When you write a Christian parenting blog, you hear from a lot of people wanting to promote things in an effort to strengthen marriages. I try to use them whenever possible. I believe one of the most important gifts you can give your child is parents who love each other and are committed to having a Christian home and parenting their children towards God.
The craziness of parenting though can often push marriages to the back burner. We are often lucky if we can exchange a few important details with each other before collapsing in exhaustion. Date nights are a thing of the past even when the kids are old enough to no longer need baby sitters. Couples slowly begin to drift apart without realizing it has happened until it is too late.
From time to time a publisher will send me a date night book to review, and most of them are fine. A few have some great discussion questions. I really have never seen one though that was extremely creative in the suggestions of things to do together. That is until I read 52 Uncommon Dates: A Couple’s Adventure Guide for Praying, Playing, and Staying Together
My daughter just started her freshman year at a Christian college on the West Coast. The minister at her church on campus is a wonderful Australian surfer dude preacher (not his real name). The last time we worshipped there, he shared something I thought was profound.
Electric fences amaze me. You can’t see the lines, but even very large animals soon learn to avoid them. I like to think those fences are to protect me when I walk by the animals. Actually, the owners install those fences to protect their animals. They know if the animals leave the safety of the yard or field, bad things can happen. If the animal stays far from the fence, it enjoys easily found food and water in abundance. It is protected from cars and hunters. Even though life on the other side of the fence may look more interesting, in reality it is fraught with dangers the animal is unprepared to handle.
People greatly underestimate what kids are capable of learning and understanding. Even very young children can begin learning basic ideas and concepts about complex things. Unfortunately, many parents want to wait until children are older to begin exposing them to God and the Bible. Oh, they may take them to church, but often the child just ends up playing in a nursery classroom or running up and down the halls.
This week my husband and I are moving our daughter into a college dorm room three thousand miles away from our home. As my older and wiser mom friends tried to help prepare me for this week, I noticed a lot of them told me the same thing. “Give yourself permission to cry.”