Category: parenting
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ParentingTeaching small fries to take notes, sing psalms, and speak to God
When your child is old enough to write… When your child learns to write he is ready to begin taking sermon notes. Say, what? Let’s…
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ParentingThe Pity Party Pit and how to get out of it
***** Homemaking and motherhood are hard. There are days and even seasons when the monotony can feel palpable as we change one more diaper, wash…
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ParentingThe Golden Rule: the biblical response to self-pity
Sin is devastating. An eight-year-old tries to be kind to his older sister. She responds with, “That was stupid!” Michael is crushed. He tried so…
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ParentingGive your kids a super power
***** I’ve been thinking lately that books are incredible. They are full of adventures and worlds and characters that shape us in profound ways. They…
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MarriageThree questions for you
Here are three questions you should ask yourself about your communication with those you love. The way you answer these questions provides insight into the…
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ParentingThe part about parenting I didn’t find in any parenting book
I tend to be a fairly methodical person, so what does a methodical person do to prepare for parenthood? Why, read a small library of…
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ParentingThe importance of risky play
“Make sure you’re home by suppertime… and don’t get your feet wet!” Mom called out as my brother and I hurried to our bikes. We…
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ParentingWhy it’s good for teens and kids to do chores
***** Chances are, as a part of the family, you are asked to do various menial (or not so menial) tasks about the house or…
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ParentingJ.C. Ryle on teaching our children to pray
In his book “Duties for Parents,” J.C. Ryle encourages parents to take seriously the admonishment in Proverbs 22:6 to “Train up a child in the…
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ParentingA word for a new mother…as given at her first baby shower
I feel singularly ill-equipped to offer an exhortation on motherhood at a baby shower to anyone, but especially to you Victoria, for a couple of…
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ParentingHave a child – change the world
In his best-selling book Atomic Habits, James Clear makes the case for committing to tiny changes in your life, for drastic change. “Here’s how the…
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ParentingObstacles and roadblocks to having children
***** On my 20th birthday, I flopped back on my dorm bed and told my mom on the phone, “I thought that I’d have kids…
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ParentingWhat’s the purpose of family devotions?
A friend who was adopting two toddlers asked two of my adult children how we did our family devotions and what they appreciated about them….
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ParentingRaising a family to hunt
***** I put my vehicle into four-wheel drive before attempting to climb the driveway to the home of Rick and Chelsey Ewald, perched on the…
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ParentingHow well are we fulfilling God’s original command?
When God created the world, he gave man a foundational command commonly known as the creational mandate: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…
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ParentingPreparing to inherit the earth
**** First published in the November 2013 issue. Current events make it appear that Christianity is on a downward slide in North America, as well…
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ParentingKids and alcohol: parents are more influential than they may know!
Your teen is at a party with some of the “coolest” young people he knows. He’s encouraged to have a drink (“Come on, it’s only…
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Parenting4 problems with State-funded daycare
…and the erosion of the family that the Church isn’t talking about enough **** Orthodox Christians are champions of the family, and rightly so. Stretching…
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ParentingKeeping in touch with the grands
“Grandchildren are the crown of the aged…” Prov. 17:6a “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,” Prov. 13:22a It used to be…
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ParentingTeaching your kid to appreciate broccoli
or, Cooking up a recipe for contentment ***** One of the most common complaints I hear from other parents is how they have been unable…
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ParentingQuantity, not quality: good parenting takes time
In The New Tolerance authors Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler share the way one parent taught his teenage son to see through the worldly messages…
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ParentingChildren’s games that mom & dad can play without going batty
I grew up with board games of all sorts, playing 5-6 hour “train games” with my brother and his friends, or Settlers of Catan back when…
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ParentingThe high cost of fatherhood: being a blessing to your children is hard work
Sociologists and politicians on the right of the political spectrum often tell us that one of the biggest problems facing society is the lack of…
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ParentingChores are good for our kids, and the earlier the better
Something parents have long suspected but few children have believed has been verified by research: chores are good for kids. The research that backs this…
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Parenting“Mom, where’s my toothbrush?” 9 packing tips for before and during the trip
The well-circulated belief that “moms are supposed to know where everything is at every given moment” was humorously illustrated for me two years ago when…
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Human RightsHow mom and dad can fight Big Brother
Governments in BC, Alberta and elsewhere have shown they want to use government schools to teach children that their gender is something they can choose….
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InternetParents, you are your child’s best protection from online horrors
“You cannot raise your children as your parents raised you, because your parents raised you for a world that no longer exists.” – Author unknown…
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Parenting8 tips for traveling with the family
My favorite travel anecdote came from Reader’s Digest years ago. An older woman felt overwhelmed while packing to go to Florida with her husband. She…
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AssortedIs recreational marijuana sinful?
God says we should honor the governing authorities (Romans 13:1-6) in as far as they don’t require us to violate God’s law. So, before today,…
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ParentingDon’t let the culture train up your children in the way they should go
Our family loves to watch the Olympics. As we’ve watched the last several years, we’ve been noticing how different each Olympics has been even from…
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Parenting5 tips for family devotions with small children
For Christian parents, reading the Bible and praying with our children each day is a critical part of raising them in the faith. Yes, it’s…
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Parenting6 Duties of Parents
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” – Prov. 22:6 *****…
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ParentingIs Cleanliness next to Godliness?
My goal is to have every room of my house neat and clean at the same time. But I do not believe that “cleanliness is…
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ParentingFading to black: alternatives to screen-time
An upcoming issue of the magazine will feature 200 movie recommendations, and were anyone to watch even a fraction of these films, that’d be an…
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Parenting10 games you can play with your toddler without having to roll off the sofa
A young relative has two toddlers, and our conversation reminded me of some useful strategies from those wonderful and exhausting days. While I don’t miss…
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ParentingGel-Pen faith
Not too long ago a young woman was over at my house for some reason that I cannot remember. Now on a typical day at my…