I pray with my kids every night.
That’s great! While most Christian parents understand the need to pray with our kids each night, how many really do it? And when we do, do we do it right? Sometimes it’s easy to fall into a rut of saying [...]
Why do you think I’m going to buy you everything?
Probably because you HAVE! That’s one of the things we did with our youngest. We felt bad for her. She was in an orphanage for the first three years of her life. Who doesn’t want to make their child happy? [...]
My little kids are afraid of disabled kids.
Sometimes kids are afraid of other kids who are maybe a bit different than they are. That doesn’t mean we should allow them to continue to ignore them. It means that we need to help our kids not just get [...]
“Up North” is my favorite place. Yours?
“Up North.” It really is a place. In Michigan, it’s anywhere NORTH of where you live—usually somewhere in a wooded area or a lake. For me, “Up North” was the family cottage that my grandparents built in 1955 along the [...]
Chores or no chores?
Chores! Yes. Our kids need them. If there’s one thing that irritates me the most, it’s watching a child manipulate their mom or dad out of doing ANY work. How in the world are we going to teach our kids [...]
I can’t seem to get them interested in anything else.
School is out. We’re not battling the homework routine—now we’re trying to figure out creative ways to get our kids off their mobile devices or computer games. When we’re working, it’s kind of hard to monitor our kids’ electronic behavior [...]
Does it take a village, or a tribe?
In a tribal situation, sometimes it’s difficult to figure out what kids belong to what adults. Why? Because the entire tribe is taking a role in raising kids. While I was growing up, I spent a good part of my [...]
I don’t think I’m going to survive this!
You’re new parents. Just home from the hospital. You have these fantasies that your firstborn’s going to be PERFECT. Calm, just moments of crying, sleep—it’s shorter, but regular. You had NO idea that’s ONLY a dream because your situation’s a [...]
Why is everybody screaming?
I don’t know about you, but there have been a few days in the last few weeks where I look at our country and say, “Lord, what is going on?” There are people who hate us because of our political [...]
Purity is a hard topic these days.
Talking to your teen about sex can be awkward—but if we’re silent, culture isn’t. It’s shouting lies that confuse and distort God’s design. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid [...]