What are the opening hours?

Monday 8am - 8pm Tuesday 8am - 8pm Wednesday 8am - 8pm Thursday 8am - 8pm Friday 8am - 3pm

Winning At Home, 300 S State St Suite 13, Zeeland, MI (2026)

06/21/2026

Happy Father’s Day!
Dan Seaborn

To my fellow dads, I want to spend time sharing some of my own journey with fatherhood, with the hope that you’ll see some of your story echoed in mine.
The first thoughts I had about what kind of dad I would eventually want to be came to my mind when I was a kid. My own dad was an unpredictable presence in our home, and his behavior toward the family followed his moods. When he was feeling good, the home environment was good. But when he wasn’t, it could be a very unpleasant place to be. As a kid, my first thoughts about being a father at some point in the future were mostly centered around those bad days and promising myself that I would never treat my loved ones like that.

When Jane and I were in the early stages of marriage, our thoughts went to kids pretty quickly. When our first child was born, neither of us was prepared for how much energy and attention a child would demand. And we certainly weren’t ready for how stubborn they can be! Those early years of fatherhood were much more tiring than I had anticipated, and there was a version of that realization that would hit me with each of the four kids that we had.

As my kids spanned the range of newborn to around 10 years old, I was the youth pastor at a church in Holland. And I can admit that my thoughts about parenting often centered around how I wanted to avoid some of the parenting choices that led to certain behaviors in the teenagers that I was working with. (Of course, I would later come to learn that my parenting approach had about as much impact on certain teenaged decisions as it did during the terrible twos!)

If you’re a regular reader of these posts, then you see me talk about the phase of fatherhood that I’m currently in – being a parent of adult children. It’s a unique phase, because they no longer need or want me to make decisions for them or to handle things on their behalf. My role these days is more about supporting, encouraging, and being a fun grandpa! And while that might sound pretty straightforward, just like all of the previous phases, this one is not without its challenges!

I know that dads in all different stages of life can relate to some or all of these phases. And no matter where you find yourself, I want to tell you to keep going! I know there are days when fatherhood feels very, very rewarding. I also know there are days when fatherhood feels very, very defeating. Trust me when I say that I have experienced both of those extremes. And sometimes I have felt the one extreme with one child at the exact same time that I was feeling the opposite extreme with another child!

Dads, I hope you find yourselves in a rewarding and beautiful phase of parenting right now. But if not, I want to remind you that what you’re doing is making a huge impact…even if you can’t see it at this exact moment. Keep showing up, keep loving, keep encouraging, keep praying, and I believe that you will eventually see the fruit of that labor! Dads, keep up the great work and I hope you feel celebrated and treasured today. Happy Father’s Day!

06/14/2026

Sharing Your Stories
Dan Seaborn

If you’re a parent or grandparent, I want to encourage you to share your life stories with your kids and your grandkids. Here’s why: It’s easy for kids to see adults as fully established people who can’t relate to much of what they’re going through. They don’t see you struggling with being bullied or struggling to get a job interview even though you’ve turned in plenty of applications. They don’t see you struggling to figure out your math homework or to pay rent in a crummy apartment. They don’t see you having to decide which bill to pay now and which one to hopefully pay next week. Even if some of those struggles are currently happening to you, adults typically do our best to hide our struggles from kids.

But the problem with this approach is that it communicates to kids that there are basically two different phases of life: “kid and teen life” where you struggle and are full of uncertainty about which way you should go, and “adult life” where you’ve got that stuff figured out and you have most (or all) of the answers. As adults, we know this isn’t the way that life works. But we probably remember having a painful moment of clarity at some point in our lives: Oh wow, I expected I would have things figured out a lot more than this by the time I was an adult. Once we’ve lived through the transition from teen to adult, we know there’s not a big breakthrough that happens. Instead, most people’s experience of gaining independence and entering into adulthood is that we just start taking on more responsibilities—whether we feel ready or not—and then go from there!

It might take some effort to remember what things were like for you when you were a kid or a teen, but I think that making the effort will be worth it. If your kids and grandkids can hear you talk about how you navigated the ups and downs of friendships, schoolwork, getting a job, dating, and so many other things, they will be able to connect their own story to yours. They’ll see that if they’re feeling uncertain or insecure, that’s normal and okay. They’ll see that if they’re struggling with schoolwork or relationships, that’s normal and okay too. Basically, when we can let the kids and teens in our life know that it’s normal for life to involve struggle, failure, and disappointment, it will help them to feel okay with the fact that those things are all part of their story in daily life.

