Family by God&#039;s Design

This Is Your Brain on Parenthood

If you’re a parent, congratulations. You have the delight of bringing new life into the world with all the accompanying hopes and dreams, joys and struggles. It is an experience of flourishing in the fullness of life. Research coming out of Rutgers Health and Yale University suggests it is also a “brain-changing” experience. Although your...

brain development children parent parenting

July 1, 2025

We Need a Recess!!

If you’re old enough, you might remember having recess at school. It was a break from the classroom as well as a chance to run around, socialize, and engage in unstructured play. After WWII, 60-90 minute of recess became the norm for elementary school students. And research supported it, suggesting that children benefit academically, socially,...

Celebration Family Shepherds

family relationships fun rest restoration

June 21, 2025

To Teach or Nurture Kindness

I love children. They fascinate me with their innate intelligence, their rapid and changing development, their capacity for learning, their openness…. Truly, they amaze me. This study, exploring the helping behavior of a diverse group of 11- to 20-month-old babies (over half were Black and low-income), contributes to my amazement. To begin the study, researchers...

kindness nurture parenting

June 16, 2025

Just Something to Consider

A study involving close to 2,000 children offers an interesting finding. The researchers examined children’s exposure to violent television content at the ages of 3.5 and 4.5 years. Screen violence included physical aggression, verbal aggression, and relational aggression intended or attempting to cause harm to others. When the same children were 15-years-old, the researchers interviewed...

adolescence parenting screen time violence

May 26, 2025

The Pervasive Impact of Neglect

Everyone recognizes that abuse has many negative impacts on a child. But do you realize that abuse comes in different forms? There is physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. Neglect occurs when a parent does not provide for a child’s basic necessities, their daily needs for such things as food, shelter, clothing, or...

child development discipline healthy development parenting safety

May 12, 2025

Growing Neighborhoods by Growing Children

Who wants to improve their neighborhood and the well-being of our youth? We all do. We desire safer, more well-connected neighborhoods; and we know that safe, well-connected neighborhoods will enhance the well-being of our families and our children. But how can we accomplish this? At least one person offered an idea that I believe holds...

Celebration Family Shepherds

chores maturity parenting responsibility

May 10, 2025

Lost in a Smorgasbord of Parenting

Parenting has become a smorgasbord of confusion. Reading through myriads parenting advice, you might find yourself confused about which parenting style proves most effective: gentle parenting, attachment parenting, or mindful parenting. You might fly into the role of a helicopter parent or wander into the realm of free-range parenting. In search of the perfect parenting...

boundaries connection parent child relationship parenting responsiveness

May 3, 2025

Make the Gracious Choice

I often feel overwhelmed by the constant criticism, contempt, and name-calling I hear in the news. And…I don’t think I’m alone. I hear many others talk about feeling discouraged as they watch this as well. What we hear in news stories is one thing. What I find even more discouraging is how many people come...

Family Shepherds Honor

family intimacy family relationships observation student

April 28, 2025

Reading, Language, Empathy, the Brain

We all know how important reading is for our children. A study published in Neuroimage showed that this benefit reaches all the way down to the very structure of our children’s brains. That’s right. A study involving over 1,000 participants suggests that reading strengthens at least two regions of the left hemisphere. One region is...