Why letting your kids struggle is good parenting
The opposite of good parenting is doing the easy thing in the short term. Now don’t get me wrong. There’s a certain parenting high when […]
children
Intergenerational Worship
In this synod, 50 per cent of our congregations have 10 or fewer children and, as these congregations are discovering, doing Sunday school the way we’ve always done it is neither working nor viable.
3 Ways to Curb Sibling Rivalry
If you have kids you’ve probably thought about sibling rivalry. It’s kind of like debt or a skin rash: You don’t think about it until […]
And suddenly, he is drawing.
And suddenly, he is drawing. Last week, Plum drew a picture of his Daddy, complete with beard. This week, ladybugs, leaves, aliens with eyebrows and […]
Wasp
There is a wasp who won’t leave my office. It’s been buzzing against the inside of the window for quite a while. A good half […]
The One Question Every Child, Tween & Teen Silently Asks Their Parents
Every single parent I know wants to do a good job raising their kids. But after that, the unanimity about how to do it usually goes out […]
Who Will My Daughter Marry? (A Letter to Dads with Daughters)
You and I both wonder, Who will my daughter marry? No matter who it is, the young punk (er, I mean, young man) will most certainly not […]
Giving Your Kids The Best Without Giving Them “The Best”
Life can get complicated. And expensive! If you have kids, you know there are infinite ways to spend money on them. To quote The Grinch Who […]
By The Time A Child Is Six
By the time a child is six they are a living, walking blueprint of who they will be for the rest of their lives. Will […]
Under the Weather
I’ve been holding a sick kid today. Poor Plum has been poorly. Just a run-of-the-mill October cold, but he isn’t really sure what’s hit […]
Lessons from Charleston
By now, you may have heard about the massacre in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, earlier this week. Shootings are […]
A 6-Year-Old with a Cigarette Asks You, “Can I Get a Light?” (How your kids change you)
Maybe it seems like an unlikely scenario. But that’s exactly what happened. In Bangkok, two children walked to up two women who were smoking. With […]
5 High-Value Parenting Habits From My Parents’ Generation (That We Can Bring Back)
A parenting degree doesn’t exist. Nothing can prepare you. As social scientist William Doherty says, parenting is “a high-cost/high-reward activity.” There’s nothing like those wonderful giggles. […]
10 Things To Improve Your (Young) Kids’ Lives Starting Now
This isn’t one of those lists that tells you to start doing a bunch more things so that (a) you have more stuff to do […]
An All-Ages Easter
We are an Easter people. We need to show our children that Easter is important to adults. This is the biggest story of our year. If nothing else, we want kids to catch a glimpse of that. Easter matters to us. The Easter story is the joyful centre of who we are.
Talking To Your (Small) Kids About Easter
Last year I blogged about this very thing. So here it is again with a few tweaks: How do we teach our children about the […]
Living into the Story
“Mama,” my nephew Zachary said, his six-year-old brow furrowed, “I think I would have looked back, too.”
Bedtime Prayers
My daughter makes sure we read from this book each and every evening— even on nights when she’s dawdled too much and the clock shows it’s bedtime past, she insists on reading a prayer before closing her eyes.
Four Easy Ways to Change the World (with your kids) This Month
Okay, I admit it. That title promises a lot! But think of it like this: I once heard someone talk about how people think they […]
Moms Rock (What I Learned During My Paternity Leave)
Okay, so I didn’t need a paternity leave to realize moms rock. But it certainly is like putting on new glasses after having been told […]