Family and Home Archives

How to Overcome the Potty-Training Woes

It’s one of those lighthearted list-type articles that make for fun reading:

NPR’s recent “Global Parenting Habits That Haven’t Caught On In the U.S.” shows just how much culture impacts childrearing. I can only imagine that most American parents’ jaws will drop at the second item on the list – a claim that Vietnamese parents potty-train their babies by 9 months.

9 months?

Pretty hard to believe, yes? Apparently the secret lies in the Pavlov-like trick of whistling when the baby starts going to the bathroom.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, kids, parenting September 10, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Heal Old Wounds

Do certain memories from your past still haunt you after all these years?

Every day Focus hears from good people who have faced difficult, even tragic, circumstances. Many endure life with a sense of agony few of their family and friends are even aware of.

In some cases, these folks refuse to seek help because they don’t believe it’s possible to overcome problems from so long ago. “Why bother?” they think. “What’s done is done. We can’t change the past.”

Strictly speaking, that’s true, of course.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith September 4, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Helping Your Kids Get Ready for Marriage

Who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned roller coaster? Yet, as exciting as they are, even the most ardent thrill seekers wouldn’t choose to ride one every day for the rest of their lives.

Sadly, we hear from many husbands and wives who feel as if their marriage has become one long, scary, roller coaster ride. Things are up and down, unpredictable, unstable, and just not fun anymore. And many of these couples are looking for a way out.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, kids, marriage, parenting September 2, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

17 Pearls of Wisdom

I asked several of my colleagues here at Focus for their best dose of homespun parenting counsel. It should be a given that we’re to introduce our children to the Lord and disciple them throughout their childhood and beyond. I was mainly asking them for some very practical nuggets of wisdom.

Here is what they told me they regularly tell their children:

It’s never as good as you hear or as bad as you feel.
Learn to remember names.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, kids, parenting August 29, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Too Busy to Rest?

I often feel like I’m burning the candle at both ends. I imagine the same may be true for you.

No matter how much we get done, there’s always one more thing to do.

And rest? There’s hardly time for that, is there?

I confess I’ve had moments where relaxing seemed like a waste of time. It felt like the absence of something – like an empty space where productivity ought to be – rather than an active and beneficial component to my life.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, family, marriage, relationships August 28, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Race, Resentment and the Pathway Towards a Colorblind Society

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a day I don’t remember, but a day that’s had an impact on my life, and likely on yours, too.

I’ve been thinking about August 28th, 1963 – exactly fifty-one years ago tomorrow, in fact.

I was just two years old and living in West Covina.

Life is simple for a two-year-old, but 3,000 miles away in Washington D.C., a dramatic moment was underway. There, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, friendship August 27, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Does Your Child Have a Bad Attitude? Try These 3 Things

With school back in session in many parts of the country, it might be necessary to tweak our child’s attitude. After all, going from a life of leisure to the rigors of the classroom can be a bit jarring.

According to our counselors here at Focus, a common motivation for a child’s negativity is simply to get attention. If you suspect this is your child’s goal, there are a few ways to teach him or her not to complain.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: discipline, family, kids August 26, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Why I Don’t Want Perfect Children

These first few days of school remind us that our children grow up quickly. In the midst of those early years, the long nights, the crying and the diapers, to name just a few passages of early life with kids, it seemed like it would go on forever.

But then you’re walking your son or daughter by the hand into school, or dropping them at the bus stop, and suddenly you realize just how fast the seasons come and go.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, kids, parenting August 19, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Guest Post: 9 Things You Can Do to Prepare Your Child for a Great School Year

It’s that time of year when parents are hustling to get the kids ready for the start of another school year, and to talk about a few back-to-school points I am turning to my friend Gaylen Kelton, MD, as my guest blogger today.

Dr. Kelton is a family physician and clinical professor of medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. He is also the chairman of the Physicians Resource Council, a panel of physician experts who generously lend their time and talents to assist Focus on medical and health-related topics.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, kids, parenting August 18, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Funny Things Kids Pray

Some time ago, a colleague tacked up the following sign above his door here at Focus:

Live Well (Philippians 1:27-28), Love Much (John 13:34-35), Laugh Often (Proverbs 17:22)

There is so much to say about each of these, but if laughter is truly good medicine, I thought I’d end the week by sharing something sweet – and comical, with you.

Riley was five years old. His father is on our team here at Focus, and he and his wife have made a habit of recording some of the more memorable comments the little tyke makes, especially at bedtime.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, humor, kids August 15, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura