This week we are featuring the 5 most popular Family Minutes from 2010. Today is Number 4...You're juggling the needs of your kids—their homework, their sports, their friends. You're busy preparing for a big presentation at work. You've got a bunch of emails to reply to…and, oh yeah, you have some Facebook posts to make. You're schedule is absolutely full. You're doing some great things, but what about your...

Several years ago Money magazine performed a tax season experiment. Forty-five tax professionals participated in preparing the magazine's tax return. The result? Forty-five different bottom-lines. That's hard to believe. Now think about all the "professionals" out there who might give you many different bottom lines on how to be a better parent. But all should agree on these three things that your kids really...

On December 17th, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright changed the world by making the first controlled flight in a powered aircraft. But success came only after years of experimentation, failure, learning from their mistakes, and trying again. The Wrights persevered because they believed in their dream. They were also encouraged by their loving and supportive family. A monument in their honor reads: "In commemoration...

If they are, remember your position. You're there to be an encourager, not to be overbearing. No child wants to be embarrassed by a parent who's screaming and yelling uncontrollably. I was coaching my son's baseball game a few years ago and I got frustrated with the umpire's calls. So, what did I do? I got mad…threw my hat on the ground and walked off the field. Youth sports can bring out the best…or the worst in...

Talking to your kids about sex is probably as uncomfortable for you as it is for them. But if you think it's ok to avoid that discussion—think again. The January 2011 issue of Seventeen Magazine interviewed teens for a national survey on sex, and the findings are disturbing. Teens are increasingly putting themselves at great physical and emotional risk by having pre-marital sex. And sadly, almost a fourth say...

Instead of just letting your kids hunt for eggs this year, let them hunt for compliments. Buy some plastic eggs and assign each of your children a color. Then write some nice things about your kids on slips of paper, and put them inside. Like, "I love the way you treat your sister so kindly," or, "You're a great Monopoly player." Once they've found all of their eggs, let your children read what's inside. We have...

A good listener? Hardly. But maybe a good lecturer. So what does it mean to be a good listener? Well, I'll give you a couple of hints… its more than the absence of talking… and it doesn't involve multitasking when your child is speaking to you. Listening is the active process of hearing what our child is saying, looking at their eyes and body language for clues, processing it all to determine what's really going...