Dads, The Heroes We Need Today

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
13 Jun 2019
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Father’s Day ought to be Hero’s Day. A day when the role we traditionally title as “dad” is celebrated so the next generation can see it for what it needs to be. It is time for each of us with children to enlist in the “I Want to Be A Dad Who’s A Hero” campaign. In generations past fathers were heroes. Their role was more easily defined. Dads provided security for the day and direction for the future. Fathers protected the family from the elements and enemies. They also had the chief responsibility to provide a philosophy of life for […]

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Teens and Stress

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
1 May 2019
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In years past, the teen years were looked at as a time of “finding oneself.” Behavior, dress and poor choices were even excused by this. It was expected for teens to act out or push back because this time period was a time of exploration to find who you were. Today the focus has shifted to not finding oneself or finding your skillset but to getting into the best college or getting into college. Now not that this isn’t a worthy goal, because it is, but we need to evaluate how it is impacting our parenting. What is going on […]

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teen

Finish Well

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
1 Apr 2019
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finish

As we approach the final quarter of the school year, most of us are tired. Students, teachers, parents, we are all trying to just make it to the end of the year. But what about finishing well? We are in the final stretch of the school year marathon and we need to sprint not crawl. How can we motivate our child to finish well? The first thing we need to do when processing motivating our children to do something is ask ourselves “why?” Is this an area that they need to be motivated in for their future success? Is it […]

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Spring Break Means More Time With the Kids

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

Fathers Teach Marriage… for Better or Worse

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
5 Feb 2019
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marriage

“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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January is Parental Half-Time

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
3 Jan 2019
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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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january

All I Want for Christmas is…What?

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
3 Dec 2018
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christmas

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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Why is “Thank You” So Important?

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

Who Do Your Kids Look Up To?

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
1 Oct 2018
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look up to

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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Opening the Football Playbook

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
1 Sep 2018
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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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football