There is no denying that when you are raising, or in any way leading, teens and preteens that there are some head scratching, jaw dropping, "what in the world" moments where they will do and say things that test your love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control in BIG ways.

What do we do? Blind rage fit? Laugh it off? Hide all evidence? Enable their unhealthy choices for fear of not being their "friend”, rocking the artificial facade...

Courageous Conversations Lead to New Bridges 

This is the picture I sent my oldest daughter in college one night this week when saying goodnight.

Do you ever feel this way?

Maybe a little numb and starring off into the distance because you feel like you pulled every heart string, used every neuron and exhausted every breath with prayer that day?

I know I do, especially in this season of my life where I have a constant pulse on the adolescent young women...

This article is a community requested favorite.  I have answered this question many times on an individual family level depending on the needs of the child, but I want to give some broad stroke resource tips here on how to approach and stand in this typically vulnerable topic with your kids and especially your daughters.

Every generation and every family within that generation is going to approach this a little differently.  There is the blatantly out loud, tipping over into...

A new study, published in September, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is the newest body of proof to help us comprehend the impact the world-wide Covid experience had on our sons and daughters.  This study, in my opinion, delivers the most palpable understanding for what we saw then and what we are still seeing today.   

What did the study say?

160 teens (50% female and 50% male) aged 9-19 brains were studied through MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)...

Six years ago we went to Arizona on a business and family trip.  We toured Sedona, which to this day is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places I have ever been, and hiked the Grand Canyon rim along with hundreds of other people from every corner of the globe. 

I am not sure what area of the Grand Canyon we were on, but it was an area with NO guardrails and signs littered the winding paths about deaths and injuries that had occurred several times in several...

Last last week an advisory was released saying:

"Surgeon general's new warning: Parents are stressed out"

I was between tennis games at another late night match during the first week of school for 3 of my high school daughters when I received this article notification on my phone.  My first reflex, before I could even think, was an honest lol moment.  OK, it was more of a sarcastic chuckle.

Was this news to anyone?  Did any parent, especially of adolescents,...

Have you ever had a remodel in your home?  Nothing feels settled and there is always a mess.  You have to step over things, avoid sharp objects and discern what is ok and what is not constantly.

Well, your daughter, your student, your granddaughter etc. is undergoing major (internal) construction right now.  In her brain.  The tricky part is that every single one of them is different!  I have four daughters with 4 different brains, which means I need 4 different ways...

Have you gotten the "how are you" question lately and just don't have the time or energy to list out how you actually are or the capacity to think of all the things to assess if you are actually ok in each of those areas?  Yeah, I can relate.

So, you just say, "fine" or "great" and reciprocate with a "how are you?" when they reply with the same falsehood.  

The fact is that most of us work in overwhelm.  A 2023 Gallop Poll found that 49% of the US is completely overwhelmed...

We are accustomed to looking at our child's behavior to dictate the next course of action, but really, outward behavior is the very end expression of a long line of more complicated internal thoughts, feelings and decisions. As parents we need to find a place to lead them from and it starts with understanding.

For example, if your child keeps sneaking their phone, or violating phone boundaries it could be: 

- because she feels left out, needs to "show up" and feel like she is seen,...

“Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.” Hebrews 13:17

This can be a really, REALLY hard statement for many to abide by today and in this election year especially, no matter which way it goes.

We are living in uncertain times.  I don’t think anyone would argue with...