Daly Focus Blog
It’s been said it’s “easier to build a boy than to mend a man.”
I agree.
But a startling number of boys today are alone, left to figure out for themselves what it means to be a man. They don’t have a father in the home who will engage them.
Oh, dad may be there. But he isn’t present.
There are a lot of great dads out there, but too many men are disengaged. They don’t see manhood as a quality they intentionally bestow upon their son.
Here’s the scenario. Does it sound familiar?
It’s a weeknight, and your child has spent most of the evening on the same school assignment. It’s pretty clear he doesn’t understand the information. To top it off, he’s brought home a note from the teacher warning you about a failing grade.
Now what do you do?
Many parents immediately assume the worst. They think their child has a behavior problem, has difficulty learning, or is just plain lazy.
Each December and January we re-air a selection of our best-loved broadcasts of the year. It gives our listeners a second chance to listen and benefit from the God-centered, practical marriage and family advice that has become a hallmark of the Focus on the Family broadcast. It also gives our friends an opportunity to recommend a favorite program to a friend.
The next few weeks will be busy for everyone. In order to make things easy for you, I wanted to list the upcoming broadcast schedule.
When you think about it, instilling virtue in our children can be pretty serious business. After all, the adult world is a competitive place, and we want our kids to be prepared. And that leads some parents to bury their children under some pretty harsh standards.
At report card time, a parent wanting their child to learn responsibility may question why their nearly straight A student didn’t get that one grade just a little higher. Or maybe they snap at their teenager if he or she shows the slightest sign of irresponsibility.
Today is Friday the 13th, a day some associate with bad luck. Just saying the phrase brings to mind other (imagined) connections with misfortune, like black cats, broken mirrors and an open umbrella indoors.
While as Christians we should steer clear of these “silly myths,” (1 Tim 4:7) the reality is we have a few “superstitions” we believe, too. Ours might not be rooted in magic or chance, but in a misunderstanding of what Scripture truly teaches.
It’s the type of story that makes parents shudder:
Students exchanging nude photos on their phones.
Members of the Cañon City High School football team here in Colorado allegedly exchanged and collected hundreds of nude photographs of more than 100 students. Some of the students photographed were in middle school. And it seems all of this was part of a competition where points were assigned per picture.
As a colleague remarked, if this type of scandal is occurring in a small town like Cañon City, you know it’s happening all over America.
November is National Adoption Month.
Have you considered the role God might have for you to positively impact the lives of orphans?
If you answered no, you’re not alone. A lot of couples wrestle with whether or not they should adopt, or if there’s some other part they should play.
That was how Mike and Kristin Berry’s story began.
Kristin just assumed she and Mike would adopt children when they married. Adoption had been a legacy for Kristin’s family for decades.
Kids sure come up with a lot of fun questions – like the little boy who asked his mom, “Was everything in black and white in the olden days?” Or the little girl who really wanted to know where the light goes when you turn off the switch.
But sometimes the questions children ask are tough and quite serious, like “Why does God allow bad things to happen?”, “Why do people get sick and die?”, or “Why are there things like war?”
Those kinds of inquiries aren’t easy to answer, and they usually come out of left field when parents least expect them.
Some elementary schools across the nation are banning recess.
Why?
So kids can have more formal instruction time in class.
Limiting recess is just one example of what’s being done in the interest of giving teachers more time to teach. For example, we’re seeing children being introduced to formal academics earlier and earlier.
One teacher described it like this: “Kindergarten is now first grade, and first grade is now second grade.”
Kids are also coming home with more homework than in years past.
When a beloved friend or family member is battling a terminal illness, sometimes the littlest ones can get lost in the shuffle. Yet, even 3-year-olds can experience fear and confusion when it comes to prolonged sickness and death.
That’s why today I want to share with you four points from Focus on the Family counselors to help parents navigate issues associated with the illness and death of a loved one with their preschoolers and children in early elementary school.
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.
