In his book, “The Power of Positive Thinking,” Norman Vincent Peale shares a story of a pastor talking to a painter about worrying.“Howard, don’t you ever worry?” the pastor asked the painter.The painter laughed and said, “No, not on your life. I don’t believe in it.”The painter goes on to tell how he didn’t have time to worry and how he set aside one day a week to worry, pushing off all his daily concerns until that one day. But, after trying to worry on the designated day for all the things he’d pushed out of his mind throughout the week he couldn’t do it. He was a failure at worrying. The painter had already essentially trained himself not to worry.Whether knowingly or unknowingly, this painter had worked out a method, or skill set, for overcoming worry.Mr. Peale explained that, “people fail to overcome such troubles as worry because…they allow …

Worry Not – Live Happy! Read More »

Posted by Monica Pond on February 21, 2019

“Look Mom, this water bottle has a description. The water is described as ‘mouth-watering water,” said Porter with a chuckle. “This water calls itself smart, but I’m not sure that description seems very smart,” he added. This was too much for me. I completely broke down into a laughing attack over this ridiculous notion that this water I was drinking was so good because it was “mouth-watering.” After I couldn’t stop laughing, then all my children and their friends who were visiting broke into laughter that lasted about 15 minutes. Following our group laugh attack over the water, other silly stories were shared including one of our favorite books, “A Triune Tale of Diminutive Swine.” Then more and more laughs… Laughing draws people in and makes them feel comfortable and part of the group. It was especially good that we ended up having so many laughs that night because we …

Want Bonding? How To Have More Laughs! Read More »

Posted by Monica Pond on June 1, 2021

10 modules including over 70 lessons Downloadable PDF workbook pages for each lesson Group live mentoring calls with certified TSG mentor Weekly Support Group calls with Nicholeen Downloadable version of the cue cards, meeting forms, and choices map. Teaching Self-Government 15-Lesson Family Tutorial included FREE (Viewable on the website, no DVD) Online videos of actual parenting interactions Lifetime access to online course materials More in-depth understanding of self-government and personal self-mastery Stronger relationship strategies for husband/wife relationship Suggested assignments for implementation success Please note that the course material is online. No physical materials will be included. If you also wish to have the Parenting: A House United book or any other physical materials we recommend the Parenting University Package or Parenting Essentials Package.

Posted by David Eggertsen on June 28, 2020

Most every mother has experienced something like this — you’re at the grocery store, busy juggling carts, food items and kids, when one of your children starts throwing a temper tantrum. You do your best to console them, trying to ignore the irritated glances of your fellow shoppers, and then, with a stress level through the roof, you finally flee the premises. These experiences are emotionally draining and can feel a little embarrassing as well. When you see another mom struggling with her kid(s) at the store, don’t you just wish you could go over and help somehow to ease the stress you can see on her face? I can remember a time when I was a young mother and my newborn baby screamed the entire time we were trying to check out. While this might not seem like an extraordinary experience, this particular instance was life altering for me. …

To the Mother of the Screaming Child in the Grocery Store Line Read More »

Posted by Jeff Pizzino on September 25, 2015

“Hi Nicholeen, I have been working hard to implement the principles you have taught me. I have seen a huge difference in how I parent and respond to my children. However, there has been one side effect I was not expecting. Because of my poor parenting in the past, they have developed a habit of responding with ange

Posted by Nicholeen Peck on December 6, 2017

In this time of innovation, abundance, and a voluminous amount of personal development and fulfillment messages, why are suicide, addiction, abuse and depression rates increasing? People have more things than ever before, yet there seems to be less happiness. Why has happiness decreased? What is the source of true happiness? The answers may be surprising. Children who learn happiness during childhood through regular family life are apt to find and cultivate happiness during adulthood no matter what circumstances surround them. The family is the foundational source of a life of happiness. Many will argue that God is the main source of all happiness; and that is true. The family as the foundation to happiness is in complete agreement with this truth. God instituted families and sent every person to a family. Families were designed with training children and good people in mind. Family is intended to be the environment and …

The Unlikely Source of Happiness for Children and Adults Read More »

Posted by Jeff Pizzino on May 4, 2016

When I started learning self-government principles years ago, I was foster parenting some difficult children, most of whom were on medication and had severe anger issues and terrible eating habits.As I started teaching them self-government skills, many of the children no longer needed their medication. Sometimes the anger issues stopped immediately, but in other children the issues re-surfaced later. With these youth I looked at another aspect of self-government: their diet.

Posted by Nicholeen Peck on May 24, 2019

Think about Santa. He works all day every day without pay to get ready for one exciting night when he works harder than he has ever worked before in order to bring happiness. Think about Jesus. He worked every day of His mortal ministry; teaching, leading, healing, walking, serving others, and travailing to prepare Him and us for the one night and day that He worked harder than He ever worked before to bring happiness and peace to the world. Think of the American Dream. Every person has the freedom to work hard every day doing what they want to do and create businesses, nonprofits, necessities of life, spread goodness and even change the world. Rafael Cruz said, “Only in America can someone start with nothing and achieve the American Dream. That’s the greatness of this country.” That’s the power of work. Work vs. Work I recently watched a TV …

The Dignity of Work & The Will to Choose It Read More »

Posted by Monica Pond on December 14, 2020

I once received a note from a reader about her 14-year-old son who was quite the thinker. He always wanted to know “Why?” about everything, which is wonderful, but it was leading to problems respecting authority.

Posted by Nicholeen Peck on February 14, 2019

Whole Call: https://s3.amazonaws.com/1-SupportCalls/2020/09September/TSG_SC_9-9-20_WholeEdited.mp3   Question: I have been implementing your suggestions from the last couple of calls. Things have been tough this week but praise God, I have stayed calm. I keep repeating, “I don’t have to be stronger than him, just calmer than him” in my head. And I’m not giving wiggle-room, being consistent, etc. I’ve also been very consistent with the other kids – everyone has gotten a lot of extra chores and my house is close to sparkling… but attitudes are shifting and my children are starting to catch themselves before they whine, complain, backtalk, etc. My next question is again in relation to my 17yo – we’ve made it through 24 hours lost privileges and a bunch of extra chores… he’s still pretty begrudging and angry but realizes that I’m serious about being consistent.  What is the best response for this kind of interaction: He’d earned …

Support Call 9-9-20 Read More »

Posted by Nicholeen Peck on September 12, 2020

This Call Covers:Keeping the family motivated and productive throughout the school yearDevelopmental changes in teenagers and how to prevent selfishnessPotty training multiple children at once

Posted by Nicholeen Peck on September 6, 2019

Whole Call: https://s3.amazonaws.com/1-SupportCalls/2020/09September/TSG_SC_9-30-20_WholeEdited.mp3   Question: Hello Nicholeen, When my children are having trouble with friends, I often feel extremely stressed out that the problem be resolved. I then have trouble giving my child objective advice. I used to say negative things about the situation and make my child feel worse. Now my oldest is dating, and I noticed that my stress about things that bother my child is really too high. One example is if a date hasn’t called when expected and my child is worried that the person is going to “ghost” them. I would like to be the best person for them to come to for advice. How do I detach and be that person? Do you have any advice for how to handle this? Thank you. Answer: https://s3.amazonaws.com/1-SupportCalls/2020/09September/TSG_SC_9-30-20_Q1.mp3 I love that you are seeing that you are taking things too personally! That is really great assessment. It …

Support Call 9-30-20 Read More »

Posted by Nicholeen Peck on October 2, 2020