Daly Focus Blog
Would you miss the birth of your child for the largest paycheck of your life?
American pro-golfer Hunter Mahan, 31, was leading the Canadian Open, a tournament with a prize of $1 million – and then he got a call. It turns out his pregnant wife, who wasn’t due to deliver their first baby for another three weeks, had suddenly gone into labor.
What did he do?
What would you do?
Immediately after receiving the call, Mahan packed his bags and withdrew from the tournament.
Earlier this week we aired a broadcast dealing with a difficult and sensitive issue: how can a man and woman who are divorced co-parent their children successfully?
It can be a challenging issue to navigate. We know God’s heart is for marriage and divorce is outside His intent. That’s why we encourage couples in crisis to do everything they can to work out differences through prayer, counseling and community support.
However, the reality remains that sometimes, divorce happens.
Scientists love to study how happy parents are (or aren’t). Year after year, news outlets report on the topic, touting studies that they say either find how unhappy parents are, or how much satisfaction and “positive emotion” children bring to their parents’ lives.
Here are some samples of the findings on this topic – as you’ll see, there’s a wide array of results.
A 2007 Pew report found children are still vital to adult happiness.
Fox News describe how “parents report significantly higher levels of depression than non-parents”
Research in the journal Psychological Science found that overall, “parents (and especially fathers) report relatively higher levels of happiness, positive emotion, and meaning in life than do non-parents.”
The Wall Street Journal reports “every additional child makes parents 1.3 percentage points less likely to be ‘very happy’”
Andrew Hess is one of our staff researchers, and he recently attempted to make sense of these findings.
By now you’ve heard that pastor and bestselling author Rick Warren returned to the pulpit this past Sunday for the first time since his son’s suicide in April.
Matthew Warren, 27, struggled with mental illness since childhood. According to the Warrens, Matthew received the best medical care and counseling available. He had good days and very bad ones, but it was unpredictable and naturally very difficult. In the midst of this decades-long ordeal, the Warrens led and built up a church congregation of over ten thousand people.
It’s difficult to turn on the TV or visit online news sites without getting an update about the “royal baby” or seeing footage of the beaming parents introducing their son to the world. Joy and optimism are written across their faces. Like any new parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will undoubtedly spend many long moments gazing at their son and marveling at every perfect detail. Jean and I have so many fond memories of studying the perfect faces of Trent and Troy when they were first born.
Do you remember Elizabeth Smart? Her story certainly broke my heart. In 2002, she was kidnapped from her own bedroom in Utah and held captive for nine months. During that time, Smart, then 14, was repeatedly raped by her captor.
Smart was recently part of a panel at an event on human trafficking at Johns Hopkins University where she shared her story. When explaining why she didn’t try to escape, she said it went beyond fear, and shared this experience:
“I remember in school one time, I had a teacher who was talking about abstinence.
Each year, thousands of pregnant couples throughout the U.S. find out through prenatal testing that the child they’re expecting has Down syndrome. For most of those parents, receiving this news is a seismic event that up-ends many of the hopes and dreams they’ve held for their child. In the confusion and fear that surrounds such a diagnosis many parents choose, sadly, to end the pregnancy.
Lauren Warner is a young mom and blogger with a personal take on Down syndrome.
The heartwarming story taking the Internet by storm the past few days almost reads like a fast-paced movie script.
A young couple pregnant with a baby diagnosed with Down syndrome are planning to abort. A priest learns about the situation, and steps in. He tells the couple he’ll find a home for that baby if they choose to deliver – however, the woman is planning her abortion for the next day.
It’s a race against time, so the Rev.
When I was an eight-year-old boy, I looked to Hank, the father figure in my life, for all the things the other kids my age seemed to enjoy with their dads. Sadly, Hank wasn’t willing to be engaged in my life. He adored my mom, but my siblings and I were simply excess baggage. While my mother was affectionate and nurturing, Hank’s love for us was missing in action. As a youngster longing for a strong, caring father figure in my life, it would have gone a long way toward forging a close bond between Hank and my siblings and me if he had:
1.
We’ve just returned from a great week of camping in Yellowstone National Park. I need to plow into all the work that accumulated while we were away, but before doing so, I wanted to share one quick thought.
The late comedian George Carlin once said, “Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong.”
I get it! Perhaps a soft bed and a warm shower are more your style.
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.