Father’s Day is one month from today! During the next 30 days or so, I’ll be posting excerpts and highlights from my book, Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: The 30-Day Challenge.

Dads, have you taken The 30-Day Challenge?

This summer is a perfect time to build a better relationship with your daughter.

Don’t miss my Father’s Day Special at the online store. Details are at the end of the post.

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You Are Her First Love

Our culture ties girls in knots, and your daughter is no exception.

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If you’re just now joining us this week, find Part 1 of “Get Off the Crazy Train” here, and Part 2 is here. 

Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 12. To honor and celebrate you, Mom, this week I’m posting about the tough—but oh, so rewarding— job of motherhood.

I’ll also be giving away five copies of my book, The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers. Just leave me a comment on any of the blog posts this week (May 6-9), and you’ll be entered to win. Share the post via Facebook or Twitter and you can earn two more entries. Just come back to the blog post and leave a comment for each action.

Please note: Comments left on eligible posts by noon central time, May 10, will be entered into the book giveaway. Five winners will be chosen at random Friday afternoon and contacted via email.

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Once we have identified our real motives for our behaviors, then, we are ready to make some serious changes. Fear of having our kids fall behind, of feeling like a failure as a parent, or of not helping our child meet his highest potential drives us to do ridiculous and harmful things to our kids. So we need to change our behaviors and commit to making decisions for our kids from a posture of strength, not fear.

When we consider the development of a child’s identity, we see that spending adequate time with parents is crucial.

Here’s why.

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If you’re just now joining us this week, find Part 1 of “Get Off the Crazy Train” here. Today’s post is Part 2 of “Get Off the Crazy Train.”

Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 12. To honor and celebrate you, Mom, this week I’m posting about the tough—but oh, so rewarding— job of motherhood.

I’ll also be giving away five copies of my book, The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers. Just leave me a comment on any of the blog posts this week (May 6-9), and you’ll be entered to win. Share the post via Facebook or Twitter and you can earn two more entries. Just come back to the blog post and leave a comment for each action. I’ll announce the five winners on Friday, May 10.

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As a mom, I spent many years on the Crazy Train. I’ll bet you’ve spent awhile there, too. Maybe you’re riding around on it right now.

Get off, Mom! It’s time to get off the Crazy Train.

Almost every mother I talk to wonders whether or not she is parenting well enough. Her insecurity stems from this ride she’s taking. The Crazy Train takes us to a far away and “most excellent” place. Our peers ride alongside—but that’s not all.

A parallel track runs beside us with our kids aboard. Their train picks up speed just like ours does.  And this part may surprise you—none of them wants to be on it but they are. Not because their friends are, but because we tell them they must be.

Every parent lives with some anxiety about their parenting, worrying if they are doing a good enough job. The antidote to our worry is to get our kids busy: sign them up for team sports, dance classes, or tutoring sessions to help them get better grades.

We believe that busyness is the key to success. But the problem is, it doesn’t relieve the angst we harbor.

If getting our kids to perform better really made us all happier, wouldn’t we be?

Here’s the problem. We have crafted a modern paradigm for raising good kids.

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Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 12. To honor and celebrate you, Mom, this week I’m posting about the tough—but oh, so rewarding— job of motherhood. Today’s post is the first in a series that I’m calling “Get Off the Crazy Train.”

I’ll also be giving away five copies of my book, The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers. Just leave me a comment on any of the blog posts this week (May 6-9), and you’ll be entered to win. Share the post via Facebook or Twitter and you can earn two more entries. Just come back to the blog post and leave a comment for each action. I’ll announce the five winners on Friday, May 10.

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We’re all on it. It picks up speed each day, rumbling to the place we want to get to but have no idea what it’s like or even what it’s called. It is the crazy train, and we ride not because we want to.

As a matter of fact we hate it, but we ride because, well, everyone else we know is riding. They are there standing next to us, weaving back and forth with the same rhythm. Some are calmer; some are more anxious. But we are all there because that’s where we need to be. We think.

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Don’t miss a special announcement at the end of today’s post! Read all the way to end to find out what’s happening on the blog next week.

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My friend, LuAnne Crane, recently made one of the hardest decisions of her life.

She decided to leave a job she has loved for 30 years and be home with her high school-aged son.

For every mother who has lived the tension of working outside the home and caring for children, you know her angst. She loves her kids and wants to keep them as her first priority. But she loves her job and knows that God has gifted her with a passion for it. LuAnne’s situation is unique, though. She doesn’t have young children at home. As a matter of fact, three have left home and only one high schooler remains. So why leave a job she is called to and stay home? That’s where we mothers need to pay attention.

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My friend Pam Stenzel has recently come under heated attack, receiving vitriolic mail. Why? Because she speaks across the country to high-schoolers, trying to help them stay away from sex. And she does it very, very well.

Pam unabashedly uses the “A” word—that in-your-face-button-pushing one: abstinence. Honestly, I’ve never understood why that word bothers so many folks. We all abstain from things. I abstain from red wine because it triggers my migraines. I encourage my patients to abstain from smoking and using drugs, and good teachers abstain from being overly critical of kids in their classrooms. Each of us abstains from something every single day. So what’s the rub? Three things.

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With the barrage of bad news in the country right now, it’s easy for parents to feel increasingly frightened. Many have told me over the past months that they feel like giving up. Raising kids—especially teens—in a world filled with violence, sexual imagery everywhere, and stories about kids taking meth can just about put a parent over the edge. We seem to do pretty well until our kids hit age 8. Then, the fear begins to settle in, and we start to feel the loss of control over their lives. Our daughters refuse to wear cute dresses. Our sons don’t want trucks; they want video games. Their friends invite them for the afternoon and a parent pops in a PG-13 movie for them to watch. Bad stuff streams at our kids all the time.

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What a week it’s been! With the Newtown shootings still freshly on our minds, we were confronted with more horror on Monday as terrorists set off bombs in the crowd at the Boston Marathon.

Earlier this week, I had planned to post a link to an outstanding blog I read about ending school violence. The author, Peter Brown Hoffmeister, is a high school  teacher, outdoorsman, father and author of  The End of Boys. But most importantly, he was a self-described troubled teen who could have shot school kids. He and I agree on the potential dangers of violent video games, especially when played by isolated young men.

Written in response to the Newtown tragedy, his blog is extremely important, and I highly recommend that you read it, especially if you are a parent of a boy. Click here to read his post.

So, this topic was on my mind when the Boston news broke on Monday.

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Dear readers,

I’m excited to announce that I have a brand-new MegMeekerMD.com online store!

Right now, I have four products for sale there:

• Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters

• Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: The 30-Day Challenge

• Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: Small Group DVD Study

• Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: Small Group Participant’s Guide

To celebrate my store’s grand opening, I’m offering FREE SHIPPING on any size order April 15-30, 2013.

To claim the free shipping, just place your order and enter the coupon code, APRILSHIP in the box.

When you click on “calculate shipping,” make sure you choose the option that says, “FREE.”

Proceed with your checkout, which will gather info from you then send you to complete it through PayPal.

Let us know if you have any questions as you use the store. We’re excited to be able to offer these items to you!

Have you seen the recent ad from Melissa Harris-Perry of MSNBC News? It’s made its rounds through social media, drawing criticism from parents and others. Watch below, if you haven’t seen it yet.

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