Daly Focus Blog
I never knew my grandparents, but family friends – Mr. and Mrs. Hope – became surrogate grandparents to me. They led my mother to the Lord and treated her and me and my siblings as part of their family.
Some of my fondest childhood memories are visiting with Grandpa Hope. He would sit in a big recliner in his garden atrium, play checkers with us kids and – like any good grandfather – lose on purpose often enough to build our self-confidence.
Have you heard of the popular MTV programs “Teen Mom” and “16 and Pregnant”? I’ve only caught a random segment or two, and only to keep a pulse on the culture and the messages it communicates to our children.
You have to dig to find redeeming value to such “entertainment.” If you’re not familiar with these shows, they’re so-called “reality” TV programs that follow the lives of young girls between the ages of 13 and 16 who are pregnant, having babies, and involved in intimate relationships.
If your teenager is struggling to discover his or her identity in Christ and to live boldly for Him, extend an invitation to sit down with you and listen to our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Living Boldly for Christ in School.”
Emma Mae Jenkins is our guest. She’s a 21-year-old college student and a YouTuber with over 75,000 thousand followers. Her videos are filled with positivity and hope. In each one, Emma Mae encourages young people to live out their faith right where they are.
The idea of the time-honored definition of family – a married mother and father with biological or adopted children – has increasingly become not just passé, but repugnant to society’s elite.
The most recent evidence comes from the editors at the New York Times, who just published an opinion piece by a Harvard professor extolling the joys and wonders of the “poly” family and the overthrow of the natural family of mom and dad, married for life raising their own biological or adopted children.
Of course, this is not surprising to those of us who have been watching with great concern the decline of the family, which has been aided and abetted by a hostile media, entertainment industry and academia.
If you’ve just had a baby – or are about to – you’ll want to hear our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Your Baby’s First Year: What You Need to Know.” Our guest is Dr. Robert Hamilton.
Dr. Hamilton has over three decades of experience, both as a pediatrician and as a father of 6 children and a grandfather of 9 grandchildren. You might have heard of Dr. Hamilton because of the famous “Hamilton Hold.” At the time I’m writing this, his video which demonstrates a special way of holding crying newborns that calms them has been viewed nearly 50 million times on YouTube.
The empty nest years can be a “tight ring season.”
That’s a term coined by Marci Seither and her husband after a customer hired the Seithers’ sawmill in Northern California to remove a huge tree from the spot where the customer’s new home would be built.
Feeling it a shame to lose such a beautiful tree, the homeowners planned to recycle the lumber by using it in the house’s construction. Once the tree was cut down, however, the wood was determined to be too weak for use.
Every day parents face a new fork in the road of some kind. You want what’s best for your child. But it’s not always clear what is best.
Will your children thrive with more boundaries? Or more freedom?
Is your child old enough for technology? If so, what kind? And how much screen time should they be allowed?
Are their friends a good influence? Are your children a good influence on their friends?
There is no formula for parenting but there are seven traits to guide moms and dads toward:
AdaptabilityRespectIntentionalityLoveGratitudeGraceForgiveness
How can we raise our children with an approach that infuses them with godly maturity and grace for others?
To raise happy, healthy children, remember this: Rules alone won’t work.
Rules only control a child’s outer behavior. To develop a child’s inner character, you have to go deeper. Until children develop an inner motivation to do the right thing, they’ll keep sticking their toe over the line.
Like a friend of mine’s five-year-old daughter. They were playing together in the front yard. “Stay in the grass,” he told her. “Don’t step onto the sidewalk or the driveway.” The little girl looked her dad right in the eye, playfully danced to the edge of the grass … and stuck her big toe across the forbidden line.
Shelia Erwin is the mother of filmmaking duo the Erwin Brothers, known for the popular Christian films October Baby, Moms’ Night Out, and I Can Only Imagine. Her sons, Andrew and Jon, were always discovering new interests in junior high school, so Shelia wasn’t surprised when they became passionate about the visual arts.
She couldn’t foresee at the time how her boys’ newest hobby would someday blossom. Still, she and her husband Hank encouraged them however they could.
The coronavirus pandemic has been extremely difficult for all Americans for many reasons. Many have died due to the disease. Others have had friends and relatives pass away. And some have delayed or missed funerals because of social distancing and stay-at-home orders.
Yet another unfortunate consequence of the restrictions is the isolation and loneliness that many have faced.
I’ve recently learned of one such situation relayed to me by a supporter of Focus on the Family.
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.
