Family by God&#039;s Design

Your Teen Will Love This Simple Way You Protect Them

According to the CDC, teens are experiencing a crisis in mental health. As parents, we struggle to protect our teens’ mental health, nurturing a lifestyle that will protect their mental health over their lifetime. This study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, suggests one of the simplest ways to protect teen mental health. Even...

adolescence mental health parenting sleep teen

May 2, 2026

What Would You Do?

Jean Twenge describes two scenarios for parents to consider: Stated that way, most of us have no problem saying, “No way” and putting an immediate stop to the potential damage that such behaviors could cause. However, when we give our children smartphones, we have essentially said “Yes” to both scenarios. Smartphones have made these scenarios...

boundaries goals parent child relationship parenting rules values

April 25, 2026

Be Careful What You Teach

Children are voracious learnings. They even learn lessons from us that we don’t want them to learn. Let me share a few examples I’ve seen over the years. No parent wants to teach their child that nagging or throwing a tantrum will help them “get their way.” We don’t want our children to believe they...

behavior consequence discipline misbehavior parenting teaching

April 18, 2026

Sticks & Stones May…What? And Words?

Remember the saying that “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” It’s a lie. According to a study involving over 20,500 participants, we need to change that saying to something like “sticks and stones may break my bones and words will rewire my brain and possibly detract from my...

parenting power of words verbal abuse

April 14, 2026

Parents, Walk the Talk

I heard my children upstairs yelling at one another. I listened for a moment hoping they would stop, but they didn’t. Slowly, I walked to the bottom of the stairs and yelled, “We don’t yell in this house.” As soon as I said it, I realized what I had done. I yelled that we don’t...

child development moral development parenting role model

April 4, 2026

Change Your Child’s World, Read to Your Child

We all want our children to grow into mature, compassionate, and productive adults. We also want them to have positive relationships, beginning with their relationship with us. We want them to have the wisdom and knowledge to not only live better lives than we have lived but to create an even better world than the...

healthy development parent child relationship parenting reading

March 14, 2026

Born to Connect

Last weekend my wife and I had the opportunity to lead a marriage workshop. One of the participating couples brought their 9-month-old son, a beautiful child, bright-eyed and excited to see the world around him. He would smile and try to imitate when someone made “popping sound” with their mouth. He cooed and made sounds...

Celebration Family Shepherds

brain development connection development parenting

February 21, 2026

Parenting Practices that Influence Teen Anxiety

Many teens experience at least some level of anxiety, from shyness to full blown anxiety. However, the way in which mothers and fathers interact with their children can influence their teens’ level of anxiety. Their interaction may not prevent anxiety, but it can influence it, for better or worse, according to a study published in...

acceptance affection anxiety boundaries connection emotional health parenting

February 9, 2026

Through the Eyes of a Child

Sometimes we learn important lessons when we see the world through the eyes of a child. This study reveals one of those times. Researchers conducted two experiments with children between four-years-old and eleven-years-old (111 in the first study and 118 in the second). In the first study, two adults of the same gender answered questions...