Television today is very different than the way things were when I was a child.  Now, I don’t mean to sound like an old man looking back at the golden years and neither am I suggesting that TV “back in the day” was safer, appropriate and more educational than it is today.  In fact, I do believe that there has been a positive shift with some...

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Choices have consequences.  The severity of consequences is often determined by the severity of the choices that are made. But when it comes to disciplining our children, where did we as parents get the idea that responding to misbehavior by punishing them is the _____ (best, wisest, biblical, expected) – fill in the blank – way to discipline? ...

Do you ever go to a new mall and feel lost? Although initially you might see some familiar chain stores; you are not aware of the mall layout, structure or even what types of stores await your business. You aimlessly walk around but at some point most of us begin to search for the mall directory. There is a certain level of comfort in knowing where...

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Ephesians 6:10 ESV Further reading: 2 Timothy 2:1; 1 John 2:14; Ephesians 3:16 The day after Conner, our 4 month old, was born; I took my wife’s minivan to run some needed errands. Yes, I did say minivan. As you can imagine, I do my best to avoid driving our minivan since I typically...

Today, I want to talk about a concept that revolutionized the way I spoke and listened as a husband, as a father and as a professional.  When I first learned about emotional validation, I thought to myself, “that’s just common sense stuff,” but when I embarked on the journey to catch myself validating or invalidating others, I discovered...

by Matt Sandoval Confession #2: I have learned that putting on the “brave face” is often the least courageous thing I can do in my relationship with Jama Pain. Serious pain.  Undeniable, unavoidable and unpleasant as it is, it serves a powerful purpose in protecting us from danger.  While it is human to feel pain, it is all too human to...

Flirting Fridays is a weekly column intended to give creative ideas to married couples wanting to foster oneness, romance and connectedness in their relationship. If you are not familiar with Dr. Gary Chapman’s work, then I would recommend you stop by his website to take a look at some of the marriage & family resources.  He is probably best...

This is the second in a series of five posts on, “How To Protect Your Children From Online Predators.” A lot of the information that will be posted in this series will come from a seminar I teach for parents and teenagers on internet safety.  If you would like to bring this workshop to your group, contact my office at info@familyinsights.net TEN...

By Matt Sandoval Confession 1:  I agree with couples who are concerned that the permanency of marriage will change their feelings for each other. Now that things are off my chest (wink), I can also admit that it’s not for for the reasons they typically detail.  There may be times where the  feelings of romance from the “early days”...

This past week, my wife and I had to make a tough decision, to hire a babysitter.  In fact, Stacey and I  had multiple conversations that involved a pretty transparent discussion on how ready we both felt with leaving both of our children in the hands of a non-family member. I started thinking, “how do people do it?” Beyond that initial...

The current state of our economy is affecting couples and families worldwide.  More and more families are looking for ways to cut back, reduce and craft new ways of living.  As a result of such drastic cutbacks, a lot of couples do not have the freedom to spend a lot of money on dates like maybe they were able to do in times past. This week, I have...

This is the first of a series of posts on “How To Protect Your Children From Online Predators.” A lot of the information that will be posted in this series will come from a seminar I teach for parents and teenagers on internet safety.  The information provided to you in this post comes from Covenant Eyes which provides a filtering service...