When the kids and teens around us get to hear about our history and our story, it will help them orient themselves within their own story. Of course, their life won’t follow our path exactly—and maybe they won’t follow it that closely at all. But the broad strokes of the human experience will still be pretty similar. No matter our path, we’ve all experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, we’ve all experienced relationships that were thriving and relationships that weren’t so good, we’ve all experienced joy and heartache…and everything in between. When we open up about our own experiences, it will help our kids and grandkids see that these things are all a normal part of life. And when we help them navigate the complexities of life by sharing our story, we’ll all be winning more often at home.

06/07/2026

Parents and Grandparents
Dan Seaborn

In the past month or so, I’ve had a couple of moments where my grandparenting instincts haven’t matched up with my adult children’s parenting instincts. I don’t need to get into details, but I know that every parent and grandparent has had their fair share of these moments. I was doing my best and thought I had a good plan that was well executed. But it didn’t match up to the plan the parents of the children wanted to see happen.

I won’t lie to you and tell you that these moments make me immediately happy and excited to carry out their plan. Of course, it hurts a little when I feel like they are questioning my judgment. And it kind of feels like they are critiquing my own parenting skills. I don’t want these moments to feel this way, but there were flashes of those feelings for me. Instead of allowing those hurt feelings to dictate my next choice, I stopped and reminded myself that the parent’s choices on how to raise the kids are more important than the grandparent’s choices on how to raise the kids. I was thrilled with that arrangement when I was the parent and I was telling my parents that we weren’t going to do things the way they wanted to do them. But now that I’m not the one who gets the final say, I have to pause and check myself before I start pushing for my own preferences.

To all the grandparents out there, I intentionally started out by talking about how hard these moments are. I don’t want to pretend that these situations are simple or easy to navigate. We’re feeling a lot of things and it’s tempting to argue or to want to prove that our way is “right.” I know that impulse…I’ve felt it myself many times, and I’ve followed it on some occasions. But when I slow down a little bit, I’m able to remember that my turn at parenting is done. And now it’s my children’s turn to parent; and they get to do that their way.

Again, it’s helpful to remember that I parented my kids quite differently than the way I was raised. In my mind, I made many improvements on the version of parenting that was handed down to me. But my parents didn’t always agree that my changes were moving in a positive direction. I’m sure there were moments when one of them would sit and bite their lip as they watched me handle a parenting situation in a different way than they would have. It’s helpful for me to remember that even if they had attempted to chime in with helpful advice, I would not have been very receptive in that moment. Most people don’t like to feel like they’re taking advice from a backseat driver!

To all the parents (who have probably really enjoyed this article so far), I also want to offer some thoughts for you. I know it can be exasperating when grandparents overstep or when we allow or don’t allow something when your decision would have been the opposite. But please do your best to remember that we almost always have the best of intentions. Even if you don’t agree with what we’re doing, we’re probably doing it because we think it will be beneficial to the kids. And try to remember that these are kids that the parents and grandparents both love.

When parents and grandparents can get on the same page, it’s a beautiful thing. But that won’t always happen, so try to remember that everybody is on “team kid,” even when it might not feel like that’s the case. When parents and grandparents work together for the benefit of the kids, it helps everybody to win more often at home.

06/01/2026

Last week our administrative team got away for a retreat. We are truly grateful for all they do to serve our clients at Winning at Home! They are the first voices and faces of our clients experience, and do an incredible job walking people through the process of their first meeting with their counselors. Their joy, grace, and love remind potential clients they are not alone in their time of need.

05/31/2026

Don’t Shrink
Dan Seaborn

When I’m around people and families, I am almost always paying attention and making note of patterns that I see. Not in a judging way, but because I want to be able to speak to things that are showing up in people’s lives. Something that has caught my eye recently has been the danger of one person in the family being the one to run the show. What I mean is that when one person has a very strong personality, they can end up making decisions for the whole family…and not just on things where nobody else has a strong preference.

This can be a dad or a mom who takes the reins and makes all of the decisions. Or it can be a moody teenager or a forceful child who makes life miserable if they don’t get their way. No matter who it is, it’s not a good feeling for the other people involved. I want to clarify that I’m not saying that parents shouldn’t make rules or that they shouldn’t guide the overall direction of the family unit. I’m talking about something that is more in the realm of “control” than in the realm of “leading” or “guiding.” It can be one of those things that is hard to define but easy to identify when it’s actually happening in front of you.

