Establish a Great School Year
Click Here to Download the Printable Version in PDF Format Another school year is about to begin and families are quickly shifting gears from summer into school mode. In some ways, it is exciting to prepare for school (anticipating the new activities). But in other ways, going back to school is challenging (establishing earlier bedtimes…
Read MoreParenting in the Early Years: Form a Community of Persons
The first task of your family is to become a community of persons. With the birth of your child you have gone from a couple to a family. Even though this is a small community (and hopefully one that will grow) it is a unique and important one. There are three main objectives that parents…
Read MoreParenting Toward Adulthood: Developing Society
By the time your child is 18, he should have the knowledge and virtue to go into the world and live as Christ lived. This means that parenting during the teen years should focus on readying your youth for participation in the world outside the home. In general, this means checking in with your emerging…
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 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 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: 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…
Read MoreParenting in the School-age Years: Serving Life
Parents who have been honoring God’s plan for love and life and responsible parenthood up to this point will find the task of serving life in the pre-teen years much easier. Because they have lived marital chastity during the early family years, they will have a firm foundation of knowledge and wisdom in the matters…
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 Style Matters
Parenting is complicated because every child is unique and each situation is different. This means that parents can seemingly lose their minds trying to decide the best way to help their child grow in love. Diane Baumrind, a research psychologist for the Institute of Human Develop at Berkeley, looked at the relationships between parental behavior…
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