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
If You Want Your Kids to Own Their Faith, Teach Them to Think Critically About Their Faith by Tim Barnett, Stand to Reason (str.org). “… a faith that doesn’t understand why it’s true will not be able to withstand the challenges and doubts of life.”
Like Father, Like Son by Larry Lin, Reformed Margins. “Because of the gospel, it doesn’t matter what my father did, what my grandfather did, nor what any of my ancestors did. What matters is what my heavenly Father did. And what he did was send his son to restore us and invite us to follow him.”
Will Gen Z Hold on to the Faith? by Jaquelle Ferris, TGC. “According to a study from LifeWay Research, 66 percent of American young adults who attended a Protestant church regularly for at least a year as a teenager say they also dropped out for at least a year between the ages of 18 and 22.” This article recommends that parents read a new book: Faith For Exiles: 5 Ways for a New Generation to Follow Jesus in Digital Babylon.
The Idea That Faith Is Caught and Not Taught Is False… and It’s Hurting the Next Generation by Natasha Crain, christianmomthoughts.com. “In short, biblical faith is not blind faith. Biblical faith is trusting in what we have good reason to believe is true, based on the extensive evidence God has given us.”
10 Reasons I’m Thankful to Be a Dad by Tim Challies, challies.com. “I am thankful to be a dad because my children push me to grow in holiness. They push me to grow in holiness by exposing my lack of holiness.”
Reaching the Nations Through the College Campus by Elissa Wright, radical.net. “Many international students will never set foot inside an American home during their time studying in our country. We, the church, can serve internationals simply by being hospitable.”
Youth Culture
How Worried Should We Be About Pornography? by Wyatt Graham, TGC. “The rise of porn use is, therefore, a Gospel opportunity, an opportunity to preach liberation to those captive to sin. And also to those captive to captors.”
Two Things to Remember Before You Share About Your Kids Online by Jason Thacker, ERLC. “The reality is, we don’t know the impact our culture of oversharing will have on our society and families, because our children are the first generation of digital natives and the first to have their entire lives on display for all to see.”
Kids and Cyberbullying… and a Free Parent Resource by Walt Mueller, CPYU. “From the moment you give your child a phone, you need to have a conversation running with them all of the time, what they are doing, who they are doing it with and what platforms they are using.”
Teens Seem to Be Taking Longer to Grow Up by Elizabeth Heubeck, Washington Post. “Many experts suggest teens are gravitating toward the “virtual” freedom they find through their smartphones. But experts also point to a less tangible reason for the waning interest in activities emblematic of independence: an evolving parent-child dynamic.”
And One to Share With Your Teen
Dear Lonely High School Student: Your People Are Out There by Melissa Edgington, yourmomhasablog.com. “So, you, lonely high school student, follow Jesus and keep living according to His word. Be radical if you need to. But don’t ever think that you are alone, because your people are most definitely out there.”
On Rooted
Our Kids Don’t Win When We Fight Their Battles For Them by Kristen Hatton. “But when we step in, we deny our kids the opportunity to think, act, and grow. Instead of leading them to be more independent so they are ready to tackle the world without us, we clip their wings, making them more dependent.”
Teaching Our Children the Gift of Their Tears by Anna Meade Harris. “We have equated tears with weakness and assumed that even in the face of great pain, weakness is a liability to be avoided at all costs.”
Half-Truths Series: God Never Gives You More Than You Can Handle by Amy Bond. “The full truth is this: we need God every single minute of the day, regardless of what we come up against.”
Half-Truths Series: God Loves Us Just As We Are by Carolyn Lankford. “We need, and we have been given through the atoning work of the Cross, an extrinsic savior who imputes to us a righteousness before God and each other that we do not possess in our own flesh. This is a message of freedom: freedom from the tyranny of self-help formulas and a world that tells us to ‘just do it.’”
Giving Grace Is Hard by Mike McGarry. “Whether you’re literally your kids’ youth pastor or not… you are. When they hear us talk about grace, but don’t actually receive it at home, then we are teaching our kids, ‘Grace is a good idea, but nothing more than that’.”
How Parents Build the Fire and Pray for the Flame by Ben Birdsong. “The church comes alongside parents to help raise Christians in the faith. The command of raising up faith in the next generation is directed both at the “you” of mom and dad, and the “y’all” of the community of faith.”
He Gives His Beloved Sleep: Perfect Rest for Parents by Katie Polski. “We are not anxious owners and our children are not projects to be managed, but we are stewards of souls whom the Lord sees as a beautiful gift.”
