Parenting From The Source

When our daughter was a college freshman in 1987, her roommate had $1,000 to spend each month in addition to clothes and other expenses. Even today, that’s extravagant. How do parents decided how much allowance to give their children? Resources and Individual Needs Determine Amount There’s not a correct amount for all kids, because needs [...]

If an allowance is treated as a teaching tool for stewardship, it should not be dependent on chores. Being Part of Family Means Responsibilities Our children have certain responsibilities that go with being part of a family. My dad had a rather quaint way of expressing this concept: “Since you put your feet under the [...]

“Should I give my kids an allowance?” This is a question frequently asked by parents of children and teens. Teaching money management is part of what we do for our children, and an allowance is a tool for those lessons. Allowance for a Preschooler Let’s begin with a preschooler. Give your child a certain amount [...]

As you begin to encourage your family, you start noticing what they do right. You may say, “Good job,” “I’m proud of you” and “I know you can do it.” These encouraging words make the person feel good about his or her efforts. One Way to Encourage Suppose that you come home late and see [...]

Encouragement is so vital to our kids that I must tell this story to illustrate its importance. A “Repeat” Freshman’s Discouragement Years ago, I was talking to a young man in my counseling office who was failing most of his classes for the second year. Because of previous failures, he was a “repeat” freshman. In [...]

Encouraging one another was important in the first century just as it is today. Barnabas was one of the early church followers of Christ. When we read his story in Scripture, it’s easy to see why he was called “Son of Encouragement,” Additionally, Paul often told the early Christians to encourage one another (I Thessalonians [...]

I wrote about good reasons to empower kids. See Empower Kids – 6 Reasons It’s a Good Idea. What about the Biblical foundation? Does the Bible say we should empower our children and teens? Empower Is Not a Biblical Word I can’t find the word “empower” in my Bible’s concordance or in my standby reference, Zondervan [...]

Why should we empower kids? Isn’t easier to retain control ourselves? Let’s look at some reasons that it makes sense to begin early giving your kids the power to make decisions and do things appropriate for their age. Kids Have Ownership Kids are more invested when they have ownership. The preteen who sets up her [...]

Have you thought about what it means to empower kids? Does that sound frightening, because we don’t want to give our kids too much power? What exactly is empowerment? Synonyms include encourage, enable, and authorize. Something happened in my family that made me see the importance of empowering my kids. What a Pile of Dirty [...]

I had a classmate in high school who was perfect. He made good grades, pleased teachers, dressed well, and displayed courtly manners. In college, he fell apart. He partied all night, skipped classes, made bad grades, became sloppy in dress and manner, and eventually dropped out. That kind of “about face” is every parent’s worst [...]