kids Archives - Jim Daly

How to be Intentional and Flexible in Your Parenting

If you’re a parent, you may feel like you’ve got everything under control most days. But every now and then, something unexpected happens and nothing goes right with your kids. If that’s been your experience, we’ve got some great encouragement for you today on the Focus on the Family Broadcast.

That sense of frustration and of wondering, “What do we do now?” is something Jean and I have experienced many times with our boys.

Parenting is filled with surprises for most of us, and it’s often a lot harder than we expected.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, kids, parenting July 17, 2018 by Jim Daly

Parenting 101: Learning Your Child’s “Language”

Is your child a rosebush?

A palm tree?

A pine?

How about a boxwood?

God wires our children with unique personality types. The nuances can be quite diverse, but they’re also finite to the point where a model of four personality types can explain them.

There’s power in personality. It’s a window into a child’s soul that parents can look through to see their hearts and to know how to lead them forward through life.

Hettie Britz is an author, a speaker, and one of the foremost voices in parenting advice from a biblical perspective in South Africa.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, family, kids, parenting June 28, 2018 by Jim Daly

Thoughts on the Border Crisis

The controversy at the southern border continues to churn. Like many of you, I’ve been following its many twists and turns, straining to gather reliable information and, at times, struggling to separate the fact from the fiction. There is a lot of bad and biased information out there. To be sure, emotions are running high on both sides, a consequence of the very real human concern and the highly partisan nature of our times.

As I’ve previously indicated, separating children from their parents can be harmful and traumatic.

Topics: Current Events Tags: family, kids, policy June 19, 2018 by Jim Daly

How Parents Can Get Back Their Power from a Child Who’s in Control

Why do kids misbehave?

Dr. Kevin Leman offers these 3 reasons:

Attention-getting
Power
Revenge

He says the strong-willed child has been given a bad rap. We want our kids to be strong-willed. When the world tells them, “Do everything we do,” we want our son or daughter to know right from wrong and to have the conviction to stand for it.

What you don’t want, Dr. Leman says, is the “powerful child.” They have an agenda.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, family, kids, parenting June 18, 2018 by Jim Daly

How Birth Order Affects Your Parenting

Children are unique, but they also fall into some fairly predictable categories.

One child is a reliable, conscientious, perfectionistic, opinionated, list-maker who likes things done well. Another child is more rough and tumble, but loyal and hangs tough through thick and thin. Yet another child is outgoing, relational, charming, and can persuade others to listen to their opinions – a good negotiator.

On our broadcast today, Dr. Kevin Leman says you can almost predict according to birth order which child will fit those descriptions.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, kids, parenting May 29, 2018 by Jim Daly

Thriving in Your Role as a Dad

Do dads have to be perfect?

The answer to that question seems obvious: No.

But what if the answer is yes?

Nobody’s perfect, of course. We all fall short in word, thought, and deed every day. That’s why we need God’s grace.

But hold on. Even if the goal isn’t literal perfection, can’t every dad improve somewhere? This isn’t condemnation, this is a call for men to rise up and thrive as fathers. After all, being a dad is one of the most important jobs a man will ever have.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, family, kids, parenting May 21, 2018 by Jim Daly

Disciplining Your Kids with Grace

It wasn’t the first time that Karis Kimmel Murray was confronted with how to discipline her young daughter, Riley, properly, but it was one of the more memorable.

At the end of a shopping trip at Walmart, Karis stopped by the shoe aisle for a new pair of flip-flops. Her daughter decided she’d sat patiently in the cart long enough. Karis allowed Riley down, but Riley didn’t just want out of the cart, she wanted out of the store … and Karis stood between her and that goal.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, discipline, family, kids, parenting May 15, 2018 by Jim Daly

Why Moms Should STOP

Mom, could you use some practical ways to place God at the center of your relationship with your children? Do you have the right identity balance between “mom” and “me”?

In answer to those questions and others like them, author Brooke McGlothlin has this suggestion for moms: STOP.

Submit your thoughts to Christ.

Tell yourself the truth.

Open your eyes to understanding

Persist in prayer

Moms can be passionate about creating the ideal childhood for their kids.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, kids, parenting May 11, 2018 by Jim Daly

I’ll Never Forget These Four Things My Mom Told Me Before She Died

It’s been over 46 years since my mother slipped from this life into the next.

I was just 9 years old when she died, and her death disoriented me in ways big and small. In a very practical way, her passing marked the abrupt end of my childhood. Already reeling from the abandonment of my father at 5, it came at the worst possible time, though it’s never a good time for a child to lose a parent.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: kids, parenting, relationships May 9, 2018 by Jim Daly

The Emasculation of the Boy Scouts Continues

Yesterday’s announcement that the Boy Scouts of America will drop “Boy” from the name of its signature program is yet another sad development for the once storied and celebrated organization.

You’ll recall that the Boy Scouts announced in 2013 that they would be allowing openly homosexual scouts to join local troops. In 2015, they began accepting openly homosexual leaders. Since these changes, scout membership has dropped approximately ten percent. Many churches have decided to cancel sponsorship of troops.

Topics: Current Events Tags: events, kids, policy, pop culture May 3, 2018 by Jim Daly