Parenting From The Source

Dating and sex are so tied together in the secular culture that many young people don’t understand their own roles in relationships. A young girl sat in my counseling office preparing her paperwork for college and the financial aid that would pay her expenses. “You and your daughter live with your parents, is that right?” [...]

Courtship or dating? Have you thought about which you want for your children as they approach their teen years? Courtship is still evolving to fit the 21st century, but originated in the 1800’s. Before that, marriages were often arranged by families. Courtship Offers Different Mindset How do courtship and dating differ? Scott Croft in his [...]

Physical beauty surrounded Kyle at school, and he had certainly met some gorgeous girls since he transferred to Nobbler High. He was thinking about them as he looked up from his food tray. Whoa, I nearly missed her just because I was focused on tacos and salsa. She’s beautiful! And that swaying dark hair…Wow! She [...]

Nicole Weider is an amazing young lady. She moved to Hollywood at sixteen with big dreams. It wasn’t long before she had modeling jobs and a life that included parties with big-time stars, access to the hottest clubs, and glamour beyond imagination. As she began to see the dark side of Hollywood, she fell into [...]

Proverbs 31 for a teen boy? A proverb about the perfect wife doesn’t sound like teen reading material, but there’s an important lesson for young men. Read verses 10-31 with your teen son. After he has rolled his eyes and said, “Really, Mom,” challenge him to find only one characteristic in those verses that sounds [...]

What stands in the way of experiencing peace? “Generation Y’s don’t talk on the phone, right?” The man speaking on the use of technology in marketing looked around the room. A few 20-somethings nodded or commented in agreement as they continued to access the world on their smart phones. I’m not a member of Generation [...]

How do we teach our children joy? Does Joy Come from Possessions? The young family arriving on the beach was not happy. They climbed out of a new SUV with third-row seating, a DVD player for both back seats, and a roof rack full of surfboards. Their clothes, even though they would soon be soaked [...]

What a heavy responsibility parenting is! Not only are we responsible for our children’s food, clothing, shelter, and safety, but intentionally or not, we mold their character. We determine if our children’s character is centered on the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22) or the “fruit of the world.” It’s easy to teach worldly characteristics [...]

Chores bring out the creativity in teens. Their mantra seems to be “Do whatever you must to avoid all work.” They go to elaborate schemes to get out of a ten-minute chore. I had a student tell me he was grounded for hiding dirty clothes under his mattress. He folded them neatly so that he [...]

Courage is a character trait we want for our children. Some people think of courage only as being able to face physical threats. However, sometimes we need courage to face an enemy that doesn’t look like an enemy. Therefore, in addition to teaching courage, we must teach our children to recognize the enemy. The Enemy [...]