Street Journal article on me . The folks below are responding to this quote of mine from the article: “Working to create a great marriage, by accepting your spouse for who he or she is and not letting the fight-or-flight response [...]

I’m in the Wall Street Journal!

The Wall Street Journal published my parenting article online today because Palin’s nomination has fueled the recent debate on working moms. We’ve begun to notice that our current approach to parenting is not working:
* We’re shooting our kids in the foot by making them the center of our universe, because
[...]

Yahoo News Rates My Family Article Number One!

I’m thrilled that my essay on how parents can raise citizens instead of consumers was published yesterday in “The Christian Science Monitor,” and it is now Yahoo News’ most popular opinion piece.
My article describes how we shoot ourselves (and our kids) in the foot by making our children the center of our universe. Child-centered [...]

NPR’s “This I Believe” Site Publishes My Essay on Marriage

I’m thrilled that my essay on marriage was published on NPR’s site, “This I Believe “. Below is my text:
THE SILENT KILLER OF MARRIAGE
I believe humans have more in common with animals than we realize. For example, fight-or-flight remains a basic human instinct, and it can have a big impact on relationships. Understanding this [...]

Your Kid the Olympic Athlete

As I watch (OK, I’m GLUED to) the Olympics, I’m struck by the number of interviews where athletes mention how their parents were their first coaches. And yet, I’ve observed many parents who worry that they’re somehow overbearing if they practice a sport with their kids. I think the most important thing a kid picks [...]

Of Buddha, Marriage & Fulfilment

A friend of mine was remarking the other day how one of his friends had recently gotten divorced because she found her marriage “unfulfilling.” He believed that “unfulfilling” was an unrealistic benchmark for a marriage, or any other serious commitment, for that matter. “How many of us find our jobs to be always [...]

How Arguing Improves Your Family

1) Arguments are not what kill a marriage, distancing is. Arguments stem from our fight instinct, but distancing stems from our flight instinct, and most of us are not even aware of how much we distance from our spouse every day.
2) Spouses seldom distance from each other without moving towards someone else. One spouse may [...]

Choosing the Perfect Spouse

A 79 year-old Catholic priest has been teaching a seminar to high school students about how to marry the right person. He’s extensively quoted in this New York Times article.
What struck me was not the advice he gave, but rather how worried people are about making the wrong choice. In this era of [...]

How to Get Your Kid Shot

People keep guns in their homes because they fear break-ins and assaults. In fact, if you keep a gun in your home you increase the odds of someone in your family getting shot by up to 1000%. No, I’m not talking about gun accidents. I’m talking about family members shooting themselves on purpose.
According to an [...]

Create a New Kid by Friday

There’s a hot new book on parenting that’s already #187 on Amazon’s best-seller list. It’s called, “Have a New Kid by Friday: How to Change Your Child’s Attitude, Behavior & Character in 5 Days”, by Dr. Kevin Leman, a psychologist, marriage and family expert, and common guest on “Good Morning America.”
The Chicago Tribune’s Anne Stein [...]

Feminism versus Evolution: Gender Roles

The New York Times wrote a lengthy article bemoaning gender roles in childcare and housework, essentially stating that division of labor in the house had changed little since the 1990’s despite concerted efforts to re-educate society.
Kathleen Parker of The National Review takes it for granted that men and women are simply different. In her article, [...]

Are We Raising a Nation of Wimps?

Hara Marano has written a book entitled “A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting,” and it’s fascinating. In its review, the Wall Street Journal explores both sides of the issue.
On the one hand, the Journal agrees with Marano that “over-involved parents are sapping the will of America’s youth, keeping them from learning [...]

A Stressful Pregnancy Breeds Stressed-Out Kids

This cover story from Time Magazine suggests that we parents have focused our energy in the wrong place. We’re all killing ourselves to provide our children with perfect, trauma-free childhoods. In fact, we can have more positive impact on a child’s life course by focusing on her first 9 months in the WOMB [...]