New year’s resolutions – good or bad? Do they work?

Goals do need to specific and you also need to be in the right mindset to make a change, likely why starting on Jan 1st is often ineffective

Only 9% of people keep their new year’s resolutions

Small steps allow you to make increment changes that snowball into big change

Some dads talk:

Friends for your children

Public vs charter vs homeschool

Can we choose their friends? What can we control?

Parental involvement is key

How do we create a home environment that allows our children to open up with us

*Santa Spoilers*

Gift giving, toys vs books vs college funds

Christians and Santa Claus – are we lying to our kids or allowing some imagination to thrive and our kids to have fun?

What media do we allow our children to consume?

We discuss K-Pop Demon Hunters

Are we over-spiritualizing media? Are we teaching discernment or opening them to bad influence?

Some dads talk:

Fatherhood around the holidays

Holidays with immediate family vs extended family

Creating new traditions

Gift giving

Choosing hard things allows you to keep commitments to yourself and build confidence and helps create the person that you strive to be

This can help defeat depression and anxiety

We believe this is supported biblically, if we are made in God’s image, we should be pursuing work, hard things, improvement and conquering things in our own lives

Charlie provides an alternative point of view on the hard things and how the reward you obtain can differ depending on how your brain is wired

Chris relates this topic to athletics as well as the difficulty in being present and focused with your family at the end of a hard day

Daniel talks about John Eldredge and how men are after three things in life: A battle to fight, an adventure to live and a beauty to rescue

David talks about choosing your hard

You’re not a failure until you quit

Some dads talk:

Spender vs saver

Which spouse does the budgeting/ paying bills

Learned habits from childhood

What do we want to teach our children?

How we handle giving

Some dads talk joint bank accounts, financial infidelity, long term goals and stats surrounding finances in marriage, one of the biggest causes of strife

Men in general don’t have a lot of close friends, most do not talk about their mental health

Community is key to thriving, especially as we get older

Being close and emotionally vulnerable is very difficult as men

Talking about our struggles is therapeutic and needed with not just our spouse but other guys