Welcome to this month’s Rooted Parent Top 10 – a list of parenting articles from across the web for the Rooted community. This list represents ten articles we believe will encourage and equip you as you parent your kids. At the end of the list we have included several of the pieces that ran on Rooted Parent over the last month. If you have an article you’d like to contribute to the next edition of the Top Ten, please email Anna at anna@rootedministry.com.
Gospel-Centered Parenting
How to Help Teens Who Are Anxious and Depressed by Jared Kennedy, TGC. “‘I don’t understand where my child is coming from or why she is viewing life the way she does. But I’ll be here for her regardless.’ That’s a position of compassionate engagement that puts aside trying to be the hero and savior. From that place of humility, we can point to Christ, the true comforter and healer.”
When Marriage and Motherhood Become Idols by Jen Oshman, Crossway. “When we moralize marriage and motherhood in this way, we inadvertently create a hierarchy in the church with the moms on top (the more children the godlier) and the singles without children on the bottom. Unknowingly, we laud the former and alienate the latter.”
Supporting Adoptees and Parents of Adoptees: An Interview with Jonathan Holmes by Aaron Lee, SOLA Network. “I think a huge burden sometimes that gets placed on adoptees is this theology of gratitude and gratefulness where you should be really thankful. But it doesn’t also get accompanied with a theology of loss and trauma of this adoption also represents a significant trauma and loss not only for the birth parents, but also for the adoptee.”
Why We Fail at Family Devotions by Tim Challies, challies.com. “I think the main reason we fail is that we make it too hard.”
Bluey and the Maternal Instincts of God by Brad Gray, mbird.com. “Whether it’s a skinned knee, muddy clothes, or midnight cries, there’s nothing quite like the embrace of a mother, whose arms wrap you up in a blanket of overwhelming sympathy, care, and affection. It’s almost startling to think that the Heavenly Father’s affection for us is even more infinite and intense than that.”
Teen Culture
Understanding the Teenage Brain by Justin Coulsen, IFStudies.org. “Think about what happens when the road network in your area is being upgraded and redeveloped. It usually means delays. It requires you to go slowly and work through the gridlock with patience and understanding, knowing that in time, the work will be completed and traffic will flow better than ever. Right now, your teen’s brain is like that road network. And it’s going to take a few years of upgrades before he’s where you want him to be. The important thing to remember is that we can help these developing brains by keeping things level and balanced.”
5 New Stats You Should Know About Teens and Social Media by Chris Martin, TGC. “The social internet is the modern version of a school hallway and lunchroom—a stage that’s ever-present and unrelenting in its demands for performance under the hot lights of social pressures.Teens, then, are enslaved to performance.”
To Read With Your Teenager
He/Him Please by Jesse Johnson, the Cripplegate. “The transgender movement teaches people—and in particular kids—that anyone who does not affirm their preferred gender is acting out of hate to them. It is important to bracket your response to the person by refuting that head-on. Any response has to be framed in love.”
Purity Means Seeing More, Not Less by Brian Walker, TGC. “But we shouldn’t approach our battle against lust as if it’s only about learning to look away and just say no. With this approach, women are too often viewed as two-dimensional objects of temptation rather than whole persons. Instead, we must see that the pursuit of purity means opening our eyes and seeing more of ourselves, more of others, and more of the Savior.”
Scrolling Alone by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, TGC. This is a longform article that will take some time to read; the link will also take you to an audio version, if that is easier. We highly recommend that you share and discuss with your teenage girl.
How To Pick a Church When You Go Off to College by Joshua Gibbs, The Circe Institute. “The sort of high school senior who assumes that college friends will help him keep the faith is also more likely to go to church wherever friends go, and chances are good his friends go to a church called Lift, Sponge, or some other place which takes all its aesthetic, moral, and homiletic cues from secular culture.”
On Rooted
Why We Chose Private Schools For Our Children by Molly Witherington
On School Choices: How to Make the Best Decision for Your Child by Katie Polski
Psalm 34: Giving Our Children a Taste of God’s Goodness by Melissa Powell
Counseling Children About School Safety by Kaila Thomas
One Way To A Teen’s Heart Is Through Their Stomach by Rooted
Family Meals: Big Benefits for Big Kids by Melissa Powell
From the Best of the Rooted Archives: Our Summer Re-runs
Does Perfect Parenting Lead to Perfect Children? by Todd Hill
To Him Who is Able by Katie Polski
When God Says No: Shepherding Your Child Through “Unanswered” Prayers by Jennifer Phillips
Why Our Teens Don’t Know They Need Jesus by Kristen Hatton
Mystery and Lament: When It Looks Like Your Child’s Life is Falling Apart by Cameron Cole
