License to Parent with Trace Embry

New apps, websites, devices --even new languages and other modes of communication and entertainment--are developing virtually every day. And, this includes ways of communicating and sending images that could negatively affect your child's reputation and future success. Consequently, realizing that our kids have a lot more disposable time to explore and use these devices than we do (if we let them)...

And, when so many of these instant pleasures avail themselves at every turn without any peer pressure to resist, then, like sheep to the slaughter, it can be just too easy to allow our emotion to cloud our reason and proceed with something that we'll likely regret later. And, because so many of today's instant pleasures are ego-driven, visually appealing, excitement oriented or sexually stimulatin...

Have we mortgaged our kids' childhoods for "stuff" and status? Why shouldn't our success be gauged more by the relational peace, contentment, fulfillment, joy, and security that we and our kids actually bring to one another? And by the eternal security that comes from our family's knowledge of, submission to, and relationship with the God of the universe? Today will explore a more biblical view of...

They're known as "Peter Pan males." Because, by all observation, it appears that they just refuse to grow up. They've also been known to be plagued with what's now called "a failure to launch." So, what can we do as responsible and God-fearing parents living in a world full of entitlement political-correctness, trigger words and safe-spaces to prepare our kids for independent and responsible livin...

With more and more young people being lured into believing that socialism is the answer to our nation's ills these days, what will the future of American patriotism actually look like? Can you or your children be true American patriots, while promoting socialism at the same time? So, with respect to patriotism, what should we stand for and what should we be teaching our kids to stand for--and why?...

If you're a college kid with an accruing mountain of student-loan debt--or a high-school kid looking at your friends' necktie deep dungeon of debt, then free college with no college debt sounds pretty appealing. But, what a lot of our kids aren't aware of, is their history--in this case, the history of socialism. I'm not sure socialism has worked very well anywhere it was tried. So, today's parent...

And what about the new dangers that lurk in our children’s pockets? Too many parents are allowing the likes of Ted Bundy, Larry Flynt, El Chapo, every porn star and the rest of the seedy-side of town, not only into their own homes but into the privacy of their kids' own bedrooms without realizing it. My gosh, even our government won't let you pull the lever on a slot machine until you're 21, becau...

My dad used to say that his grandkids were God's reward for not killing me during the course of my upbringing. But, all joking aside, grandkids are wonderful; and, grandparenting is wonderful. But, there really are a lot of responsibilities and obligations--as well as big-time rewards that go along with being a good grandparent--which I'm still working on. It's kinda like "parenting lite" if your...

So, what, then, are we to make of our boy’s competitiveness and their rough and tumble ways? Are these unnatural and ungodly traits that need to be rectified? And, what are we to make of the growing remorse that more and more young women are now feeling after following Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the modern feminist movement for their moral truth and fulfillment in life? In the midst of it all,...

I've heard it said that Character is "who you are and what you do when nobody is looking." When it comes to our kids, I think character-building has a lot to do with the quality of people that they're surrounded with. I also believe that who and what our kids are regularly being entertained by can affect their character as well. But of course, there's no better model and teacher of character than...

It's up to us, as godly parents, to make sure we're equipping our children with the tools that help give our kids the best start in life possible. But, some would argue that the toolboxes from which white parents equip their kids are better tool boxes and are stocked deeper with better tools necessary for success than the toolboxes of most black parents. And, therefore, the playing field needs to...

Objective truth is the only thing that reveals things as they really are. This includes politics, religion, science, gender, logic or race. Fortunately, there are those who understand the truth when it comes to the importance of traditional, moral and family values as it appears in scripture and how these values can improve our lives, families lives and the relationships needed to bring the unity...

So, when trying to explain all this to our kids, how do we make sense of a world that makes no sense? Do we have a right to teach our children anything, if we can’t even determine whether they are truly male or female—or perhaps both at the same time. Have we created an Orwellian dystopian society that makes it impossible to raise our children to become what used to be called normal? And, is even...

