My good friend, Tony Dungy makes a great connection between being a parent and preparing for/playing in the  Super Bowl.

Are you tired of repeating yourself over and over to your kids?

Try this. Step one – get at eye-level with your child, then start talking. If he looks away, or steals a glance at the TV, start over.

Step two – echo. Let your child repeat what you’ve said. That way, you know he got the message.

It works like this… get at their eye level and say, “Billy, please clean your room.” “Yes, Daddy,” he says. Now here’s where the echo comes in. “So what are you going to do, Billy?”… “I’m going to clean my room.”…

Eye level, and echo. A two-step communication plan that really works.

Hope this helps you as it has helped me!

Mark

With well over 100,000 men, women and children now dead in the Haiti natural disaster, there are a few things I’ve known, but in times like this, they move to the forefront of my mind. Here are some of them:

• We never know when it will be our last day on earth, so we should live like it is.
• Life is very fragile. Never miss an opportunity to give a hug or say “I love you,” especially to someone who’s hurting
• We can’t control many things in life, so we should stop trying to control everyone and everything around us
• Loving God and loving others is most important. We must even love unloveable people
• We are dependent creatures…dependent on other people. There is only one independent Being in the universe, and it’s not you or me.

So today I am curious. What has Haiti taught you?

Recently, Lane Kiffin left the head coaching position at Tennessee to take the job at USC. He was only at Tennessee for one year. On our All Pro Dad Facebook page, the question was asked, “Do we now live in a generation where commitments are disposable?” I think we do.

I’m not ‘bashing’ Coach Kiffin for leaving Tennessee. He has to do what is right for he and his family. All I am saying is that promises are being broken so often now. Even promises made by parents to their kids. Recently I did a video about Keeping Promises for our Family Minute program. Check it out…

What are other ways to build your child’s trust?

A few years ago I wrote a piece about the history and importance of Thanksgiving. I thought it would be good to share with you here on my blog. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

A Heritage of Thanksgiving

The snow fell early that winter of 1778 – and stayed. The extreme low temperatures saw the Schuylkill freeze over. From the beginning, life in Valley Forge was grim. The huts were smoky and dark. Meal after meal, the soldiers’ food consisted of “firecake” – wheat of cornmeal poured into a kettle of water, mixed, and ladled out on a big stone in the middle of an open fire, where it baked.

For General George Washington, who saw the members of his Continental Army dying naked in the frost of winter, Valley Forge became an unbearable nightmare. When the House of Representatives asked him on September 24, 1789, to issue a proclamation designating a national day of thanksgiving, he purposefully referred to those horrible months he spent at Valley Forge. Funny that he would recollect a time of suffering rather than a time of plenty when offering thanks. But in his proclamation, Washington asked all Americans to look to “That great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that ever will be, that we may then unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people.”

It was from that proclamation that the present-day national celebration of Thanksgiving springs. While the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, on June 20, 1676, proclaimed a day of thanksgiving for their good fortune, it was George Washington who had the task to inaugurate a national day of thanksgiving.

The other great Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation came from the pen of Abraham Lincoln in 1863. How ironic that in the midst of a war that was tearing his nation apart, Abe Lincoln would find the value in offering thanks. He asked his fellow Americans “to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” Lincoln asked his countrymen to admit to their mistakes and shortcomings “in humble sorrow.”

He wrote, “We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.”

Abraham Lincoln was once asked how a person could best express thanks. Lincoln, then not yet president, recalled that in his youth, his mother had instructed him to give thanks for whatever was on the table, whether he wanted to eat it or not. “Give thanks in everything,” Lincoln instructed. “That which you can swallow whole and that which you must struggle to consume.” His point was that true thanksgiving even means sometimes giving thanks for difficulties, which is also a profoundly humbling act.

That is probably what George Washington had in mind when he issued that first proclamation. He wasn’t recalling Valley Forge because he had fond memories. But rather, it was a touchstone in his life that humbled him and made him aware of the many things he had to be thankful for.

On this Thanksgiving some Americans, even in the midst of our nation’s economic challenges, will have a bountiful holiday – plenty of food, football, and fun. Others may be facing a personal Valley Forge, with suffering and pain. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln faced both, and when they did, they always said “thanks.”

Our team is getting ready for our big Family First Challenges and Champions Dinner and Awards. NY Times best-selling author, Max Lucado, is keynoting the event. Tony and Lauren Dungy will be talking about All Pro Dad and iMOM. The creators and producers of the movies, Fireproof and Facing the Giants, are going to be with us also….its going to be a great night!

On Saturday, nearly 2000 dads and kids created life-long memories at our All Pro Dad Father and Kids Experience with Head Coach Jim Caldwell and the Indianapolis Colts. A huge ‘thank you’ to the Colts’ organization for being so hospitable to our staff once again. Another big ‘thanks’ to Coach Caldwell, Coach Christensen, Pierre Garcon, and Eric Foster for stepping up and being our Colts’ All Pro Dad spokesmen for the event! But, most of all thank you to all the dads and kids who came out to the event! It’s always so encouraging to see families coming together and just having a blast at our Father & Kid Experiences! It was a great day; we’re already looking forward to our next event with the Colts! Hope we get a big win against the Patriots this Sunday! Go Colts!

Yesterday I joined Tony Dungy in Louisville, KY at the Papa John’s headquarters. It was a great day for All Pro Dad! We enjoyed some great pizza with Papa himself.  I may have eaten a little too much!  It really was a fun day with the Papa Johns team! Thanks Papa!

Until next time,

Mark (who, by the way, is still very full from great pizza!)