"How do you do it?" That's what my wife said to me a few months ago while we were driving in the minivan. "Do what?" I said back. "Tune them out." In the back of the van, our 3 kids were causing their usual ruckus: "How much longer?" "Quit touching me!" "Can we get a slushy?" "It's a gift," I tell her like a zen master, unaware of the chaos behind me. In actuality, though, it's not just a gift. It's a skill that I've been honing with many years of practice.

image via hajiu Are you ready for this? I'm about to give you the greatest piece of parent communication advice ever. Make sure you're someplace quiet where you can have your mind blown. If you have kids, maybe try the bathroom. Okay, here it is... If it's 1864 and you want to get a message to Abraham Lincoln, send it by carrier pigeon. Gosh...now that I read that, it seems more confusing than mind blowing. My bad. Let me back up. I imagine Abraham Lincoln got a lot of

Dear KidMin leaders: On behalf of the waste management industry, I would like to thank you for your continued use of the take home sheets. These unread parent communication tools fill the trash cans of many homes and church lobbies and provide job security for countless trash collectors. Let me guess... As much as you love the waste management industry, that's probably not what you have in mind when you hand out the take home sheets at the door. You're probably hoping

Confession: before I was a parent, I was so judgy (that's a word, right?) At the end of a church service, we would always give parents a "take home sheet." You probably know the kind that I'm talking about. It's a printout that tells parents what their kid learned in children's church and how to continue the conversation at home. Sounds like a great idea! But then I would see all of the take home sheets in the trash or littering the church floor and I would think, "Shee