Navigating life

This is the one question I am always asked whenever I speak on parenting. It’s a good question. I want to know the answer to this question. I suspect I have even asked my own children this question. There are two ways to answer this question. 1. You can’t improve your child’s behav…

Jesus headed to those at the bottom of the pile. Will our children follow him? She was six years old, eating lunch at school. At the next table was the class naughty boy, with only a chocolate bar in his lunchbox. She had two thoughts. Firstly, chocolate bars were not allowed in lunchboxes. Secon…

You don’t need me to tell you that this year has been like no other. We have all felt the difficulties of 2020. I doubt we will forget them. We are still living with them. The relief is that, as Christians, we can live through this season of uncertainty and hardship knowing that there is hope …

We have a little rule in our house. It’s called no eating, nibbling or touching of your food, until we’ve prayed and given thanks to God. It’s not that we think there’s anything particularly unholy about eating before praying. But it’s just one of those rules we have to…

During lockdown I was told that there are usually three stages to a crisis. I see these responses in the lives of the families I know, including my own. 1. Emergency response. The first weeks of lockdown. Hard work. Getting by. Running on adrenaline. Late nights. Early mornings. The crisis feels ver…

In the story of the Tower of Babel, we see people condemned to talk past each other, confuse each other and ultimately walk away from each other. Throughout the Bible, we see God slowly including people in his kingdom, with the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost bringing a new spirit of open communic…

We parents love displaying our kids' artwork. It doesn’t matter if the crayon-sketched house is lopsided or if Daddy’s eyes are slightly crossed, whatever our child has created prompts us to praise our child. Wow, we say, you made that! So should be our response when we step outside: Wow…

I’m finding these days bruising. Between my wife and I we have 8 days of work to squeeze into 5 days each week. We are sharing the time with our children, so that one works in (peaceful) isolation, while the other is a mixture of referee, teacher and bringer of light relief to our children. My…

So week 7 is over and the exhaustion is starting to kick in. I’m someone who likes to find the positive. Lockdown began for us with a flurry of activity. So many projects and home improvements to do. I looked forward to so much memory making, deep learning and home baking, all in a clean home …

My 10 year old asks me this on the way to school. It’s a fair enough question - he’s had an assembly on it, he’s heard the Prime Minister explain it and two lovely calm men in suits talk about it on TV. Now he’d like to hear God’s press conference. I start to formulate …