Spring Break Means More Time With the Kids

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
4 Mar 2019
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spring break

Spring Break… It conjures up different emotions for different people.  For those of us who live in South Florida, it means an influx of college students. For our kids and teachers, it is a much needed respite from a long stretch of school and testing season. A long break for parents can be a mixed bag. it can mean more time with the kids and on the other hand more time with the kids… It can also lay bare issues over parenting. If mom and dad don’t agree on issues, a long break can expose and exacerbate this.   When […]

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Fathers Teach Marriage… for Better or Worse

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
5 Feb 2019
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“Why are we washing dishes again Dad?” my young son asked me. “We always wash, Dad. Should Mom be doing this?” It was a natural question coming from a child who believed we had gone past our responsibility of service. Why are we still serving? He stopped just short of saying, “Shouldn’t Mom be doing this?” A child growing up in our culture today has no way of knowing what the marriage relationship is all about.  We have come to believe that marriage is something you “get.” You get another salary, another person to do the chores and you get […]

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marriage

January is Parental Half-Time

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
3 Jan 2019
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january

If you are a parent, January isn’t really the beginning of your child’s year, its half time. Your family year begins in August as the children start school and all their other activities. The question is, what do you do with half-time? What do coaches do with half-time? Do they take the players into the locker room and celebrate that they are almost over with the game? Do they just relax before going back on the field?  No! Leaders of the team make adjustments, and that’s exactly what the first weeks in January are for: making the necessary evaluations and […]

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All I Want for Christmas is…What?

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
3 Dec 2018
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The answer to that question could determine the success or failure of your Christmas experience. As a parent, the question is: What do we really want for Christmas? Don’t we want something that will last on into generations to come? Something powered by more than batteries. I have never heard anyone say, “We have a great family tradition of giving each other video games for Christmas. It’s been an awesome part of our Christmas for generations. It’s what brings us back home each year.” There are many things we could get for our family members – items that will not […]

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christmas

Why is “Thank You” So Important?

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
1 Nov 2018
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thank you

Understanding “Thank You” is one of the most missing elements in our culture.  “Thank you” is also one of the most important lessons a parent should teach a child. Post Katrina a group of displaced, homeless people in Louisiana had been given “homes,” albeit trailers, to live in for the past year (emphasis on the word “given”). They had also received food supplies. In any other culture, they would be left to fend for themselves.  Praise God America is a country that has a plan. Even after all the help they had received, they wanted to file suit against the […]

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Who Do Your Kids Look Up To?

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
1 Oct 2018
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Every fall as we pass 9/11 and are in the thick of storm season, I sit and process the amazing sacrifice our first responders and their families make. I can’t imagine weathering a storm knowing that your father/spouse is at the station preparing to go protect and serve the community. What a truly heroic act. Then it makes me stop and think about my kids and who they look up to…  Who do your kids look up to? Who are their heroes? Is it even important to think about who our children look up to? Only to the extent that we as […]

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look up to

Opening the Football Playbook

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
1 Sep 2018
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football

Football season is upon us. Whether you are a fanatic or “football-resistant” the fact is undeniable.  Here in South Florida we don’t have a lot of things that alert us to fall time. This may be the reason we all go crazy for our pumpkin lattes and fall decorations.  We don’t have the crisp air or the changing leaves. We may have a lift in the humidity but that is about it. One thing that we do have here is football. On Fridays, high school bands can be heard all over alerting us to the clash of the gridiron. And […]

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The New Year Begins In August

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
1 Aug 2018
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One of my pet peeves is when stores start to sell and decorate for a season way before that season arrives. I’m talking months before… like in mid-October when Christmas decorations appear. I start to have anxiety about all that I need to do before the holiday arrives. Another such time is what feels like early summer when the back to school items start appearing. It feels like a rush to finish summer, but as a parent that anxiety creeps back in on all that I have to do to prepare them for the school year. Doctor’s visits, school supplies, […]

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august

Don’t Squander Your Summer – Make Time for Training, Relationship Building and Fun

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
2 Jul 2018
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summer

Last month we talked about looking at the summers as a time of real investment into our children.   We must remember that we have such a limited number of summers until our children are emancipating from our homes.  We can utilize summer to focus on our relationships and have fun as a family; but we also can use our summers to teach and train.   Many good things can be planted in a child’s schedule this summer. But as parents, we should carefully think about planting the best seeds in our child’s life. Instead of just “filling time,” choose to […]

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Don’t Squander Your Summer

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
1 Jun 2018
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In our house it always feels like we come crawling into summer time like someone who just finished a marathon…one they didn’t train for. We are all absolutely exhausted but SO looking forward to a break. Dreams of a beautiful summer of family bliss dance in our heads as parents, but how often is that really the case? One of two things may happen: either we get to August wondering what in the world happened to the summer days, or we get to the end of June wondering when they can go back to school (or both depending what day […]

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summer