Mark’s More Than a Minute Blog

My good friend, Tony Dungy makes a great connection between being a parent and preparing for/playing in the  Super Bowl.

Are you tired of repeating yourself over and over to your kids?

Try this. Step one – get at eye-level with your child, then start talking. If he looks away, or steals a glance at the TV, start over.

Step two – echo. Let your child repeat what you’ve said. That way, you know he got the message.

It works like this… get at their eye level and say, “Billy, please clean your room.” “Yes, Daddy,” he says. Now here’s where the echo comes in. “So what are you going to do, Billy?”… “I’m going to clean my room.”…

Eye level, and echo. A two-step communication plan that really works.

Hope this helps you as it has helped me!

Mark

How do you define yourself?

With well over 100,000 men, women and children now dead in the Haiti natural disaster, there are a few things I’ve known, but in times like this, they move to the forefront of my mind. Here are some of them:

• We never know when it will be our last day on earth, so we should live like it is.
• Life is very fragile. Never miss an opportunity to give a hug or say “I love you,” especially to someone who’s hurting
• We can’t control many things in life, so we should stop trying to control everyone and everything around us
• Loving God and loving others is most important. We must even love unloveable people
• We are dependent creatures…dependent on other people. There is only one independent Being in the universe, and it’s not you or me.

So today I am curious. What has Haiti taught you?

What brings you hope?

Are you and your family considering adoption?

What are other ways to build your child’s trust?