Raising Your Kids with Purpose and Grace

I recently read an article about how artificial intelligence will transform so many things that the entire way schools teach children must change. The article argued that most of what is done in the workplace will soon be done by machines and robots. If artificial intelligence can provide most of the knowledge and skills traditionally taught in schools, the author suggests, the most important thing we can teach is character. Skills and information might become irrelevant, but character is essential to navigating every part of history—even the years ahead of us. 

While I am not sure technology will take over the world as quickly as the author projects, I do believe that developing our children’s character by teaching them true wisdom is more important than anything else we can do for them. 

How do you want your children to grow?  What are your ambitions for them—the places where you most want your kids to excel? 

Is it too bold for us to want our kids to grow the same way Jesus did?

It’s not too bold. Instead, it is exactly what God calls us to do: to raise our children to be just like Jesus. 

What is one thing you would do differently as a parent? 

I recently considered this question while talking with my youngest child. He is now 21 and on summer break from college. He asked me what would I do differently if I could change only one thing in raising him and his sisters? A daunting question for those of us with mostly grown kids. 

Worshiping God with our kids is one of the greatest privileges of parenting. While nothing replaces worshiping with our church family on Sunday mornings, we can also bring the worship into our homes throughout the week. From Don Whitney’s book Family Worship, here is a simple approach you can use to start off your morning or wrap up the day praising God with your family. 

What are you afraid of? 

I certainly have had my big moments of doubt and fear in my life. I’ll never forget being at the hospital with my wife to deliver our third child and getting a call from my boss telling me we were out of business. I worked at a large bank during the 07-08 global financial crisis. My boss called and said we no longer offered home equity loans to the national market. 

You’ve likely heard the statistics and seen the headlines: “Technology is rewiring our brains.” Especially our children’s brains. We've already talked about when and how to limit screen time for your children. But today, the conversation I’d like us to have is about the necessity of modeling healthy tech use for our children.

The reality is that if we don’t model how to set boundaries for ourselves, neither will they. Here are three ways you can begin to model healthy tech use for your family.