Is defensiveness crippling your relationship? Do you feel regularly on edge, reactive and punchy? While the intention of our instinctual reaction is to protect ourselves from harm, three things happen in a chronically defended state.

We teach couples strategies and skills for navigating relationships more effectively. As important as these frameworks are, they are not the critical factor in avoiding divorce or building a successful marriage. Rather, the key appears to lie elsewhere, in the practice of virtues.

There are a few well-researched, but often overlooked aspects to ensuring solid development in a child’s life. The first crucial component is the positive involvement of a father in the life of the child. The second is related to the marriage relationship between the father and mother.

Jason Smith and his wife Paulina, in their Purposeful Parenting scheme, have designed various rites of passage for their teen children centering on fun, responsibility and service as they mature into adulthood. Read on to glean some ideas about how to shape your teen's destiny with such memorable moments.

Saying “sorry” is good, but it’s not usually enough to fully restore the relationship. Asking for forgiveness is entirely different. “Please forgive me” is a profoundly other-centred statement. It puts us in a position of vulnerability.

Marital health is about more than minimising conflict. If we want to go from ‘good’ to ‘better’ we need to capitalise on the positives. Most marriage counselling and education focuses on conflict and incompatibility. It seeks to help couples find constructive ways of dealing with challenges in the relationship. It’s a ‘damage control’ approach that seeks to minimise the impact of negative experiences. Conflict management and relationship repair are important skills for every ...

Considering Christmas is only three sleeps away (yikes!), I’d like to share “The Greatest Gift”, a beautiful song featuring Andrea Bocelli.

Our culture has embraced many myths about fatherhood that make men hesitate to settle down, marry, and start a family. It’s time to bust those myths — beginning with these four.

Married men, here are six ways to show your wife and children that you appreciate her.

Even if your pockets are empty (as mine often are), consider yourself abundantly blessed to have family in your life. If you can, ride around town with your family this December, with the windows down, play Stapleton’s "Millionaire", and make sure you play it loud.

When kids come along, Dad and Mum need to be even more intentional about coming together, communicating, and strengthening their marriage. What you need is a plan. A plan for making time for romance even though you’re both a little tired and distracted.

By being mindful of the example we set — both in the habits we encourage and the behaviours we avoid — we’re not only guiding our children’s actions today, but also building the foundation for the kind of person they will grow up to be.

Our earliest experiences of love and care profoundly influence what we each bring into our marriage. Attachment Theory illuminates how. Thankfully, because of the enduring neuroplasticity of the brain, people with an insecure attachment style can develop a secure one.

“Should parents stay married for the children?” And, “Is a ‘good enough’ marriage good for kids?”

Can I share a secret with you? Only on the condition that you promise not to tell anyone else. The secret is: “My wife makes me look good.” She supports me in my work, and also notices when we need some healthy downtime!

Over time, our staff learned to identify some of the best dads based on some tell-tale comments. When we heard them talk about certain fathering habits or topics, we knew those guys really get it. They incorporate traits and attitudes that translate into great fathering.

Stress is contagious. In this age of high expectations and long work hours, it’s easy for a man to bring his worries and frustrations home and spread them all over the household. What can we do?

Couples who marry in the church, and not just at the church, have a very different idea of what marriage should be. Marriage, or Matrimony, for them is a covenant, a sacred promise made, not only to each other, but also to the Church.

Relationships thrive when trust is strong. But how do we build it in the first instance, and then recover it if we’ve lost it? Here are three tips to help you build trust and hold on to it.

Have you ever thought about how your marriage looks to your children — or about how your attitudes toward marriage are influencing them? Your modelling influences your children’s perspectives and practices in their own marriages.