Remember, you cannot be responsible for the happiness of other people. You can do your best to be sensitive to the needs and desires of others, but some people will not be happy no matter how much you do for them. If you decided you were responsible for their happiness, you could drive yourself completely up the nearest wall.
Kevin LemanMost arguments with teenagers are setups. Your darling, simply stated, is manipulating you.
Kevin LemanLife is a pressure cooker and whether you remain serene or become stressed-out depends on how you handle that pressure.
Kevin LemanYour home needs to be a place where your kids can failโand learn from their failure. Surround them with love, show them how important they are to you, but donโt try to undo their failures. Itโs not our job as parents to get our kids off the hook.
Kevin LemanWhy does a dad matter so much to a daughter, in particular? A dad is the one who teaches a daughter what a male is all about. It's the first man in her life--the first man she loves, the first male she tries to please, the first man who says no to her, the first man to discipline her. In effect, he sets her up for success or failure with the opposite sex. Not only that, but she takes cues from how Dad treats Mom as she grows up about what to expect as a woman who is in a relationship with a man. So Dad sets up his daughter's marriage relationship too.
Kevin LemanI believe the time we really look big in a child's eyes is when we go to them and apologize for our mistakes and we say, 'I was wrong. Will you forgive me?'
Kevin LemanIf you want to improve your sex life as a couple, you need to examine your relationship outside the bedroom. What are you doing that is keeping you from sexual intimacy?
Kevin LemanThat's the way it is with firstborns. Mom and Dad may think they're in charge, but the firstborn knows better, and so does the youngest sibling.
Kevin LemanLove is a cognitive, willful act. Feelings have very little to do with it, particularly around three o'clock in the morning when the baby needs changing or somebody has "lost it" before getting to the bathroom to throw up.
Kevin LemanNobody's sex life is such that every experience is a ten. You may have to be satisfied with regular eights or sixes and even an occasional three.
Kevin LemanThe only way we can ever teach a child to say "I'm sorry" is for him to hear it from our lips first.
Kevin LemanHow parents interact with each child as he or she enters the family circle determines in great part that child's final destiny.
Kevin LemanMoms are, in my opinion, the wonders of the universe. They can leap tall buildings in a single bound, they can go where no person has gone before, and they can somehow get toddlers to eat. The problem is that mothers are also some of the most stressed people on the planet. There's just so much to do and not enough of them.
Kevin LemanThe older your teenagers are, the more they will have their own ideas and opinions. If you take them seriously, rather than assuming your ideas are always best and the only ones, you will begin to grow a relationship that will extend beyond the hormone-group years.
Kevin LemanHow you handle peer pressure - the pressure your children feel as well as the pressure you feel - in the early years will play a significant role in how your children handle peer pressure when they become adolescents.
Kevin LemanGood sex is an all-day affair. You can't treat your wife like a servant and expect her to be eager to sleep with you at night. Your wife's sexual responsiveness will be determined by how willingly you help out with the dishes, the kids' homework, or that leaky faucet that drips throughout the night.
Kevin Leman