Parenting

"But do you actually enjoy playing with the children like that?" a dear friend and experienced mother once asked me. Her question implied that there was a parallel universe in which a good mother might not enjoy playing with her children. It didn't take long before I became familiar with that universe myself.

There are two main reasons why we find it difficult to apologise, particularly to our kids.

"The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice" (Peggy O'Mara).

Even after the World Health Organization replaced the term social distancing with physical distancing, people are still feeling the effects of social distancing.

As Christian parents, the most important legacy we want to leave our children is faith in God.

Children play, that’s obvious, but did you know it’s also “work”?

“When grandparents enter the door, discipline flies out the window,” poet Ogden Nash once said, encapsulating one of the most common sources of intergenerational conflict—the role grandparents play in the upbringing of their grandchildren.

Are you tired of feeling guilty for letting your kid play with an iPad or watch a show on Netflix? Perhaps you’re worried about the impact screen time has on them.

Raising children with the ability to empathise is key in creating a kinder, more compassionate and loving world. 

My one-year-old son eyes the chickpea-filled bowl suspiciously. He tentatively pokes a stubby finger into the bowl and starts stirring the legumes around. I’m pretty sure it isn’t my imagination when, seconds later, his hazel eyes light up and his little pink lips curve ever-so-slightly upwards.

At what age do suicidal thoughts first take root in a child's mind? Can talking about suicide encourage the act itself? Are there signs that a child or adolescent is at high risk for suicide? Given the increasing prevalence of suicide among young people, it is crucial for parents to understand as much as possible about suicide prevention in children and adolescents.

Gentle parenting—how did this seemingly wholesome phrase come to elicit such strong negative reactions as contempt, sarcasm, and condescension?

You wouldn’t think so, but whether or not children do chores is one predictor of their future happiness and success. 

To err is human. “The only sure way to avoid making mistakes is to have no ideas”, Albert Einstein said.

Raising a child is not easy at all. Raising someone else’s child is even harder. But raising six children who are not your own, giving up your life, sounds crazy to most of us.