I blame Norman Rockwell. Or maybe the Saturday Evening Post. Somehow they took a holiday that was created to be about families thanking God for His blessings and created a competitive holiday. Don’t believe me? Take a look at your local magazine rack. Thanksgiving issues are all about having the best turkey or sides ever. The photos are absolutely stunning, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never had a turkey come out of the oven even closely resembling those.
So, around the country moms start planning and purchasing days and even weeks before. Many start cooking on Wednesday and cook all day Thursday. Often the kids are shooed out of the kitchen and told to watch the parade on television or go outside and play with their siblings or cousins. Why? Because in order for everything to be “perfect” for the most important meal of the year, we just don’t want all of those little ones “under foot”.
Continue reading Why Your Kids Need An Imperfect Thanksgiving
What is beautiful? More importantly to your teen daughter – is she beautiful? It’s a loaded question and your daughter’s self-esteem, relationships and even her spiritual health can depend upon how the topic of beauty is handled and taught by those around her. As her parents, you have a lot of influence in how she views herself. But how does a Christian parent balance the concepts of humility, beauty, self-esteem and inner versus outer beauty.
If you believe sitcoms, sex is the topic most parents want to avoid talking about with their kids. It’s unfortunate really, because as recent events have shown, handling sexual desires in ways that aren’t pleasing to God can cause a myriad of negative consequences. In fact, ungodly sexual behaviors have destroyed not only the careers of politicians, Hollywood types and more, but often their lives and families as well.
When I was a young teen, my older girl friends at church would tell me they often got the most pressure to ignore God’s commands for sexual purity from the Christian guys they dated. I thought it was rather strange at the time, but when I started dating, I found much of the same dynamic. As I dated more, I realized part of the reason why this often happened.
Research just about any study on marital problems and the top topic mentioned is finances. Bring two people into a marriage with two very different ways of handling money and the results can be disastrous.