When one person is dominating the family unit and they’re making sure that everybody does what they want them to do, when they want them to do it, the result is that everybody else starts to shrink back. Often this is a behavior that is learned over time (and based on past negative experiences) where people decide that it’s just not worth it to push back or to speak their mind. So they shrink instead.

If you notice that you’ve been shrinking, I’d encourage you to start speaking up more often in your family. I would recommend that you start practicing with smaller things, because if you start out by speaking up about the biggest issues you have with somebody, that conversation is likely to go poorly. But if you start out with smaller stuff, then you can practice speaking up about things that have lower stakes and you can learn a bit about what works and what doesn’t work in these conversations. You might even end up having a conversation about the fact that you’ve been stifling yourself because you didn’t want to rock the boat. It takes time to change established dynamics, but hopefully your loved one will be open to truly hearing your perspective on things.

If you’re reading this and you notice that you’ve been the one doing the dominating, I’d encourage you to start working to actively include the people around you. I think many people who dominate those around them don’t even realize they’re doing it. They just see the opportunity to speak their mind and they go for it. There’s nothing wrong with that. But if you notice that you’re the only one speaking up, or if you notice that you’re getting your desired outcome 80+ percent of the time, then you might be dominating the people around you by accident. If that’s the case, you can start to make some changes by asking people for their input. Even if you think of yourself as somebody who has good ideas most of the time, getting other perspectives is a great asset when you’re making decisions and planning.

When everybody has a voice in family life, you’ll be winning more often at home!

05/28/2026

We are excited to share several meaningful events planned for the coming months at Winning At Home. These gatherings are designed to celebrate relationships, strengthen families, and build community.

Here is what is ahead:

September 29 – Legacy Luncheon
A special celebration honoring couples married 50 years or more.

November 13 – Women’s Bus Trip to Chicago
A memorable day with a surprise guest speaker.

December 4 & 5 – Father/Daughter Dance
Two evenings of fun, dancing, and creating lasting memories.

February 20, 2027 – Community Polar Paddle Pickleball Event
A fun fundraiser supporting Winning At Home missions.

We hope you will join us for one or more of these events. They are wonderful opportunities to invest in your marriage, your family, and your community.

Details and registration links will be available soon on our website and in future posts. Which of these are you most looking forward to?

05/24/2026

The Family Trust
Dan Seaborn

When it comes to family life, we all want to know that we can trust the people closest to us. And while it might not be obvious at first, the idea of trust covers a number of different categories. We can be trustworthy in the sense that we are reliable and people can count on us. We can be trustworthy in the sense that we keep things in confidence when they shouldn’t be shared. We can be trustworthy in the sense that we are not manipulative or deceptive. There are so many ways that trust shows up in our family relationships, and I want to encourage everybody to work to grow in each of them.

That growth is key because trust is an important foundation of relationships. Once that bedrock of trust exists, it allows the relationship to flourish from there. Without it, it’s hard for a lot of things to happen. It’s hard to make plans when there is a lack of trust. It’s hard to share your struggles and vulnerabilities when there is a lack of trust. It’s hard to avoid worry or second-guessing when there is a lack of trust. It’s hard to let the kids borrow the car when there is a lack of trust. It’s hard to feel good about your spouse going on a weekend trip with their friends when there is a lack of trust.

When my kids were in their teenage years and were enjoying many of the freedoms that come during that stage of life, I would often remind them that trust takes a long time to build and can be broken very quickly. It’s a painful truth, and we’ve probably all been on both sides of that equation. We’ve probably all been the trust breaker at some point, and we’ve probably all had our trust broken at some point. As long as the breaking of trust isn’t happening on a regular basis, it’s helpful to remember that disappointment and hurt (and then working to heal those hurts) is normal in close relationships with other people. I point that out explicitly because it’s helpful to remember that we’re all flawed people just trying to do our best to love one another. It’s inevitable—no matter what the dynamic of the relationship is—that we will make mistakes and they will make mistakes.

If you feel like you’ve been spending a lot of time in the “broken trust” area lately, then it’s past time for some repair! I know that repair is not a one-person job, but I truly believe that one person can start the process. Whether you’ve been the one to break the trust or you’ve been the one that had your trust broken, repair starts with a conversation about what happened and an acknowledgement of the pain that it caused. It ideally ends with the offending party owning up to what they did and being committed to handling things a different way next time. Like most things worth doing, building and repairing trust is a slow process that will probably have some ups and downs along the way. Don’t get discouraged if it isn’t just all “ups” because that is an unrealistic expectation.

