Posts by Jeffrey Arrowood
Let’s Be Reasonable
My son proclaimed at the dinner table one night, “The Bible is homophobic!” He was hoping to get a rise out of me. It almost worked. But I controlled my emotions and began engaging my son in a discussion instead. Not only did we have a great dinner conversation, but hopefully my children learned a…
Read MoreParenting Toward Adulthood: Forming a Community of Persons
‘It’s time to become the guide at the side, not the sage on the stage”. This phrase aptly describes the transition parents make during the young adult years. Youth are still expected to follow the right counsel of their parents and participate in family life and parents are still expected to provide guidance and interaction.…
Read MoreParenting in the School-age Years: Participating in the Church
Children at this age are masters at memorization. They are also at an age of great intellectual curiosity. The parent’s task is to engage that curiosity and capitalize on their increased learning capacity to lead them to a better understanding of the faith. One mistake that parents often make at this stage is to assume…
Read MoreLessons of Life and Love
A proper, full understanding of love is just as important as a proper, full understanding of sexuality. Authentic love isn’t first about self-fulfillment. It’s about self-giving. Learn what true love really is.
Read MoreParenting in the School-age Years: Developing Society
When your children were younger, developing society as a family was directed by the parents. As your children reach puberty, they are going to have their own ideas about how to serve others through volunteerism and social justice.
Read MoreHope: Trusting God Through the Chaos
Your family needs the virtue of Hope, now more than ever. There is no doubt that you are raising your family in tumultuous times. Confusion and chaos abound in both the culture and the Church. It would be easy to throw our hands up in despair and cry out, “Why even bother? What’s the use?”…
Read MoreParenting in the Early Years: Developing Society
The third task of parents is to develop society. This task revolves around the virtue of hospitality which is the friendly reception and treatment of guests. As parents, it is your duty to teach your children that everyone in the world is a guest, worthy of friendship and charity. Hospitality In the early parenting years,…
Read MoreParenting Toward Adulthood: Serving Life
Convincing a young adult to reserve sexual activity for marriage is one of the greatest challenges a parent will face. There are many reasons for this. First, many parents themselves did not wait until marriage so they do not think they can expect their children to wait either. Secondly, some parents think that sexual activity…
Read MoreParenting in the Early Years: Participating in the Life and Mission of the Church
Babies and very young children interact with the world physically and emotionally. While children cannot understand the faith at this young age, they can develop habits that will grow into understanding later. The important task for parents of children at this age is to create the atmosphere within which the habits of faith can be…
Read MoreParenting in the School-age Years: Forming a Community of Persons
Even though your child wants more independence during these years, it is your obligation to keep him firmly rooted in the norms and expectations of the family. This is the first task that you have as a parent. In order to ensure that neither you nor your child bails out of the family during this…
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