Daly Focus Blog
As a Denver Broncos fan, I don’t usually root for the Kansas City Chiefs. But I’ll make an exception for the Chiefs’ kicker, Harrison Butker, who came under fire after a commencement speech at Benedictine College went viral. Detractors said his comments were disrespectful to women.
But were they really? If you give his speech a fair hearing, I believe the answer is clearly no. Butker celebrated his wife. He praised her tireless dedication to their marriage and to their children.
Author Curtis Chang personally understands the suffering anxiety causes. Growing up, he was a latchkey kid who dealt with severe anxiety every day, tormenting him with fearful thoughts that his parents would never come home from work and leave him to fend for himself. He coped by repeatedly calling his mother’s office and tracking her arrival home.
While serving as a pastor, Curtis coped with anxiety through preparation and study. But the stress of pastoring eventually pushed him beyond his ability to cope, and he had a breakdown.
Rosaria Butterfield was a tenured professor at Syracuse University who taught queer studies. She was also a lesbian activist who opposed Christianity and wrote scathing articles against people of faith. She even testified before Congress on behalf of the LGBT community.
She was beyond God’s reach.
Or so a lot of people thought. Instead, God worked through a series of unique people and circumstances to change her heart and demonstrate that no one is beyond His reach.
The teen years can be stressful and chaotic – for teenagers and parents. Teens are experiencing a multitude of simultaneous changes – physical, emotional, social and cognitive – all while their drive for independence is ramping up. The choppy waters that result can destabilize a household and stir up conflict over who’s in charge of their bedroom, their friends, their schoolwork and more.
One thing Jean and I learned while raising our boys was the importance of giving them freedom to grow.
I enjoyed watching my boys grow in their Christian faith. As they became older, it was up to them to develop their relationship with God and make it their own. But when they were young, it was Jean’s and my role as their parents to nurture their spirituality.
Parents are blessed to be influenced by youth leaders and Sunday school teachers, but, ultimately, teaching and modeling faith is up to Mom and Dad (as well as Grandma, Grandpa and other close family members).
My most vivid childhood memories are rooted in experiences, not words. I remember what happened far more than I remember what people said. I’m sure that’s true for most of us. You probably don’t remember being told to avoid hot stoves, but I’ll bet you remember the first time you touched one.
That’s why, when I was raising my boys, I knew experiences would impart wisdom and strengthen their character more effectively than lectures would. Plenty of situations on the playground and at school taught them to be kind and to stand for what’s right.
So, here’s the scenario. It’s a weeknight, and your child has spent most of the evening on the same school assignment. It’s pretty clear he doesn’t understand the information. To top it off, he’s brought home a note from the teacher warning you about a failing grade.
The question is should you panic?Many parents do. They assume the worst, thinking their child has a behavior problem, difficulty learning, or is just plain lazy.
In truth, school challenges like this aren’t a crisis most of the time.
Some families have a negative opinion about public schools, for many reasons:
Their child’s learning style doesn’t mesh well with their local school’s approach to education.
The school’s values are out of touch with their own.
There’s also this important consideration: Children who go to a traditional school spend more than 14,000 hours in school. That’s more of their waking hours than they will spend anywhere else, including home.
Home schooling has become the fastest growing form of education in America today, in part because so many parents have taken a more active role in their children’s education in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
According to the National Center for Fathering, over 20 million children live in a home without the physical presence of a dad. That’s a staggering number!
I can relate to what each one of those boys and girls is going through. My dad left our family when I was five and died an alcoholic a few years later. Hank, my stepdad, walked out on my siblings and me the day of my mother’s funeral. Even my foster dad, Mr.
It’s a sad reality that many kids grow up going to Sunday school, church, and youth group and still leave home believing Christianity is a list of dos and don’ts. Somehow, the core message of the Gospel doesn’t break through.
One solution is to read the Bible with your children. Many parents want to, but it can be daunting. Kids have short attention spans, and Mom and Dad are exhausted from busy schedules.
So what do you do?
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.
