Roles. They define our rights, obligations, responsibilities, beliefs, and even who we are. How well do we each understand our respective roles? How do we teach our children about proper roles? How would the problems children and parents face change if they better understood roles? Aren’t parents whether aggressive, passive or assertive always defining roles anyway? How do roles effect business relationships? Why do we see the roles in today’s world wrapped around so much confusion and debate when it’s impossible to escape roles? This book (published in 2016) makes roles easier to understand, and it shows how to strengthen roles and empower ourselves and those we live and work with to reach our full potentials.

Posted by Richard on April 28, 2020

No matter how many different types of resolutions we choose to write down and work on this coming year, all the items on our lists are actually just one resolution. At first glance this statement may seem like an attempt to simplify resolutions to make successfully accomplishing them easier. But understanding that all resolutions point to one problem to fix doesn’t make successfully accomplishing goals easy. Successfully accomplishing goals, whatever they may be, proves to be the hardest work we do. However, once we’re honest and successful through the process, then each repeated attempt at accomplishing a goal will be easier and more automatic. The Same Goal, But Different Results Brenda is a devoted mother to her five children. She gives most of her daily time and energy to them. She reads to them, feeds them, teaches them, works with them and trains them up right. For the last eight …

Resolutions Are All the Same, and That’s the Way it Should Be! Read More »

Posted by Monica Pond on December 28, 2016

In 2012, a woman attending one of my Teaching Self-Government parenting trainings began to cry in the middle of my presentation about different styles of parenting. She timidly raised her hand and I called upon her to speak. Through sobs and tears she said, “My mom was that modern progressive, permissive type of parent you just talked about. She let me do whatever I wanted to do and never corrected me. She probably thought it was giving me freedom, but it ruined my life. I did so many bad things just to see if my mom loved me enough to stop me. She wouldn’t stop me…I still haven’t recovered from all the license she gave me. It’s taken years to try to build a decent life for myself.” No matter what difficulties families are facing or how different the children of each generation seem to be from previous generations, it’s …

Reclaiming The Right To Parent Our Own Children Read More »

Posted by Monica Pond on November 30, 2020

My views have changed. During my teen and young adult years, I thought that women needed to do everything men did, and women did, in order to be strong. But, now that I have seen every dimension of womanhood firsthand, I see that my views of women and myself lacked depth and understanding when I was young, and I was heavily influenced by socially-promoted assumptions. I was easily influenced by social conversations that put people into limiting boxes. Luckily time, example, and experience are great teachers of truth, and I was never one to allow someone else to put me in a box, stereotypical or otherwise. Recently released movies and books are often portraying women as aggressors and uncaring in order to show female strength. Yet, every child knows that nowhere feels as safe as being in the protective embrace of their mommy. So, who is really stronger, a female …

Raising Daughters Into Strong Women A Different Way Read More »

Posted by Monica Pond on August 9, 2021

I’ve been writing about the best practices in raising children since 2006. During this time, I’ve covered a variety of subjects, but never did I think I would end up writing about a topic like this. No matter where you live or how you choose to educate your children, this database scandal could likely affect your family. Behind the safety net of yellow signs, for the past 35 years schools and libraries have been categorized by the United States as “safe places” for children. Sadly, the majority of these “safe places” are exploiting children by spoon feeding them pornographic images, videos, and illicit sexual articles through databases that have been marketed to schools and libraries as “safe and secure.” This seedy material is promoting risky sexual behaviors — including prostitution recruitment services. However, we can’t fully fault the “safe places.” None of the school or library administrators I’ve spoken to …

Public Databases Destroying “Safe Places” For Children Read More »

Posted by Monica Pond on October 5, 2018

An exasperated woman, whose marriage was falling apart, said to me, “Nicholeen, my husband is obsessed by principles. He keeps telling me that I don’t understand principles and that I’m not living by principles. How do you define principles?”   This woman’s husband lived according to his own made-up rules, such as hiding things from the government, controlling his wife and children, fearing religious people, only following his own logic, etc. Why? His excuse was that he was living by principle. But, I could clearly see that he wasn’t. In fact, I wondered if he was maybe a bit confused about what a principle even is.   A principle isn’t something we just resonate with or prefer. When we understand and live by correct principles, we are acknowledging truth and conforming to it, instead of controlling it. When we align our practices with our principles we feel comfortable in our …

Principle vs Practice For Family Unity Read More »

Posted by Monica Pond on April 21, 2021

“I don’t have the time to catch every little thing the kids do. I run a business, I have a large family, and I homeschool. Isn’t there an easier way to stop the bad behaviors than having to correct every one of them? I think I need the condensed, quicker approach to parenting,” said Gwen, a mother of six children from Illinois. Gwen, like so many parents, has many tiring days when burnout feels like it’s just after the next tantrum or attitude problem. Some people may be critical of Gwen because she had a large family, or decided to start a business, or chose to homeschool her children, but then they don’t understand her. Gwen is not a perfectionist or a self-degrading person; she is a mother who wants what’s best for her children and herself, and she’s willing to step out of her comfort zone, or even her …

Preparation —The Long View of Parenting Read More »

Posted by Monica Pond on April 5, 2021

The Power of Calm: an hour-long audio class by Nicholeen. “When I go speak to people around the country about the style of parenting I live in my home and the family culture I am passionate about, one of the biggest responses I get is, ‘I think I need self-government myself before I can teach it to my children.’ This is so true! It is hard to stay calm when you are under pressure and dealing with the stresses of raising children and living in our fast-paced world.

Posted by Richard on April 28, 2020

In this podcast, Nicholeen and Paije discuss the secret to perfect parenting! Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you reacted in a way that you wish you hadn’t, but feel it’s too late to do anything about it? Or do you feel like it’s too much effort to go back and fix an interaction? Listen in for some great insight and teaching on this amazing gold nugget of parenting! https://tsg-podcasts.s3.amazonaws.com/2021/11+November/TSGPodcast87-TheSecretToPerfectingYourParenting-Nov24-2021.mp3

Posted by Nicholeen Peck on November 24, 2021

In this podcast, Nicholeen and Paije discuss a lot of the fun Fall traditions that have been a special part of their life. Why are traditions so important? Do they actually play a role in healthy family relationships? Listen in for some great family traditions you can incorporate into your own family and for the reason why traditions are important. https://tsg-podcasts.s3.amazonaws.com/2021/10+October/TSGPodcast83-FallTraditionsWeLove-Oct18-2021.mp3

Posted by Nicholeen Peck on October 19, 2021

In this podcast, Nicholeen and Paije discuss what goes into bonding with other people. Does it just happen all on its own? Or does it take work? What are the benefits of bonding with other people? Listen in for 5 tips on how to improve your bond with others. https://tsg-podcasts.s3.amazonaws.com/2021/10+October/TSGPodcast82-ABitAboutBonding-Oct11-2021.mp3

Posted by Nicholeen Peck on October 12, 2021

In this podcast, Nicholeen and Paije discuss how your family roots affect your own progression and share two tips to shape your family the way you want to. Do you struggle with your family direction because of things that happened in the past? Do you want to guide your family differently than your parents guided yours? Listen in for those two wonderful tips to help you break the mold and create your own! https://tsg-podcasts.s3.amazonaws.com/2021/09+September/TSGPodcast79-RearrangingYourRootsAndYourRelationships-Sep13-2021.mp3

Posted by Nicholeen Peck on September 14, 2021