I still remember the fear I felt. I remember my heart rate rising as the adrenaline pumped through my veins. I can still hear his laugh as he choked me with my own hoodie (not to the point of not breathing- just enough to humiliate me). I remember the look of the other guys at my lunch table. Everyone one of them had found something really interesting on their lunch trays because they couldn’t take their eyes off of whatever is it was. I couldn’t blame them. This guy was much bigger and much meaner than any of us. This boy was constant. My entire sixth grade year was ruined because this kid …

I was late to the digital revolution. I resisted as long as I could. But as the famous movie quote goes, “Resistance is futile.” As soon as I started Facebook, my eyes were opened to the wonders of social media. And don’t get me started on Twitter--I LOVE Twitter! I'm able to connect with so many people from all over the globe. The amount of information at my fingertips is staggering. The chance to reconnect with old high school friends has been fantastic. I really do love all this technology and how it’s increased my ability to connect and communicate with people. But like anything, there …

My daughter has never uttered the words “I hate you” to me or her mother. I know plenty of parents have heard those words come spewing from their children’s mouths, and I know that it has cut them to their very core. To hear your own offspring, your babies, say such mean and hurtful words, would destroy anyone. The closest my daughter has come to this is the phrase “You don’t love me!” Even that was difficult. Hearing her say it was challenging. It challenged everything we had ever told her and everything we lived. It set me on edge. My initial reaction was anger. Fortunately, my wife was …

There are certain times of the day that I love. There’s something about these times that are different than others. They lend to a connection between us and our kids that the rest of the day doesn’t. We live for these natural rhythms that can create teachable moments, lasting memories and a bond that can’t be counterfeited. For example — when I take my kids to school we always enjoy the drive. When our youngest was still a baby, my daughter and I would crank up (not too loud) Taylor Swift and sing the songs together. I know every song to all her CDs. I’m not sure if that’s cool for a dad or …

My family and I recently moved into another subdivision in Wentzville. We, like so many others, had fallen victim to the housing crisis and we had been leasing ever since we moved back in 2006. So it was with great joy that we became home owners again last month.  We love our new neighborhood. People are out in the streets talking and kids are running around playing; it’s a picture from the “good old’ days.” We’ve met so many kind people that it’s hard to keep names and families straight! But something subtly changed in the new home. My wife and I noticed that something was slightly off …

I saw my first pornographic image when I was in kindergarten. My family lived in an apartment complex in Arlington, TX. It was a warm summer day, and we were playing hide and seek. I was hiding in some shrubbery with another kid and while waiting, we started playing in the dirt. As we did, we uncovered something buried behind those shrubs. I can still remember the excitement; it was like unlocking long, lost treasure! We opened the treasure box (a coffee can) and pulled out a wad of some sort of magazine paper stuffed inside. As we unfurled the paper, we saw something neither of us had ever …

Sitting around the dinner table the other evening, my family and I were talking about this and that… nothing big, just how everyone’s day had gone. I was up getting my son a second or third helping of something and my daughter asked my wife “Have you and daddy ever made out?” Oh boy. Where did my little girl (who’s not so little…really) hear this stuff? I know that my wife and I have never discussed our physical life in front of our kids. So she’s hearing it somewhere. TV? Friends? What? As my wife and I laughed about the question, it brought to the fore front of our minds the amount of sex …

This past week, my daughter came downstairs for breakfast and told us that she had watched some of the movie Titanic (it was on a cable channel) but that some of it was inappropriate, and she changed it to something on Disney. I loved the fact that she saw something that was wrong in her mind, and acted on it. I loved that she told us about it. And I love that we were able to reinforce that positive behavior and use that teachable moment. But what happens when we aren’t there, or when a child doesn’t change the channel because of curiosity or out of rebellion? If you haven’t noticed, there …

First of all, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Joe Smith, and yes — that is my REAL name. I’m 34 years old, I have two amazing kids and have been married to a wonderful woman for 11 years. I grew up in Wentzville and graduated from Wentzville High School (when there was only one) in 1995. I have worked with kids and teens for over a decade and have a deep desire to see families succeed.  Moving back to Wentzville in 2006, I was shocked at the changes that had taken place since I left in 1995. It was almost as if the whole town had grown up and come into its own. The landscape had …