A few years into my time working with the students and families at Westminster, something amazing happened. People began to trust me. Suddenly more students were asking, “Hey, can we talk for a second?” and more parents were calling with questions like, “How do you think my son is doing?” It was the kind of ministry I loved doing more than any other. After just a few months I realized one very importa…
Carpenters have hammers, painters have brushes, parents have…. I make this analogy frequently – if a carpenter were to leave his tools to sit out in the rain for days and weeks without maintenance, he would soon be unable to function to his best of abilities, if at all. They would rust, they would break, they would become stuck. A carpenter must care for his tools – sharpen his saws, file his chise…
Look around the news for a few minutes, and it’s easy to start feeling a bit down on the world. Look around for a little longer, and you’ll likely see some upsetting news about teenagers….cyberbullying, school shootings, suicide and crime just to name a few. Yes, many of our teens are suffering, and they need our help. If you read only one more sentence of this blog, please read the next sente…
In many ways, this week’s conversation is an easy segue from last week’s. Something has stormed its way into your kids’ world that I can guarantee wasn’t a part of the world of your childhood: Media, Media, Media. Not to say that you didn’t have a favorite TV show, or a favorite band or that the movie theater wasn’t your hangout – but it’s irrefutable that access to and consumption of media is at an all-time hig…
Last week we talked about the importance of building strong networks to support your children as they grow. It’s a simple thing that any parent can do, and in my opinion, is one of the many markers of strong parenting. Sometimes when a parent invites me into their family’s support network to discuss something that’s going on or has happened in their child’s life, there’s a sense of doubt. “Do I really need…
