Family and Home Archives

Important Conversations to Have with Your Son

Once upon a time, our culture respected fathers and held them in high regard. And rightly so. Dads were role models. They invested in their boys, teaching them how to use hammers and saws, so they could help patch fences and build new barns. They taught their boys how to become men and were living examples for their daughters of how a real man should behave.

Once upon a time, children spent so much time with their dads that life’s values were naturally transferred from one generation to the next.

Topics: Family and Home July 30, 2021 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Preventing Parents from Guiding Gender-Confused Children is a Recipe for Disaster

It seems each day brings with it headlines and highlights of renewed attacks on the family, but especially on the autonomy and authority of moms and dads to nurture and raise their children according to their deeply held convictions and beliefs.

I recently came across a shocking report from the Journal of Medical Ethics making the claim that parents should not have the right to prevent their minor children from pursuing “gender affirming surgeries” – i.e., preventing biological boys and girls from surgically altering their bodies.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: sexuality, transgender July 27, 2021 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Appreciating God’s Design for the Human Body

On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Appreciating God’s Design for the Human Body,” we’re exploring a familiar passage from the Old Testament. Psalm 139 expresses wonder at God’s creativity: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

Our guest is best-selling author Philip Yancey, who shares how every aspect of the human body’s design points to the glory of God our Creator.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: life July 27, 2021 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Encouraging Marriages in Your Sphere of Influence

What’s your favorite song?

One reason it’s probably your favorite is because you enjoy hearing the vocals of the lead singer. But more than you realize, another cast of characters is just as important as the lead: the backing singers. Their chorus of voices harmonize with the lead and give the song a beauty, richness, and texture the main vocalist could never achieve alone.

What if every marriage had backing singers? Imagine a church where every follower of Jesus served as a backing singer to someone’s marriage – a chorus of voices uniting to strengthen the marriages of everyone around them.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: marriage July 26, 2021 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Twenty-Five Years and Still in Love

Before Bob Kraning died in April 2020, he and his wife Carol were married for over sixty years. When it comes to enjoying a happy relationship, you might say that they had a lifetime of experience.

Whenever I hear about a couple like that, I can’t help but wonder, “What’s their secret?”

Bob provides answers in a recorded message we’re airing on our Focus on the Family Broadcast called “Twenty-Five Years and Still in Love.” Bob’s and Carol’s “secrets” are actually timeless truths available to all of us.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: marriage July 21, 2021 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Effective Habits to Embrace in Parenting

What kind of tools are in your parenting toolbox?

In a regular toolbox, like the one in your garage, you’ll find hammers, screwdrivers, and different sized wrenches – tools with very particular uses for specific problems around the house. There’s an old saying: if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything will look like a nail after a while.

There isn’t one tool to rule them all.

It’s the same with parenting. Some moms and dads only have one tool in their parenting toolbox that they use in every situation – like anger, overly strict rules, or permissiveness.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, parenting July 19, 2021 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

GUEST POST: The Example We Set

By David Kier

“…in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, in order that the opponent may be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.” Titus 2:7-8 NASB®

In my early years at college, I met a few guys from out east who had brand new fancy cars and really nice clothes and wondered why they were at a small midwestern college.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith July 15, 2021 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Making Virtues a Daily Part of Your Family Life

One of your most important responsibilities as a parent is to pass your faith and values on to your children. It may also be one of your most challenging tasks. A shocking turn of events at the 2008 Summer Olympics illustrates why.

Both the U.S. men’s and women’s 4 x 100 relay teams were expected to compete for the gold medal. Instead, neither team made it to the finals. Their exit from competition wasn’t because another country outran them.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family July 14, 2021 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Getting on the Same Team Financially in Marriage

My wife and I approach recipes differently. Jean has a degree in biochemistry. She’s smart and sees life as a series of precisely calculated moves. To her, recipes are a detailed road map to be carefully followed. If the instructions call for one cup of flour, she’ll measure exactly one cup. She’ll even use a knife to scrape off the excess.

I’m more of a free spirit with recipes. I don’t see them as “a roadmap to follow” as much as “a few things to keep in mind.” I kinda, sorta measure ingredients, but not very carefully.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: finances, marriage July 13, 2021 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Experiencing God’s Healing Hand

Have you ever witnessed a miraculous healing? You’re about to!

On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Experiencing God’s Healing Hand,” you’ll hear the actual moment when Pastor Duane Miller’s throat was healed, after three years of only being able to speak in a whisper.

In January 1990, Duane became sick with influenza. He spent 10 days in bed with his throat swollen shut as if someone was squeezing his windpipe. Medication helped, but for three years, Duane could only whisper.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith July 12, 2021 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura