Eyres on the Road

Is there any time when it is more important to count our blessings than in a pandemic? On today's cast, the Eyres give us twelve "Gratitude Challenges" that they guarantee will shift our focus from what's wrong to what's right. And they begin the show with 5 questions: How has the pandemic changed 1. The world? 2. This country? 3. The Church 4. Your family? and 5. YOU?

Any parent or grandparent worth their salt has known the joy of reading to a child. And there are so many great stories to read! But the best stories are the ones that teach a principle. If a child's story teaches them the importance and the blessing of a VALUE, then that value will become a part of them. The Eyres, when they founded Joy School for preschoolers nearly 40 years ago, had no idea tha...

Marriaging is an active, grow-and-improve word like parenting, and on today's show, the Eyres expose 8 myths or misconceptions about the world's oldest institution and how false paradigms and unrealistic expectations of these myths can undermine a relationship. Most importantly, Linda and Richard talk about how each myth can be replaced with an "implementable" truth that will strengthen the most i...

The paradox is that the three things we think will bring us more happiness--more control, more ownership, and more independence--actually rob us of joy and happiness! The Eyres, on today's show, give us a full overview of Richard's Paradigm Shift from CO&I--Control, Ownership, and Independence to SS&S--Serendipity, Stewardship, and Synerticity. They draw from Richard's unique two sided, two cover...

Despite the fact that most Grandparents say that their grandkids are the best part of their lives, very little has been written on how to be a better, more influential grandparent. And most of what has been written is by Grandmothers to Grandmothers (Linda's book on Grandmothering was discussed on last week's show). But that all changed with a new book by Richard Eyre--a man-to-man book, a grandfa...

Linda Eyre's book on GRANDmothering has warmed the cockles of countless Grandma's hearts, opening up a treasure trove of new and practical ideas to create a love affair with grandkids and to become relevant and involved and influential in their lives even as you work on building your own greatest legacy. On today's show, Linda and Richard talk about the joys of grandmothering and point out that it...

Poetry is a different kind of form for a book by the Eyres but trust that the themes of family, faith, and love will still be there. Today Richard and Linda read aloud selections from Poems: About Family and Favorites: Exploring Who and What We Love. There is a music to hearing a poem read aloud, so join with us as we listen to these personal stories and lessons in rhyme.

Tennis scholarships paid Richard’s way through college and today, he says, the game keeps him from "going to pot". As a nationally ranked senior player, he cherishes tennis as the one game where he can still beat his kids, and also as "the best metaphor of any sport for the game of life." Like how it's the only game where the score starts over every few minutes, the game where you have to get to "...

Controlling our appetites is an indispensable part of good parenting and good example-setting for our children. If we can learn to control our appetite for food, it will lead to control of ALL of our other appetites, including our technology appetite. When Dr, Bridell's Rational Diet was serialized in Meridian Magazine and drew comments and commendations from thousands of readers, it was decided t...

What will the "Autumn" of your life be like? Will the golden years really be golden? With more than 80 million baby boomers all now in their 50's or 60's or early 70's, and with most of them able to expect to live close to or into their 90's, the questions of how to live these Autumn years is more relevant than it has ever been before. On today's show, Richard and Linda talk candidly about their o...

Despite the success of the Eyre's "how-to" parenting books, they felt that it was time for something different--for a "why-to" book on what is happening to families around the world and why family decline is a problem that affects everyone in the world. They named the book The Turning, with reference to the scriptural admonition to turn the hearts of parents to children and children to parents. Ri...

For more than forty years, Richard and Linda have sent out a Thanksgiving Card to friends and family at the holiday season rather than a Christmas Card. The traditional and original cards that go out every November contain the latest family picture and a poem that tries to express the main focal points of their gratitude for the year past. Taken together, these 40 poems and some additional poetry...

We used to call this problem "spoiled kids" or "selfish little brats" but today there is a better term to describe what is happening to kids who think they deserve to have everything they want, everything their friends have, and all without any work or effort on their part. The word is "Entitlement" and it is becoming a Trap in our society that catches kids in its clutches and squeezes the motivat...

In all their experience with parents globally and in their own experience with their own children and grandchildren, the Eyres have become convinced that the only real and lasting solutions to parenting problems and the challenges children face are spiritual. In a nutshell, the five spiritual solutions are 1. Remembering our Children's true identity, 2. Remembering and following God’s parenting ex...

On this first show after Mothers' Day, the Eyres pay tribute to Moms and their elegant fulfillment of the hardest job in the world. Linda wrote a book a few years back, with their daughter Shawni, called A Mothers Book of Secrets and the book becomes an outline or a five part text for today's show. First, Mothers need to look for light in the trenches, and find the golden moments amidst the turmoi...

On today's show, the Eyres talk about a Secret Code for families based on animals that children love. Humpback Whales never interrupt each other as they sing their deep-ocean songs. Crabs can be caught in a bucket and never escape because their instinct is to pull each other back. Elephants are both firm and tender with their great trunks. The tortoise beats the rabbit because he is steady and kee...

Both parents and children undergo a profound transition when children leave the home. As a child heads out for college or for a mission or for a job, he or she is still part of the family, but no longer a part of the household. How that transition is made, and how much thought goes into it will have a lasting effect on family relationships and on how close and committed the family is for decades t...

On the first page of Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy says "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." The Eyres' interpretation of that statement is that there are certain elements present in all mostly happy and functional families, and even though every family is unique; all families that seem to work and to last somehow manage to develop each of these critical ele...

In this time of crisis, uncertainty, and pandemic, The Eyres suggest that one of the things that helps most is to TAKE THE LONG VIEW OF THINGS! Yes, this is awful on many levels, but along with the silver linings we have mentioned on past shows, there is an opportunity to pull back and try to see the bigger picture. Quoting Shakespeare and Wordsworth, Richard and Linda point out that "sweet are th...

Just returning from the marriage of their granddaughter which Richard performed on a red rock plateau above the Colorado River, the Eyres were in a reflective mood for today's show and pondering some of the blessings and tender mercies that can come out of this tragic pandemic. Participating in a world-wide fast and prayer, Richard and Linda discuss the silver lining of how many families are re-st...

During this time of isolation and quarantine, while many of us have more time with our children than ever before the Eyres have a challenge: Use a little of this "extra time" to have some very important and special individual talks with our children about sex and intimacy. On today's show, Richard and Linda give us an actual, proven dialogue that has been used by tens of thousands of parents to gi...

As the pandemic continues, we hope and pray not only for a cure for the virus, but for some emotional first aid within our own families. We are truly in a new normal as parents with our kids, and we don't know how long it will last. On today's show, the Eyres talk about some simple applications of "emotional first aid" that can help us and our children to not only get through this crisis, but to b...

In "normal life" there is often a disconnect between what we know is most important and where we spend our time and mental energy. We all know family is our top priority, but it often gets less attention and effort than our jobs and our other interests. This pandemic, with everything canceled and with kids out of school, may actually help us better align what matters most and where we spend our ef...

Along with the fear and frustration of this current situation with coronavirus, are there good things and perhaps rare opportunities within our families and inside our own heads? As events and church meetings and schools are canceled, and as we find ourselves less busy, can we (along with our caution and vigilance) find some special opportunities for introspection, for quality family time, for rel...

On today's show, the Eyres tell the story of their long friendship with Rhodes Boyson, the British Member of Parliament who was Margaret Thatcher's Minister of Education and who had some very deep questions about Richard and Linda's faith and about their beliefs about the eternal nature of families. The Eyres wrote several long letters to Boyson, and later put those letters into a book called "The...