Parenting

If you feel bogged down, disconnected from your faith, and wondering if your efforts are making a difference in the relentless drive of culture, you’re not alone. This article will help you articulate what you are up against and give you the fuel to dive deeper into the arms of Jesus and enrich your parenting rewards.

Everything changes so fast between the years 13 and 18, and it is like living through a five-year hurricane. Here are a handful of pretty hard-won truths I wish I had known before my kids became teens.

Today, as society has become more accepting of blended families, thankfully, so has the church. Here are seven ways faith can strengthen blended families.

Parents need to have a strong biblical foundation to teach their kids the basics of morality and right and wrong. That way, when they encounter people who try to challenge their belief in what is right or wrong, they'll have a good anchor in a book that has been around for generations. When parents are anchored in the Word of God rather than what's popular in society, they increase their chances of having good, healthy, well-adjusted children who grow up to be healthy, well-adjusted adults.

Hearing my mother be vulnerable with me about the state of our finances was comforting. I couldn't do anything to change the situation. However, I'm glad they were able to share their struggles with me. Because I knew they were struggling, it made it easy for me not to ask them for anything frivolous as they could not afford it.

It is perfectly okay for Christians to decide not to have children, as the Bible doesn't mandate parenthood, and the decision should be based on personal convictions, health, finances, and lifestyle. God's love for individuals remains unchanged regardless of whether they have children, and the purpose of marriage is to reflect the love between Jesus and the Church, not to fulfill societal expectations.

Along with patience, I wish I would have been a better listener. Instead of multi-tasking and answering my kids with half-hearted responses, I wish I would have stopped what I was doing, looked them in the eye, and truly listened as they spoke. When our kids feel heard, they gain a deeper sense of security and worth. 

Engage with young adults about this issue, ask questions, be humble in your response, and offer hope that our gracious God will one day make all things new and right all wrongs.

Knowing the lies and truth about the roles of men can give more purpose and peace, however. Here are five lies men believe about their roles in the family.

The most healthy way we can see ourselves with our kids is as their parents, a role superior to just friends. It's a role that looks like shared joy, guidance, respect, unconditional love, and correction, and when our kids leave the nest, it mostly looks like being our kid's number one fan as they move through life. Here are some ways we can invest in creating a robust relationship with our kids as their friend and parent.

Parents and adult children have unique relationships with each other, and they should be aware of one another's boundaries. 

The lies I believed exacerbated my feelings of inadequacy and stifled my joy. If you’re mothering your children with the lead weight of lies dragging you down—or if you know someone who is—combat each deception with truth from God’s Word.

Who is Gen Alpha? What are their attributes, and what does that mean for what’s next? Here are six cultural markers that distinguish today's children from earlier generations, and what that means for the future of Christianity.

These are deep topics for kids to understand, so consider Lent a time to introduce them to these concepts. Depending on their ages, it may be as simple as beginning to help them understand what sin is or as complex as teaching the theology behind many of the observations during Lent.

One of the most powerful things we can do as parents is to teach our kids God’s Word, to help them learn how to hide His Truths in their hearts.

One of the most intense concerns a mother has for her children, apart from her concerns for their physical safety, is her concern for their spiritual condition.

With so much at stake, how can we help position our children for long-term success without destroying them in the process?

Self-control is very different from culture’s self-entitlement. Goodness and kindness are not the same thing. Patience isn’t a sign of weakness nor an invitation to accept abuse. By teaching our children these principles and their proper definitions at a young age, they will grow into the depths of their meaning and application as they mature.

As I've seen young women develop relationships with the legacies of the women who have gone before, I have become more convicted that it is important to teach the "feet on the ground" examples of those who have gone before us and now surround us as a part of that "great cloud of witnesses."

When we pray to God, asking for our children to be protected from Satan, we should remember that we aren’t praying to a distant, indifferent entity. No! We’re praying to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! As you pray through the following scriptures, pray expectantly.