Parent Newsletter

This may sound like an oversimplification, but the family or marriage that isn’t “working” is the family or marriage that isn’t playing together. Playing together is an essential trait of happy, healthy families. Certainly our children need to do their chores, and of course they need discipline with consistency, but what they also need desperately from their parents is a rousing game of hide-and-seek or a monthly Ping-Pong tournament.

For years, Jim Burns has been speaking and writing on the importance of families playing together. There’s no doubt that in our fast-paced culture, finding the time to play together as families is a significant challenge. Yet, as Jim has said many times, “The family that plays together stays together.” If you’re looking for some practical and simple ideas to increase the “play” factor in your family, this article is for you! Here are ten simple games with minimal props and little preparation required.  

As Mother’s Day approaches once again, we want to honor moms everywhere by offering up answers to the questions second-graders where asked about the most important women in their lives...

The first few days of summer can be fun for both kids and parents. It is wonderful to break out of the school routine and decompress a bit. But shortly thereafter, reality sets in, and it is time to implement your summer plan. Summer is a wonderful time of relationship building and fun in your kids’ lives. You have the opportunity to make memories that will stay with them for the rest of their lives! And it is also a great opportunity for growth. All of this ‘fun, memory making, and growth’ require advanced thought and planning and the time to begin is now!

In a last month’s edition of HomeWord’s Good Advice Parent Newsletter, we asked our readers to take a brief survey about how they handle discipline with their kids. Here are the results of the survey.

Through my 25+ years of working with high school students I’ve had incredible joys and pains watching them graduate. Maybe the hardest part is seeing students who walk closely with the Lord begin to waver as they later take responsibility for poor choices. Frequently, this is out of ear and eyesight of their families. Following graduation from high school, kids often find themselves on their own for the first time in their lives. What an exciting time as they navigate a multitude of decisions, ranging from budgeting to class choices to more importantly their relationship with God.