Great Christian Parenting Magazine

Great Christian parenting Magazine - Parenting Like HannahThere are several parenting magazines in the marketplace. Some are actually fairly helpful. The problem is none of the secular parenting magazines really address parenting issues that are of special importantance to Christian parents. Fortunately, there is a great magazine that totally focuses on helping us.

Thriving Family is a magazine focusing on Christian parenting and marriages. It has lots of short, practical articles that only take a few minutes to read. In addition to the feature articles each issue, the magazine contains regular features on family stages (dealing with the issues of children in various age groups), family media, family faith and family living.

The magazine is bi-monthly (6 issues a year) and the latest issue covered topics like anger management for kids, overcoming selfishness in marriage, toddler modesty, retooling timeouts, solution for messy rooms, logical faith (for teens) and much more.

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Great Resource for Christian Parents of Kids With Special Needs

Great Resource for Christian Parents of Kids With Special Needs - Parenting Like HannahOver the last few years I have become a fan of Nick Vujicic. If you aren’t aware of him, Nick was born without arms or legs. With a disability that for most people would have meant their world is very small, Nick has become a minister, preacher, speaker and advocate for those with special needs all over the world. If you want to be inspired to overcome just about anything in your life, read his books about his life.

As I learned more about Nick, I often said I wanted to meet his parents. It was obvious they have to be very special people to have raised a son who has not allowed his disabilities to define or narrow his life. Someone must have heard me, because his father Boris Vujicic has just written a new book, Raising the Perfectly Imperfect Child.

Although as a fan I am obviously a bit biased, I have to say I loved this book! The author does an excellent job explaining what he and his wife did in raising Nick while still acknowledging that every child with special needs is unique. He is empathetic and makes it clear that in some ways their circumstances were easier than those of others with children who have special needs.

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Questions for Christian Parents to Ask Their Kids

Questions for Christian Parents to Ask Their Kids - Parenting Like HannahHave you ever said “What in the world were you thinking” to a child? My guess is you didn’t get a very helpful response. Ask More, Tell Less: A Practical Guide for Helping Children Achieve Self-Reliance by Greg Warburton suggests asking the right questions can move you and your children from their reliance on your help to make good choices to their self-reliance.

Parts of this book were excellent and even introduced a couple of new ideas to me. I loved the idea of teaching kids not just to be honest with others, but honest with themselves. He accurately pointed out that often we lie to ourselves about our bad behaviors. Those lies keep us and our kids from making necessary changes. That is a perspective I don’t believe I have ever heard before and I believe it could be life changing for many kids (and adults).

I also appreciated the amount of time he put into helping parents understand the importance of really listening to your kids and asking questions that will help them reveal their hearts (my words, not his). He gives lots of examples of questions a parent could ask about a wide range of choices, attitudes and behaviors. While I believe some of his questions are not quite as open ended as he believes, they are definitely an improvement over the questions many parents typically ask.

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Christian Moms and a Passion for Christ

Christian Moms and a Passion For Christ - Parenting Like HannahPerhaps you don’t really struggle with the idea of doing the parenting suggestions you find here, but still don’t feel motivated to put them into practice. Or perhaps you regularly do some of the things suggested, but more from a secular perspective. Or maybe you even try to talk about God with your kids, but your heart isn’t in it. The issue may not be Christian parenting as much as it is that you may have lost your personal passion for following Christ.

It happens to all of us I think from time to time. Whether your life has been so crazy you don’t have time to think, your kids have been so sick you haven’t attended a worship service in a month or you are so tired you fall asleep every time you try to pray – the passion for Christ is just gone.

Oh you still believe in him, worship him and want to follow him, but you just can’t muster the energy to share your faith on a daily basis with your kids. You see that’s what Christian parenting really boils down to…a constant 24/7 faith sharing exercise (or discipling if you prefer)- by direct teaching, coaching, setting examples, giving opportunities to practice godly concepts and more. Any professional teacher will tell you, when you have lost your passion for teaching your subject, you aren’t effective or happy.

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Role Models for Christian Young People

Role Models for Christian Young People - Parenting Like HannahRole models are problematic. Ask Disney. I would imagine they spend a lot of time, money and effort identifying talented young people who also fit the Disney clean-cut image. Fast forward a few years after discovery and many of these same young people are behaving in ways that have parents screaming at Disney for exposing young children to such terrible role models.

Generally, Christian parents point their kids to Christ as the ultimate role model. Many will point out Christians here and there who have a specific godly characteristic or quality in order to show their kids what those look like in our world. I would imagine though most young people still have one or more “famous” people they admire for a variety of reasons. Many parents may be looking for ways to steer their kids towards admiring people who put God first in their lives.

I was interested to learn of a new book offering stories of younger Christians who were “real stories of a courageous new generation standing for truth”. No Fear: Real Stories of a Courageous New Generation Standing for Truth by Tony Perkins tells the stories of eleven young people who in the author’s view made a strong stand for God.

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