3 Steps to Better Family Scheduling Decisions
Any parent knows trying to keep up with the proverbial Joneses is flat-out exhausting. Athletic coaches tell you your kids need to play on select travel teams. Voice coaches inform you your child won’t make all-state choir if they don’t keep up their lessons. And if your kids don’t take the…
It’s Good to Require Obedience
It’s challenging to require obedience from our children. Just like us, our kids are sinful and naturally resistant to any will other than their own. Additionally, many of us struggle to exercise good and healthy authority because we know we aren’t perfect parents. Those internal…
3 Big Problems that Lead to Unmet Expectations
We all come into marriage and parenting with expectations. We may or may not realize it, but we have expectations about everything in life. Our expectations come from a variety of sources, including media/social media, our parents/family of origin, other friends, and from God’s Word and the body of…
Blessed Boundaries
I’m currently reading through the Pentateuch again. If you’ve read the first five books of the Bible, you’ve probably noticed that God gives his people a lot of laws and demands their obedience. As I read through this time, however, I’ve noticed how often God says He wants to bless His people. Even…
Transparent, Trustworthy, Wise Tech Use
As we parent tech-savvy kids in a tech-dependent age, we must emphasize transparency. Our individual screens offer the illusion of privacy, anonymity— even secrecy. But these are misnomers of our tech age; our every move online is followed, our information is mined and often sold, and even…
Fear vs. Faith-Based Parenting
Today our 10-year-old boys (twins) rode their bikes to school by themselves for the first time ever. That might sound insignificant to you, but in our house it was a huge milestone. We chose to trust our good God, our parenting, and our children. In short, we chose faith over fear. Fear vs.…
Fierce Trust Leads to Fierce Love
“You can take care of him because I’m taking care of you.” This statement has recently become a common reminder in our home. My son is constantly trying to hoard his stuff away or show he is the best or the fastest. He wants to be in control— he wants to prove he’s worthy— and he doesn’t want his…
Please Talk with Your Kids About Sex
I have three teenagers at home, and l just want to start out by saying that I can’t offer you a magic conversation or a 3-step guaranteed process for your kids to grow up with a healthy and biblical view of sexuality. My husband and I are learning as we stumble along. I’m certain my kids don’t…
4 Helpful Tips in Teaching Young Children to Communicate
When my youngest was two, he annoyed his older brother continually by taking his toy and running away. My oldest would chase him, screaming and angry, trying to get back what belonged to him. Can anyone relate? My younger son simply wanted to play with his big brother, but he didn’t know how to ask…