How do I grant my child increasing freedom without being too permissive? Or, to put it another way, how do I keep her safe without being overprotective? I have a twelve-year-old who keeps telling me that she’s old enough to go places by herself. For example, she wants to be able to ride her bike …
Parenting Q&A
What’s the best way to help a child work through the passing of a relative or close family member? My father died this year, and our grade-school-aged son has been asking questions. For example, he wants to know where grandpa has gone and whether he has become a “guardian angel.” How do I respond without …
How do I know whether my child’s fever is serious? It’s the middle of the night, and he’s running a high temperature. What should I do to treat the fever until we can get him to a doctor?
Do you have any advice for handling toddler who wanders into our room in the middle of the night screaming, moaning, thrashing wildly, and jabbering incoherently? He doesn’t seem to know us when these Night Terrors get a grip of him. When we try to comfort him, he just pushes us away. Is there anything …
Can a toddler with Down syndrome be taught to use the toilet? Given my son’s special developmental and mental challenges, I’m not sure whether he has the capacity to understand what I’m asking of him. I’d really appreciate any practical advice you might be able to offer.
How can I find a trustworthy source to diagnose and treat my young child’s deficient speech and language skills? He’s way behind his peers in this area, and I’m especially concerned because he’s supposed to start school next fall. How do I talk to him about this without making him feel abnormal?
Should we force our teen to relocate to a new state with the rest of us? A job change is requiring our family to move, but our adolescent son, who is currently a student in high school, doesn’t want to go with us. He’d rather move in with some friends and graduate from the school …
How does divorce affect kids?
How does your ministry view unmarried moms and their kids? I’m raising a couple of kids on my own. Up to this point my search for a church home hasn’t been too encouraging – I get a strong impression that some Christians don’t approve of women like me and our “illegitimate” children. What’s your perspective?
Why do kids start (and continue) using drugs and other intoxicants? What steps can I take to protect my children against the dangers of substance abuse?
Could talking about suicide have the effect of pushing a teenager in the wrong direction? I have reasons to believe that my son may be struggling with self-destructive thoughts and tendencies. While I think it’s generally important to confront this situation directly, I keep wondering what might happen if I bring up my concerns and …
Does a pattern of persistent depression indicate that my adolescent son may be in danger of taking his own life? I’ve been hearing a great deal about the rising problem of teenage suicide, and I’m wondering whether my son might be at risk. What exactly is the connection between depression and suicide? Where can I …
Do you have any advice for dealing with a teenage daughter who’s recently gotten involved in premarital sex and other destructive activities? While hunting for an extra set of car keys in my daughter’s purse I came across a condom and a cigarette lighter. Needless to say, I was devastated. Should I confront her about …
What should I do now that I’ve discovered that someone in the family has been coercing my child to participate in sexual acts? Where do I turn for help? As you can imagine, this shocking revelation has sent me reeling.
At what age should I start discussing topics like abortion and homosexuality with my children? They’re still in elementary school, and I have no wish to violate their innocence any earlier than I have to. At the same time, I’m also aware that they’ve probably already encountered talk about these subjects. As I’m sure you …
Am I right to be concerned about my 16-year-old daughter’s obsession with texting? In the past two weeks she has sent or received over 3,000 text messages. So far it hasn’t affected her school grades, but I worry that this much texting is excessive and unhealthy. What should we do?
At what age do you recommend that we start introducing our child to the worship service at church? What’s the best way to go about it?
As Christian parents, how do we prepare ourselves to give our kids an accurate understanding of God and the kind of solid biblical teaching they’re going to need later on? How can we help them “succeed” in those areas of life that matter to us most – the areas where unseen values take precedence over …
Why doesn’t my son want me to teach him things? From the moment he was born I’ve been looking forward to the time when I could teach him how to do all kinds of fun “guy” stuff. But now that he’s old enough, he doesn’t want me to teach him anything. When I try, he …
How do we deal with a small child who takes off and has to be chased down every time he misbehaves and suspects that he’s about to be punished? He tends to run away whenever any kind of problem surfaces, and we have to run after him just to talk to him, let alone correct …