Family and Home Archives

Parenting Teens Toward Adulthood

At what age would you say that children become adults? Sixteen? Eighteen? Twenty-one?

Answers among parents likely vary widely. Psychologist, author, and expert in adolescent and family relationships, Dr. Ken Wilgus, encourages parents to think of their teenagers as adults in training. Teens, he says, are not big children; they are young adults. Treating them as such is a process Dr. Wilgus calls “Progressive Emancipation.”

Around age 13, childhood comes to its natural end. That doesn’t mean your job as a parent is over, but your job changes.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: parenting August 23, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

If you’re a parent and want your household to function smoothly, you’re going to need some rules. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to know where the lines should be drawn. If you struggle with that, try this: don’t sweat the small stuff.

An idea that helped my wife Jean and me to draw boundaries when our boys were younger was to think of their behavioral problems in terms of “levels.” Eating a cookie before dinner, for example, would be a Level One offense.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: marriage August 22, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Questions to Ask Before You Get Engaged

Choosing someone you want to spend the rest of your life with is one of the biggest decisions you will ever make. It requires a lot of wisdom.

When a couple dates, they tend to overlook their mate’s bad habits because they’re so caught up in the euphoria of their relationship. Even worse, they think, “That behavior will change once we’re married.”

Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that your spouse will change in the ways you hope they will.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: marriage August 22, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

True American Greatness

It’s becoming controversial to take pride in America. Some say that a nation stained with injustice isn’t a nation worth celebrating. I would agree with that … if our country didn’t also correct our mistakes. And we do. The objective of a perfect society will never be obtained, so what counts is the direction we move.

Our Founders knew that building America would be a stumbling journey forward, toward our highest principles. And they gave us the greatest possible Constitutional framework with which to do it.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 19, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Strengthen Your Marriage with a Meet Up

I know a lot of couples who have happy marriages. They all share one thing in common: they make deliberate decisions to nurture their relationship, to connect, and to communicate with their spouse regularly.

Not surprisingly, the unhappiest couples aren’t intentional with each other, often because they don’t know how to be.

If that describes your relationship, we’re here to help.

Authors and relationship experts Bill and Pam Farrel are with us on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Strengthen Your Marriage with a Meet Up” to encourage husbands and wives to invest in their relationship through “marriage meet ups” – regular meetings together that provide the couple an opportunity to connect, reflect, and plan – intentionally.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: marriage August 18, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Children are a Blessing – Not a Burden

The columnist Don Feder recently highlighted a Michigan State University poll that concluded, “1 in 5 adults in the Wolverine State do not want children and therefore are child free.”

Feder pointed out that even using the term “child free” connotates something akin to a disease.

Findings from the Pew Research Center paint an even darker picture when it comes to couples’ desire for children. Over 44% of people between the ages of 18 and 49 who don’t have children said it was “not too or not at all likely” they would ever have children – an increase of 7% since 2018.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family August 17, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Aim in the Same Direction

The well-known poet Maya Angelou once said, “In diversity, there is beauty and there is strength.”

She’s right. Sort of. Her statement is only half correct. There is beauty and strength in diversity … but only when people aim in the same direction.

The American military is a good example. Our servicemen and women come from a variety of diverse backgrounds and beliefs. They all have different skill sets, talents, and life experiences. But they all point their weapons in the same direction and fight toward a common goal.

Topics: Family and Home August 17, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Slow Burn of Romance

Ladies, how do you know when your marriage is romantic enough? Does your husband have to chase you to your gate at the airport? Does he have to throw rocks at your bedroom window and serenade you? How about a long kiss on the beach while waves tumble over you?

Guys, what about you? Do you imagine yourself as the hero, a valiant knight who sweeps your wife off her feet and carries her – literally and figuratively – into the future?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: marriage August 16, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Overcoming the Heartaches of Life

When Sheri Rose Shepherd was crowned Mrs. United States in 1994, the achievement felt the culmination of a long, hard journey.

People throughout her life stripped her of self-worth, driving their hate through her like a spike through her soul.

Her English teacher once told her, “Sheri Rose, you will never amount to anything in life.”

Another time, she received a gift in the mail from her mother. When Sheri Rose opened it, her birth certificate was inside with a sticky note that read, “I wish you had never been born.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 16, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Equipping Your Kids to Resist Pornography

The stats on pornography use are alarming. Sixty-seven percent of young males view pornography on a regular basis. Porn use for this generation is no longer the exception – it’s the norm.

Many parents do the bare minimum when it comes to talking to their children about sex. They have “the talk” and encourage their children to pursue abstinence, but otherwise they sit back and hope that their kids stay pure for as long as possible.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, parenting August 15, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura