When parents are in the thick of life with their children, they often take little time to stand back and reflect on the big picture. The big picture being: engaging with your children in the moments is the point of parenting, not wishing for things to be “perfect” or “right” in the moment, but messy and […]
Category Archives: Parenting
It’s Their Hill! | A Parenting Lesson
Every winter I create a sledding hill of of the stairs of our deck by clearing the deck of snow and slowly creating a mound higher and higher as the winter months progress. Sari and Macie just love climbing and sledding on it. I’m pretty proud of the hills I’ve made! But that pride can […]
Dear Parents, “Please Challenge Your Children (and Yourself)”
Dear Parents, I was recently talking to a mother of a 7th grade student who was sharing with me that her son didn’t want to come to Sunday school and Youth group at church. “Every Sunday morning and every Wednesday evening is a battle,” this Mom shared. “I make him go, even when he doesn’t […]
Are Your Kids Stained or Painted with the Gospel?
Jared Martin shared an amazing insight a while back. I’ve reordered the question: Are your kids stained or painted with the Gospel? I think for many who teach children, we just teach kids the Bible and about Jesus and it sticks to them. It might stick for a long time or it might stick for a […]
Have You Ever Thought About a Discipleship Plan for Your Family?
What would such a plan look like?
Parenting is All About Training
I think sometimes we parents get distracted from stewarding our children. We forget this deal is all about training. Training requires doing the same thing over and over again. When I was in art school, I spent hours working on the same vase. I sketched it with pencil. I used charcoal. I painted in oil, […]
“I Really Want You to Have a Cell Phone, too!”
Hayward Wesleyan’s discipleship pastor, Heath Davis, and myself have been trying to engage our church (and the community) in conversations about technology. We have learned a lot. During one of our conversations, we were talking about kids are getting cell phones younger and younger. One father shared a remarkable exchange he recently had with his 5th […]
Why Do Children Need to Obey?
Children need to be taught to obey. Why? Parents, teaching your children to obey is actually training your children to obey God. When our children are young, things need to be black and white. Obedience brings blessing and disobedience brings punishment. Children have to learn that disobedience does not work for them. Can you imagine […]
Men Need to Know Their Family
Men Need to Know Their Family Men need to know their family intimately, not on a superficial level. What are you concerned about? What are you worried about? How are you doing? How are we doing? Men fail to know their families in that their family is not a priority. Men show their spouse as […]
What Are the Greatest Spiritual Threats Against the Family?
We talk often of encouraging parents, but we need to equally warn and caution parents of the dangers and threats families face in our world. “We are very diligent to protect our material assets, and we need to be equally, if not more, diligent to protect our family’s spiritual welfare.” What are a couple of […]