Dear Christian Parent, I get it. I really do. The thought of your precious child growing up and facing sexual choices and temptations isn't always a pleasant thought. The thought of having to prepare your child for those choices also might make you cringe. But if you don't prepare them, who will? Is any child ever served well by their parents being sheepish, embarrassed, or aloof about the subject of sex? No. Of course we should never talk about sex like meat-headed teenagers in a locker room—being brazen or crude—but neither should we shirk our responsibility to disciple our children well in the area of ...Read More
Talking To Kids About Sex: 3 Things Christian Parents Shouldn’t Do
The crowded room of parents was the predictable mixture of excitedly curious, silently awkward, and nervously giddy. I was leading another seminar for Christian parents talking about how to do sex education at home. As usual, I was approached afterward by several parents who had more specific questions, but I wasn't quite prepared for one woman's comment. She said, "I really enjoyed your talk, but I just got really nervous when you used the p-word and the v-word." I looked at her with a blank stare for a few moments, and then said (probably with a dumbfounded look), "Do you mean 'penis' and 'vagina'?" She ...Read More
Homeschooling Objections to Homeschooling: “My kids won’t be prepared for college.”
Homeschooling, for some parents, is a scary educational option. When they think about the task of educating their children, intellectually preparing them for "the real world," and especially making sure they're prepared for college, many parents would much rather leave this task to the professionals. We live in a culture with many vocational specialists, and the field of education is no different. People go to school for years to get degrees in Elementary Education, Educational Leadership, Early Childhood Education, High School Education, Special Education, and the list goes on. This is one reason why many parents ...Read More
Essential Oils and the Occult: What Christians Need to Know
I sometimes have to wonder if the devil is laughing at us. Ever since my wife started talking about how she uses essential oils, we occasionally hear from Christians with grave concerns about essential oils and the occult. Occultists and pagan religions have used oils for millennia for their health properties. Therefore, they argue, if we use essential oils for same reasons, aren't we engaging in cult practices? While it is worth doing your homework about essential companies you buy your oils from, I do not believe avoiding essential oils for spiritual reasons is a mature Christian attitude (you ...Read More
DIY Homemade Febreze ® Recipe
I love having an easy way to freshen my linens, upholstery, curtains, etc. in between regular washings. But I don't like using products with questionable ingredients that might negatively affect my family's health. So I made my own homemade Febreze ®! It's cheap, easy, and effective. Homemade Febreze: Multi-purpose freshener When I was in college, Febreze® was as much a staple in our dorm room as soap. Truth be told, we probably depended on Febreze a little more than we should have. Why go to all the trouble of actually washing your sheets when you can just spray them in 5 seconds? Now that I am a certifiable ...Read More
3 Lessons This Dead Gorilla is Teaching My Kids
In case you've been in a coma over the last week, let me get you up to speed... Last weekend, a 4-year-old boy slipped past a fence at the Cincinnati Zoo, crawled through the bushes, and tumbled into the moat surrounding the gorilla exhibit. This led to a 10-minute encounter between the boy and Harambe, a 450-lb. western lowland gorilla. The zoo's Dangerous Animal Response Team believed the boy was in a life-threatening situation and killed the gorilla. There's been no end to the news coverage on this story—and a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking. I'm not going to focus on all ways the mother of the boy, the ...Read More
Objections to Homeschooling: “I won’t have enough time to myself.”
Homeschooling—like any kind of schooling—is not just an educational decision you make for your children. It is a lifestyle decision you make for your family. Many parents who like the benefits of homeschooling also dread the potential cost to their personal time. Admittedly, there's something freeing about handing your kids over to professional educators 1,100+ hours a year so you can be free to do...well, whatever you want. If you're considering homeschooling, but you're just not sure about how it will tax your schedule, the following considerations are important to understand. Consideration #1: Yes, ...Read More
FREE WEBINAR – Unruly Kids: Using Essential Oils For Emotional & Behavioral Regulation
Join Trisha Gilkerson and her special guest Kim Speer to learn how essential oils can support emotional health. Kim will teach us how she used essential oils with her son to help him with focus, feelings of anxiousness, defiance, and anger. She'll explain how using essential oils to help with his emotional health impacted the difficult behaviors they were encoutering. You'll receive practical, hands-on training in this free webinar. We hope you'll join us! ...Read More
