Tag: parenting

The statistics regarding the effects of fatherlessness on children and communities are overwhelming. Spokane Fatherhood Initiative Chair for the Greater Spokane Association of Evangelicals (GSAE), Ron Hauenstein said, “Because of the widespread effects of fatherlessness, every church, business and government agency is affected. If Spokane is to enjoy stronger families and safer children, if fatherhood is to be restored to its rightful place in our culture, then the body of Christ must be mobilized.”

Parents and teachers might often wonder how to teach children caring toward others – more so when the world feels full of disagreement, conflict, and aggression.

As a parent, I struggle with whether it is in my son’s best interest to be honest with him all the time. So when a news segment came on recently having to do with parents cheating and lying, I turned up the radio.

Usually, when parents are given advice on parenting, we are told pretty much the best way to make our children behave and mind us. While this is important, it only captures a small part of what it means to be a father to a growing, independent human being. We are in reality grooming our children to leave us to go out into the world.

So, you say you are so relieved that your kids were safely raised before this age of technology, Internet, police brutality, terrible government?

Parents can love, set patterns, teach expectations, and model examples, but we can’t shield our children from every challenge or struggle, every illness or misfortune.

As former youth pastor of a decade plus, I witnessed a wide variety of parenting styles that ranged from free range parenting to Gestapo paranoia parenting.