No Ordinary Days

Everybody is talking about it. Most everybody is using it. Today I'm going to share some initial thoughts on AI and it's known and potential effects on us as individuals, as families, and as a society.

One thing that parents - particularly Christian parents - are often opposed to is rewarding their children for good behavior. Their concern is understandable - what if my child learns to obey just to receive rewards? And if the reward is removed or becomes commonplace, will they continue to obey? In this episode we discuss whether or not this fear is well founded or if rewards can, in fact, be use...

It's hard to admit when we're wrong. For some parents it's almost impossible. And yet, when our children exhibit disobedience or rebellious behavior, an honest assessment will often reveal that much of what we're seeing is the result of our failure in some area of their life. Have we expected too much or too little of them? Have we been too strict or too lenient? Have we neglected...

Do your children trust you? When you promise them you'll go on a bike ride, do you mean it? When you give them 10 seconds to come to you, do you continue counting to 11, 12, 13 before you really get serious? Actions such as these undermine the level of trust our children have in the durability of our word. They also create an environment that breeds disobedience, and worse, makes them less lik...

The principle of authority is pretty important to a parent. We appeal to it frequently to steer our children into compliance. If we had no authority, how would we ever get them to clean up after themselves or settle spats between them and their siblings? But do we, as parents, truly understand this authority we possess? Who gave it to us? What are its bounds? How is it properly used? The answers w...

The world grows more chaotic by the day. At some point we need to step back and ask why. Why this growing frustration, and anger and disillusionment? The simple answer is that we're growing increasingly more bold in our transgression of the fundamental laws and principles that undergird our existence. The more we repudiate the truths that exist in the heart of God and that are intended to gove...

The most important jobs in the world have the most stringent requirements and demanding qualifications, right? Well, if we're talking about traditional jobs, yes. What about being a mother or a father? In that case the answer is no. In fact there really are no up front requirements to becoming a parent - no detailed job description. Regardless of qualifications or prior experience jut about an...

What should you allow your children to watch? And when? This is a question that many parents struggle with. Sometimes we introduce a new video too soon, only to discover that it has effectively blocked off the the show or the movie they had watched previously. You've lead them to new and exciting ground and the old ground (show) no longer interests them. But despite the errors in judgement we...

As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. The same could be said of your noisier, needier children. They're the one's that get most of your attention. Your quiet ones? Well, they kind of recede into the background. They aren't fussing; aren't causing any trouble, so you kind of leave them alone. But this can be a terrible mistake, for while they're left to themselves they...

If you look around the world today, it seems like we're fighting the final battle on multiple philosophical (and existential) fronts. What should we, as parents, do about this and how can raise our children in such a way that will ensure ultimate victory? It has everything to do with getting the basics right - while we still can.

If you could use one word to define who your children are - what they represent and what their ultimate purpose is - what word would you choose? Well, if you were to ask God, he would use the word "arrows". That might not be the first word that comes to our minds, but surely it's worth our consideration as to why it came to his? Indeed, this one word carries with it so many rich and...

As difficult as parenting is, winter has a way of making it more so. It's a time of rest for the earth. It can also be, if we're not careful, a time where we relax our efforts a bit (or a lot). Before you know it, we're in a parenting rut. If this sounds familiar, just know this episode is for you and also know you're not alone. Also in this episode we'll talk about 3 incredibl...

In episode 36 we discussed how toddler obedience is often the viewed as the holy grail of parenting. Many parents aren't aware of this, but not all obedience is the same and its quality largely depends on the way you go about training it. In this episode we'll examine the two errant child training paths parents often take and how that, despite our best intentions, they actually lead to dis...

If someone was to ask you what your number one job is as your toddler's mother or father, aside from keeping them alive (lol), what would your answer be? That's what this episode attempts to answer and, spoiler alert, it has little to nothing to do with teaching them to obey.

The world around us and everything in it seems to be crumbling. We're not sure what's on the horizon but it doesn't look friendly. Reports of economic distress and looming war abound and that's on top of the duress each home is directly experiencing. We ask ourselves, "What can I do about it? What difference could I and my insignificant home make in the face of such powerful f...

The world and everything in it (everyone, too often!) is growing increasingly fake. Science, politics, social media, causes, personalities, food, medicine - all of it is becoming less real by the day. That's not to say that truth no longer exists in any or all of these arenas, it's just that it's becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish the truth from the lies. We, as adults, are...

We've said it many times - raising children is hard. Like discouragingly hard at times. Sometimes that discouragement comes from the mouths of our children. They see the disfunction in our lives and they call it out and openly wonder why we can't get our act together. What they fail to appreciate (and at their age, you really can't fault them) is that while it's true that we're...

Here's a nearly universal truth recognized among parents - every child is different. If that's true (and it is) then shouldn't the child training methods you apply to each child be different too? The obvious answer is 'yes' but parent's are hesitant to admit it. Why? In this episode we examine the answer to this question and what the appropriate response to the uniqueness o...

Raising children can be quite distressing, especially when you feel you don't have any answers to the struggles you're facing. In truth, the answers are all around us, we simply don't have eyes to see them. In this episode we talk about a truth that many parents are either unaware of or have forgotten altogether and it very well could be the key to dramatically altering your relationsh...

In the midst of the recent tragedy that we're still processing and many of us can't quite get over, there's a question that keeps sounding in my ears - what are you going to do about it? I imagine many of you are hearing it too. There's an obvious answer and they're staring directly up into our faces.

Thoughts on the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the legacy of his extraordinary commitment to not only his home, but to millions outside of it. He was among the very few who have been strong enough to work a good work on two fronts and yet not allow one to detract from the other. May he rest in peace.

Children often have a lot to say but we don't seem to have a lot of time to listen. Sure, we can smile and nod along as our 5 year old talks about their day or throw out a few deftly placed but insincere "Uh huh's" while our 12 year old attempts to convince us that they'll never actually use math in the real world. But our mind is often elsewhere, preoccupied with matters of...

We place a lot of expectation on our children and issue a lot of commands. But have you ever stopped to think about what's behind those expectations and commands? This episode will ask you to do the difficult and perhaps even painful work of exploring the true motivations behind the directives you give your children. For as important as the "laws" in your home are, they have little t...

In this episode we talk about the thing that children want the most but that we seem to have so little to give - time . It's much too easy to allow other activities and pursuits, including necessary ones, to get in the way of us spending time with our children. We count on there always being a tomorrow (which is usually the case) but what we don't count on is the nearly imperceptible loss...

In this episode we talk about the prevalence of technology in our children's lives and how we can minimize its ability to negatively influence them. Also we offer some advice to first time homeschoolers and talk about the one activity that's more important than learning in your homeschool.