When your home is a place where trust is valued and pursued, each member of the family will feel more peaceful and secure. Building (or rebuilding) will take work, but the result is that you’ll be winning more often at home.

05/20/2026

There is no right way to grieve, and there is no timeline for healing. Grief can feel like an island.

This weekly therapy group offers a safe, structured space to connect with others who truly understand the weight of loss. Come exactly as you are — with your stories, your silence, or your questions.

What We Offer:
Professional guidance
Grief education
Shared peer support
A judgment-free space

Who It’s For:
Anyone navigating the painful terrain of losing a loved one.

Group Details:
Closed format (8 weeks) – Commitment preferred but not required
Casual, confidential, and respectful of your unique pace

Logistics:
Starts: Monday, June 15, 2026 (2:30 PM – 4:00 PM)
Ends: Monday, August 3, 2026
Where: 300 S. State St., Zeeland, MI 49464
Cost: FREE

Facilitators: Blaise Eisele & Sara Hill
(Clinical Counseling Interns supervised by Emilie DeYoung, Ph.D.)

Register today by emailing:
[email protected] or [email protected]
You don’t have to walk through grief alone.

05/17/2026

A New Coat of Paint
Dan Seaborn

My dad was famous (at least in our immediate family) for using a new coat of paint to make anything look better. I’m not joking when I say that my kids grew up playing basketball on the hoop hanging on their garage…and the net was completely stiff because it had so many coats of paint. It was well past the point where it had absorbed into the nylon, and it was just paint laying on top of paint. You’d have needed an ice pick to get to any kind of fabric. And his lawn furniture and porch swing were equally layered with paint. Truthfully, I think Dad’s system was kind of genius in its simplicity. He was in South Carolina, so he wasn’t having to fight against winter like we do around here.

We know that when somebody is getting ready to sell their house or move out of their rental, the easiest way to make the place look like it’s in good condition is to spackle over the imperfections and throw on a new coat of paint. A new coat of paint may work if you’re trying to extend the life of lawn furniture (or even basketball nets!) or if you’re trying to make your interior walls and ceilings look good, but this approach doesn’t work so well for family life or relationships.

When we have conflict in the home, we can say a quick “my fault” or “sorry” and then move on and hope everybody forgets about it and doesn’t hold anything against us. For minor things, that is not a problem. But for serious things where our attitude, words, or behavior has truly impeded or hurt somebody, then a flippant response like that is trying to slap a new coat of paint on top of damage that won’t repair on its own. Imagine trying to paint over water damage, termite damage, or mold damage. It won’t fix anything; it will only temporarily mask the issue. If we don’t actually get in there and work to make repairs in our relationships, we are doing the same thing.

I know that “repair” is a vague word, but I chose it on purpose. Because there is no one-size-fits all approach. As I’ve mentioned in these articles before, all four of my adult children are different from one another, and they’re all different from Jane as well. So, when it’s time for repair, I need to be aware of who I’m talking to, and I need to approach them as an individual rather than as a generic person. Overall, repair will be based on an apology, addressing the hurt, and letting them know how I plan to handle it differently the next time we run into something similar. Depending on who I’m talking to, the timing and the wording will be different (because I know them as an individual and want that to be clear as part of the repair).

If reading this has made you realize that you’ve been doing the “new coat of paint” approach in relationships where true repair is needed, I hope you choose to handle things differently from here on out. It won’t be fun and it won’t be easy, but I believe that it will be worth it! As you get into these conversations, if it brings up something that you feel is too big to work through on your own, please know that our counselors and coaches at Winning At Home are available to help you navigate these difficult situations and conversations. Don’t hesitate to reach out to set up an appointment for yourself or as a couple (or you and a parent or a child)!

05/11/2026

Thank you Sawyer Schipper Memorial Foundation for blessing us with your sponsorship!

Winning At Home

06/21/2026

06/14/2026

06/07/2026

06/01/2026

05/31/2026

05/28/2026

05/24/2026

05/20/2026

05/17/2026

05/11/2026

Address

Opening Hours

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Organization

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Monday	8am - 8pm
Tuesday	8am - 8pm
Wednesday	8am - 8pm
Thursday	8am - 8pm
Friday	8am - 3pm