Daly Focus Blog
Teaching kids to be respectful isn’t always easy. Just when you think they’ve learned how they should behave in certain settings, they throw it all right out the window.
I’ll never forget the time my older son, Trent, did that. He was just a little guy at the time, maybe 4 or 5. I was out of town when my wife, Jean, called me almost in tears over Trent’s behavior. He had thrown a world class fit in the grocery line over a candy bar and refused to calm down.
A few weeks ago, I dedicated my blog to the subject of parenting with grace. It was based on a great conversation we had earlier this month with our broadcast guest Jeannie Cunnion, who explained the reasons why parents can’t offer their children grace if they haven’t experienced it themselves.
It was such helpful information, we recorded another program with Jeannie. This time she’ll help us rethink discipline strategies that strip our parenting of grace, rather than enhance it.
We woke up this morning to horrible news out of Brussels.
Another terrorist attack.
Reports say there were shouts in Arabic before a suicide bomber killed at least 14 people at the Brussels airport. A second blast took 20 more lives during rush hour at a metro train in the capital.
And so once again, a scant four months after the terrorist attacks in Paris, we’re seeing how hatred wreaks destruction and death – and it’s all playing out on our TV and computer screens.
As I told you recently in my blog, I was deeply saddened by the passing of my friend Dr. Gary Smalley almost two weeks ago.
Hundreds of you responded on my blogsite and through Focus’ various social media outlets with your condolences, fond memories, and thoughtful recollections about the countless ways Dr. Smalley positively influenced your marriages and your families.
The Smalley family and close friends are honoring Gary in a memorial service tomorrow in Branson, MO, at the College of the Ozarks chapel at 3PM CST.
Quick, name someone, dead or alive, you’d like to have dinner with.
Do you have the name of that person in your mind?
Who is it?
Harriet Tubman? Bill Gates? The Apostle Paul?
Some kids were also asked who they would most like to have dinner with … Watch the video to learn what they answered:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wfbY3i4FY0
Parents are the most important and influential people to their children. I hope this video both encouraged you in your job of raising your kids and inspired you to make time for shared meals.
Here’s an important parenting question:
What if your hands were empty, but I asked you to give me one of the apples you were holding?
That’s not a trick question, a riddle, or some odd math problem from your junior high days. It’s a simple question that makes an equally simple point.
We can’t give away something we don’t have.
How does that concept relate to parenting? In this way: We can’t parent our children with God’s grace if we haven’t embraced it ourselves.
“I’ll never forget the day when I said to God, ‘I’ve done everything I know to do, and it’s not working.’”
You might expect to hear a comment like that from the average husband or wife trying to learn how to build a successful family. But would it surprise you to know that the person who said those words is now one of the most respected family experts in the world and has been married nearly 40 years?
I heard a story not long ago about a young man who didn’t receive the grade he felt he deserved in one of his college courses. Right there in the middle of class, surrounded by nearly 200 fellow students, he dialed his mom and complained to her.
If this was your son, what would you have done?
This mom said, “Put your professor on the phone.”
The young man marched to the front of the room and handed the call over to his professor.
It was the face that launched a thousand… memes?
When cameras caught Giants quarterback and two-time Super Bowl winner Eli Manning watching older brother Peyton lead the Broncos to a final touchdown sealing their win in Super Bowl 50, Eli had a seemingly dejected look on his face. The Internet dubbed his expression “Super Bowl face,” and fans shared memes poking fun at Eli’s forlorn countenance while the rest of the family celebrated. Here’s one of the memes:
Eli Manning..
Dr. John Townsend hits a parent’s struggle during the teen years right on the head when he says it’s “because we’re needed the most and wanted the least.”
Our teenagers need us as much as ever in their final years at home before they venture into adulthood, but they don’t exactly want us interfering in their lives.
Remember when your teen was a 10-year-old? They were more likely to say, “Mom and dad, can you help me with this?” Teenagers, on the other hand, say, “I’m a grownup; I don’t need your help.”
The unofficial mantra of teenagers everywhere is “Come close.
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.
