As a parent, I’m always on the lookout for tips and reminders to help me be “on my toes” as a parent and work toward being the Super-Dad I want to be.

Today I received an email from Tumblon.com regarding developmental milestones of my 4 year old son.

The email from the parenting website that focuses on the 0-5 year old set shared some advice about the emotional development my son may be experiencing these days.

Here’s one segment of the email I received regarding moodiness of a 4 year old:

MOODINESS

Part of your child’s personality is moodiness. Even the most even-tempered child will experience moodiness at some time. Helping your child recognize what triggers his moodiness, learning how to control moodiness, and finding ways to overcome moodiness are essential to his development.

Part of managing moodiness is understanding the factors that trigger moodiness in your child. Some of the common factors are sleepiness, hunger, and frustration. Knowing what commonly triggers moodiness in your child and having him take ownership in avoiding situations that trigger it will help. For example, if hunger triggers it, remember to take a healthy snack when going out. Sometimes the type of diet your child has can affect his emotions. Paying attention to the way he reacts to different kinds of foods may help with some moodiness. . .

[exceprt from tumblon.com article]

In order to help my little guy in figuring out how to initiate, build, and manage his relationships over the next several months in particular I realize that the first step is to help him to self-inventory his own feelings at any given moment.

Being able to put a finger on how he feels right now will help him interact with his friends and sister (& mom and dad!) with much better results. Of course this is a classic win-win situation.

But then while I reflected upon this advice, it hit me (more…)

Some of the world’s biggest marketing successes weren’t launched by $1 million/minute Superbowl commercials, loss-leader discount promotions or gimmicky jingle-heavy radio spots.

Instead, a product, service, or person catches on when the right things come into alignment.  And many times none of this costs any money at all.

Did you know there’s a formalized discipline to crafting “buzz”?  Yup, there is.

This is the part where the Church could get a little extra boost by taking notes from. . . (more…)

I found myself in line at the grocery store in a daze, waiting for my turn to empty the wallet again (Am I the only one noticing that food prices have skyrocketed lately?).

But I suddenly awoke in noticing that the 3 people ahead of me all had these big colorful containers…of Mr. Peanut Dry Roasted Peanuts!  How odd. . .that 3 in a row picked-up the same item.

So I quickly turned around and scanned the end-caps for a promotional display. I didn’t find one, but did see the aisle in which peanuts would be found.  I abandoned the line and went in search of Mr. Peanut. Why? Purely because of the packaging.

Sure enough, I found Mr. Peanut and he accompanied me back to the checkout line (yes, I got the same spot in line again).

This impulse buy kept me thinking as I snacked throughout the week. It seemed like just another classic success story in product marketing. “Who better to serve American’s favorite peanuts than Mr. Peanut himself?”

But what I’ve come to understand in my week long relationship with Mr. Peanut is that the Church has something to learn from him: (more…)

In the age of Facebook, Twitter, Digg and other digital modes of expression, the new Google generation is comfortable with blurring the lines between offline and online worlds.

“Doing church online” is not a big stretch for the up and coming digerati crowd. I’ve been attending the Internet Campus live worship experiences at LifeChurch.tv recently and feel connected to Pastor Brandon or some other brothers and sisters that I’ve met repeatedly during the iCampus worship experiences.

During the week, I trade Twitter tweets and post comments on blogs which explore tangential issues on a deeper level.

Just as in offline churches, the next step is building relationships that invest in each other’s lives based on trust, genuine love and fellowship. LifeChurch.tv is going about forming these LifeGroups amongst the hundreds and hundreds of worship experience participants who show up each week online.

Here’s one example of an Internet ministry that gets it right in reaching out. . . (more…)