I asked a group of our SHA kids how many had armed guards in their schools. About 75%—80% of their hands went up. Several more knew a school near them where a shooting had happened; and, one student had a shooting take place in the very school she attended. I can jog to a school from where we sit right now that had a shooting just a couple of years ago. And, in the late 90s, I went to church with...

As good parents, we want our posterity to flourish. So, what are we doing for our posterity's sake with respect to giving our kids an informed perspective on the subject of abortion? Are we training our kids to be bold warriors for life? Are we sure where they even stand on the issues? Today we talk about the truth about abortion with Abby Johnson. Abby worked at Planned Parenthood in Texas for 8...

Paul Coughlin, President and Founder of the Protectors, founded in 2005, was born from personal experience and a unique understanding into a fundamental weakness to existing anti-bullying programs. As a Target of bullying while in elementary school, Paul knows just how damaging such a campaign of cruelty can be to a person’s emotional and psychological wellbeing—damage that can harm a person well...

Well, I was the oldest; so, I’ll leave it at that. But, I’ve certainly been the victim of bullying as a kid. I think we all have, in one way or another. I can remember the trauma of being a 4th-grader in a school that was only 4 doors down from my house. A 6th grader and his two high-school brothers, who happened to be my next door neighbors, and another 6th grader made it their daily ambition tha...

Today’s kids are regularly hearing how fun, enlightening and innocuous pot is. It’s certainly safer than alcohol, they say confidently. And they’re hearing this information from the very elders from whom they should be learning responsibility and wisdom, no less. In fact, many states are not only legalizing marijuana for its medicinal benefits but, now, for recreational use also. And, our kids are...

What’s on your child’s play-list? What’s on your own? Today we’ll be discussing how the music and entertainment world could be affecting your child’s behavioral, emotional, physical and spiritual health. We’ve had several discussions in the past about the power of music and music’s role in cultivating, perhaps even creating, certain attitudes and behavioral issues in people; particularly in kids....

So, what should healthy masculinity for young men of any race actually look like in today’s politically-correct society? And how do we help our sons get there without making them feel like they need to apologize for how God has made them? Today we will be discussing Raising healthy, boys in an unhealthy world with Shepherd’s Hill Academy’s Buddy Prow. Buddy Prow is the boy’s therapist at Shepherd’...

This is especially true in a day when so many self-proclaimed Christians appear to be conducting their affairs and casting their votes as if they were more secular-minded than biblically-minded. Because, it’s quite possible that parents and children, alike—through our political views and voting habits—will be responsible for helping shape the kind of world our grandkids either have to inherit or g...

I think you’d have to be blind or a liar to refute the fact that, by and large, today’s kids are not exercising the same degree of respect for their elders— or even their own parents—as they did just a generation or two ago. But, the distrust part of the equation, might not be so obvious. Why is that? Josh Temple is 28 years old. He was raised in a Christian home but says he became an agnostic whe...

I think you’d have to be blind or a liar to refute the fact that, by and large, today’s kids are not exercising the same degree of respect for their elders— or even their own parents—as they did just a generation or two ago. But, the distrust part of the equation, might not be so obvious. Why is that? Today on License to Parent we will be speaking with a real “insider” on this topic, Josh Temple....

Too many parents look at entertainment, in general, but movies in particular, as a harmless engagement of time that allows us to escape into a world free of all the responsibilities and liabilities of life long enough to be refreshed in preparation for the real-world responsibilities of life. And, I think that for the most part, that’s exactly right. Just like, for the most part, cars are simply m...

It’s been said that the family is actually the first and most foundational form of government. So, believe it or not; like it or not; accept it or not, as a parent, you’ve been appointed to a very high and important office! Because being a good parent is about being a good leader. And, so much of good leadership comes from the common sense values, feelings, and intuition that God, Himself, has put...