Daly Focus Blog
My two boys are grown and live on their own, but fatherhood is probably still a few years off, which means grandparenting for Jean and me is also a few years off. We’re looking forward to it.
In the meantime, I’m thinking about the kind of grandfather I hope to be and how God might want to use me as a loving and positive influence in my grandkids’ lives. I have some questions. And I bet you do, too.
What strategies are most effective for raising kids with good character?
We get that question a lot here at Focus on the Family. Our answer is that there is no one size fits all, but one thing is required: intentionality. Setting our families on “auto pilot” and hoping everything turns out okay is not a fruitful parenting approach.
Every Christian parent wants happy and healthy kids who love the Lord and who have a good relationship with their mom and dad.
One of the greatest challenges a parent can face is an adult child who rejects the values they were taught growing up. It’s tough to watch a child turn away from honesty, kindness and good character in favor of lies, selfishness and unwise choices. You may even wonder where you went wrong as a parent. Let me encourage you with a few ideas:
The first is to recognize that your child’s decisions are not your fault, at least not entirely.
Many Christians say they don’t reach out to strangers in the name of Jesus because they don’t know how to offer that kind of hospitality.
Author Annie McCune can show you how. She says, “Throughout the course of my life, I have had the privilege of loving many strangers through opening the door to my home and my heart. In return, I have been radically loved when I was a stranger in need of hospitality.”
Hospitality is about learning to love strangers with God’s love and grace.
A common question we get here at Focus on the Family is from parents who ask how to raise children who embrace the Christian faith. Many moms and dads feel unqualified to lead their children along their journey of faith.
The challenges are real. Many teens and preteens consume hours of digital media every day, which unwittingly shapes their view of God, the world, and themselves according to the values of people they don’t even know.
I love summer. When my boys were younger, that meant camping with my family. We loved getting outdoors and parking our fifth wheel in some remote location where the sounds of nature aren’t drowned out by cars and busyness.
When there was a lake nearby, the first thing my boys would do is grab rocks to throw into the water. The bigger the better. For them, it was all about the splash. Me? I was intrigued by the ripples.
Believe it or not, you can learn a lot about your marriage from a little dog named Tidbit.
He’s the ugliest dog I think I’ve ever seen. He’s a two and a half pound Yorkie Poo – a mix between a Poodle and Yorkshire Terrier. He’s 15 years old and quirky. He’s afraid to walk across tile floors and is too small to get up and down the stairs on his own. He looks bad, too.
We live in a broken world. It’s not a matter of if the culture will influence our children, it’s a matter of when and how. As such, it’s wise to teach them discernment from a young age. Fortunately, parents can find incredible guidance in the Christian worldview.
The question is, because the enemy comes to “steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10), what does living as a Christian in today’s culture look like and how can we live out those principles for our families and neighborhoods?
Communication can be difficult for teenagers. When my boys Trent and Troy were younger, I usually tried to strike up a conversation every morning as I drove them to school. Sometimes they were thoughtful and had a lot to say. Other days, all I got were one-word answers.
Many homes feel disconnected because children are distracted by technology. Research indicates that teenagers spend as many as seven to nine hours every day in front of some kind of screen, from computers and smartphones to tablets and televisions.
I can tell I’m getting older. For one thing, the guy staring back at me from the mirror has more wrinkles and grey hair than he used to. For another thing, my relationship with my two boys Trent and Troy is different than it used to be. Years ago, we’d wrestle, and I could pin both of them to the floor at the same time. Fast forward a few years, and I could only wrestle one at a time – and it was a coin flip as to which of us would win.
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.
