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A Question About Fifty Shades of Grey
This morning a friend asked, “Do you think I should watch Fifty Shades of Grey with my teen and talk about it?” We’re not as strict on media as some are. We think there’s some value in watching things...
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When Should You Get Your Kids Their Driver’s License?
When we were teenagers, we couldn’t wait to get our driver’s license. It was a step toward adulthood, and we were eager to have the independence that driving represented. All our friends felt the same...
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Coming of Age: The Value of Ceremony
People often ask if we’d describe what we do for a coming-of-age ceremony with our boys. Surely with six boys we’ve done something of the sort … and the answer would be, “Yes, indeed!” You’ve probably...
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Coming of Age Ceremonies 2. Who We Invite
We described the idea of a formal coming-of-age ceremony here. We’ve done this with all six of our sons, and in a few years we’ll consider how to celebrate our eldest daughter! One of the earliest...
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Coming of Age Ceremonies 3. What Would You Say To A Young New Adult?
In our family, we believe it’s helpful to set a particular time in a young man’s life to begin transitioning him to adult roles. We talked about our reasons here, and explained who we involve in that...
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Coming of Age: 4. Who Should Speak To The Next Young Man?
We have a tradition of a formal coming-of-age ceremony we call a “Bar Chanon.” This can take all kinds of forms but centers on a serious call to embrace the next stage of life for the young man. We...
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Teen Romance: This Could Get Serious (1)
Recently we wrote about how to effectively parent a pre-teen son with a crush. It’s not a real, mature sort of Christian love, but a 11- or 12-year-old doesn’t realize that … it’s feels real to him! So...
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Five Reasons (Besides Porn) That Teens Need Accountability on Their Devices
For most of us, the primary reason we install accountability and filtering software on our computer and devices is pornography – how can we protect our kids from it? What can we do to keep ourselves...
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Four Reasons You Need to Change Your Parenting Style
Our oldest son shook his head, sadly. “You never would have let me do that,” he said, watching a younger sibling. We had to admit, he had a point. When he was that age, we were new parents, full of...
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Five Ways to Help Teens with Moving
A reader asked, “We are moving across the country to North Carolina this spring or summer for a great job opportunity our family has been praying for. My 14 yr old son is taking it very hard (he is a...
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Dating and Courtship: On the Other Hand
A while back, we were in a group of homeschoolers having a spirited discussion over our blog post, It’s Just Coffee. Suddenly, Melanie noticed that the woman arguing most strenuously against it was...
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Q & A: Dealing With An Angry Son
A reader asks what to do with a violently angry 11-year-old son who is fighting and hurting his siblings. The father writes, I’m dying here. My boy continues to be violent to his siblings…one in...
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Ten Danger Signs Your Son is Watching Porn
We get messages all the time from parents who’ve found out their son is watching porn. In every one, the parents express shock. They had no idea, no clue that this was going on in their house, so they...
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What to Do When You Find Out Your Child’s Been Watching Porn
What should you do? Well, besides cry? It’s devastating to realize that the child you’ve prayed for, taught the Scriptures to, and tried so hard to protect has been looking at degrading and...
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When You’re Worried Your Son is Going to Go Too Far
A mom asked, We did the hard press for courtship/dating with a purpose. And it worked – sorta. My son is head over heels for his girlfriend. Sex is coming. It just is. They still say they want to wait....
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The Power of Pressing On Anyway
One of our sons called home from college and mentioned an introductory course he was taking in a foreign language. He had gone to the professor and asked him to call on him more often in class, because...
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Five Things to Do When Your Child is Being Picked On
A friend was just heartbroken, “My preteen son was visibly upset after children’s choir last night. When I probed, he said he didn’t like his class any more and he wanted to quit. After probing even...
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Q. Should My New Driver Take On Our Big Van?
A friend recently asked, “My oldest is about to get his learner’s permit. Should I let him drive our big van in the beginning or just stick to the car? Where should I let him drive? Should we stay away...
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Five Reasons (Besides Porn) That Teens Need Accountability on Their Devices
For most of us, the primary reason we install accountability and filtering software on our computer and devices is pornography – how can we protect our kids from it? What can we do to keep ourselves...
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Transitioning to Spiritual Adulthood
This one is for the teens and twenties. It’s hard to write, too. When you’re young and healthy, you don’t really think about dying. It just seems remote. But two days ago, our sons lost a friend...
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