Christian parenting

Mama, Thank You for Disciplining Me
Several years ago one of our boys suggested that we take a few minutes at our family birthday celebrations and each of us share something we love or respect about the birthday person. We've done that ever since and wow. Just wow. It has been incredible to hear every member of the family express out…
Name-Calling – No Big Deal, or Big Deal?
Do you remember the first time somebody called you a bad name, and a well-meaning parent or teacher told you to brush it off, saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me”? Did it work? Actually, our experience is that a playground scuffle wears off pretty quickly. A verbal…
Four Reasons You Need to Change Your Parenting Style
Our oldest son shook his head, sadly. “You never would have let me do that,” he said, watching a younger sibling. We had to admit, he had a point. When he was that age, we were new parents, full of theories but short on experience. He was Offspring 1.0, and parenting was still something of…
My Son Wants to Use Stronger Words
A reader asks, "I have a question I'd appreciate being posted anonymously, please. My 12-year-old son came to me with this: he would like permission to use some "stronger" words to use on certain occasions. He had some good friends who use words like "cr-p"and "dang", and he says he feels left out when all…
Rivalry and Unity
Getting Along With Siblings
If you have siblings, you probably have rivalry. It's a natural, human thing, and it's plain from Scripture that it's an expression of our fallen human nature. Think about Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers ... and that's just in Genesis. It's a problem--and something God wants us to deal with it.…
Six Ways to Beat Bickering
A friend asked recently: Ok ladies, it's time for me to do some major/drastic behavior boot camp in this house. I am committing to staying home for several days, going nowhere and do nothing but set straight some major behavior issues we have here. I need some advice, though...How do I handle/tackle my 4 and…
Miley Cyrus, MTV, and Why It Matters (A Lot) to Christian Families
For a couple of days, our personal Facebook feeds have been full of outraged posts and links about Miley Cyrus's reportedly (we didn't watch it) disgusting performance on MTV's VMA Awards. It was curious that the almost universal response among our friends was either shock (What in the world has happened to our world?) or…
How To Have a H.E.A.R.T. for Your Kids
When I hear about a parenting book, I want to know what kind of folks the authors really are. Well, we've known Rachael Carman for many years, have seen her in stress, have watched her with her children, have seen her with her husband, have worked together to promote homeschooling with her and have done…
For Instruction in Righteousness
Next up is one of our favorite resources from one of our favorite companies. We have used For Instruction in Righteousness since our adult children were young and we have seen our children's hearts changed time and time again by God's Word through this book. In our opinion, every family needs this book -- and…
Boo to All That!
“What is it that drives people to dress like that for Halloween?” my wife asked me. She wasn’t talking about little girls dressed like ballerinas and fairies, but folks of any age play-acting the monster variety. Why, indeed, would anyone want to pretend to be a zombie, a vampire, or a ghost for a few…