kids Archives

Helping Your Child Build a Lifelong Faith

One of the most challenging issues Christian parents contact us about is discipleship of their own children. Many moms and dads don’t feel qualified to share their faith effectively.

Do you fear miscommunicating the Gospel and leading your kids astray? Was discipleship never modeled for you growing up? Do you believe that the Church and Sunday school should be enough to teach your kids about their faith?

On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Helping Your Child Build a Lifelong Faith” we’re addressing those concerns and encouraging you to take up this responsibility.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, kids October 6, 2021 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Leaving a Legacy of Faith for Your Children

Author Lee Strobel believes that family is the answer for today’s children to become “the greatest generation that has ever lived for Jesus Christ.”

He has strong evidence to back up that claim. Researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara conducted a landmark multigenerational study concluding that parents are fundamental in passing down religious beliefs to their children.

In addition, the study affirmed that having a close bond with one’s father is the single biggest influence in a child’s life.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, kids, parenting August 20, 2021 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Helping Your Teens Retain Their Faith

As a father of two young men, the topic of how young people and faith coalesce is close to my heart because Jean and I are living it right now. We have diligently tried to raise our sons to be men after God’s heart. Some days we feel like we’ve hit a home run. Other days, we fear we’re striking out.

Maybe you feel the same way. Christian parents are competing with a lot in the culture when it comes to believing in God and living for him.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, kids, parenting September 25, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Navigating eLearning and Screen Time During the Coronavirus Outbreak

Most
Americans have been on virtual lockdown since March. Everything from sports to
restaurants have been shut down for weeks. The one thing we haven’t lost is our
screens. Which means a lot of us have filled our days with video games and
online shopping while we binge on Netflix.

I get it.
This is a stressful time, and a little distraction is good for us. But spending
nearly every waking moment in front of a screen isn’t.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, kids, technology April 17, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Setting Healthy Boundaries with Your Kids

Imagine this scenario: It’s your child’s job to clean up their room, but hours have gone by and they still haven’t gotten the job done, despite repeated reminders from you.

How should you respond?

Lecture them? Ground them? Clean up the room yourself?

The answer is to let good boundaries be your guide. One of the most important functions of parenting is to teach your children how to respect appropriate limits.

Setting healthy boundaries has a lot of benefits, and primary among them is helping children to develop self-control.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: boundaries, broadcast, kids, parenting May 13, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

What You Need to Be a Happier Mom

A lot of moms say they feel overwhelmed and stressed. Is it any wonder? They’re struggling under the burden of unrealistic expectations – some self-imposed, and some imposed by the culture.

In both cases, the “ideal” mom is often portrayed as a woman who is not only a full-time mom at home, but a fulltime employee outside the home. In her free time, she’s a Girl Scout troop leader, bakes treats from scratch for her kids, and still has time to accompany her children on every school field trip.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, kids, mom, parenting May 9, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Finding Freedom as a Grace-Based Mom

A lot of women feel pressure to be an outstanding wife, a fantastic mother, and to keep a beautiful home all while having a vibrant and meaningful career. They’re chasing an impossible standard. They feel they can never do enough, no matter how hard they try.

Many women are not only struggling to do it all, but to do it all perfectly.Without all of those plates spinning, they feel they’re not achieving anything extraordinary – for God or for themselves.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, kids, mom, parenting April 22, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Training Sons to Be Confident, Capable Men

It’s been said it’s “easier to build a boy than to mend a man.”

I agree.

A startling number of boys today are alone, left to figure out for themselves what it means to be a man. They don’t have a father in the home who will engage them.

Oh, dad may be there. But he isn’t present.

There are a lot of great dads out there, but too many men are disengaged. They don’t see manhood as a quality for them to intentionally bestow upon their son.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, kids, parenting, sons April 8, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Helping Your Daughter Understand Romantic Relationships

Do you have a daughter who’s a “crushaholic”? That term describes a young lady who is constantly seeking affirmation from boys.

I don’t have daughters myself, but I do have two boys Trent and Troy, so Jean and I are seeing the upheaval of the teen years up close. The physical, mental, and emotional changes can be intense.

Did I mention the emotional changes?

They can be especially pronounced in girls who tend to be emotional creatures by nature, more so than boys.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, daughter, faith, kids, parenting April 4, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Shining a Positive Light on Down Syndrome

Trevor Hendershot is quite a young man. I think you’d like meeting him.

Cheerleaders in his high school once made banners to cheer him on, and he was so popular he was voted homecoming king. He was a little quirky, too. He had a habit of loudly singing Christian songs in the hallway before, during, and after school. He gave everyone he talked to a high-five, a hug, or a fist bump.

He’s now in his mid-20’s and works for the Los Angeles Angels, a Major League Baseball franchise.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, Down syndrome, faith, kids March 21, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura