Forward Progress » Parenting

Archive for the ‘Parenting’ Category

My Favorite Prayer My Wife Prays for our Kids

Posted by MK | Filed under Parenting

My wife keeps a set of notecards above the sink in our kitchen. Each one contains a particular characteristic that she prays the Lord would build into our kids. Each morning, she flips to another card and then recycles through them. It makes me smile to think that several decades from now those same cards [...]

Reflections From a Foster Parent

Posted by MK | Filed under Ministry, Parenting

My friend, Rob, writes about the last year and half his wife and he have spent as foster parents: At noon on a Thursday in mid-May 2010, we received a phone call that our foster care license was active. With significant limitations placed on the agency with regard to the kinds of kids we could [...]

How the Gospel Keeps You From Being Friends with Your Kid

Posted by MK | Filed under Parenting

Everybody remembers “that mom” or “that dad” from high school. That’s the parent that would buy the alcohol, rent the movie, or simply not ask any question of their kid. At the time, I think all of us thought that was the “cool” parent and perhaps even wished our relationship with our parents were more [...]

Measuring Success in Your Child’s Activities

Posted by MK | Filed under Parenting

Ballet. Baseball. Swim team. Running club. Scouts. Piano. These are just a few of the options on the table before our kids for extracurricular activities. And they’re 7, 4, and 1. I know these decisions are going to get harder as time goes on, both for them and for us. On the one hand, you [...]

Should You Make Your Kids Go to Church?

Posted by MK | Filed under Parenting

Short answer? Yes. Absolutely. But let me pose the scenario for you: Joshua, our 6 year old, has started going to “big church” this year. He gets approximately 30 minutes of worship and then a 40 minute sermon. More Sundays than not, it’s a struggle. If you asked him, “Joshua, do you want to go [...]

Are You Provoking Your Children?

Posted by MK | Filed under Parenting

Paul tells us not to: “Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). I found this list of “ways you might be provoking your children” to be helpful: – By constantly criticizing them and not encouraging them. When they feel they [...]

Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child

Posted by MK | Filed under Parenting

A new book from Anthony Esolen: Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child. I haven’t read this yet, but boy do I resonate with its intent – that is, to make sure that childhood is a time when sticks become swords and cardboard boxes are castles. Here are those ten ways to destroy [...]

Dads, Read This and Tremble

Posted by MK | Filed under Church, Parenting

How important is it for a father to go to church and take his family with him? It’s very, very important according to this article: Here’s a summary: In short, if a father does not go to church, no matter how faithful his wife’s devotions, only one child in 50 will become a regular worshipper. [...]

“I’m Not a Role Model.”

Posted by MK | Filed under Marriage, Parenting

I remember as a teenager hearing Charles Barkley say that in regard to his conduct. Some reporter was wondering if he regretted his language, or his gambling, or his fighting on the court in light of the fact that kids might be watching, and Chuck responded that he wasn’t a role model. He was an [...]

Men, What Do You Bring to a Room?

Posted by MK | Filed under Marriage, Parenting

I heard my pastor ask that question last year, and it affected me in a pretty dramatic way. The lead up to the question was the recognition that as men, we have been designed to lead. It’s who we are; in our DNA, you might say. No matter how much we have tried to shirk [...]

« Older Entries

Newer Entries »