Have you ever struggled to get your kids off the couch and into life? You’re not alone! Today we’re talking about the distraction of online life and a few things parents can do to get back in the driver’s seat with their kids.

Resources for this podcast:

But It’s Just A Game

(Recommended grades 2-6) Meet Jasper! A young boy who is totally absorbed with playing video games… “With my game controller in my hands, I’m the boss of my whole world! I can be who I want and do as I please. I can get the highest score. I get all the chances that I need. If I make a mistake it’s ok. Everyone thinks I’m ‘it on a stick!’ And the bad stuff all goes away.” Video game addiction is on the rise, but it can be prevented. This creative story book teaches both kids and adults how to switch out their game controller for a “life controller.” Video gaming is becoming a part of our culture, and we must be strategic in creating a healthy gaming balance.

Video Games & Your Kids: How Parents Stay in Control

Video games are now firmly embedded in the cultural identity of America s teenagers. It is now estimated that 90 percent of our youth are playing video games. They are using handheld devices or full-fledged, Internet-based, multiplayer games. Most are nonchalant about them, enjoying them as part of the many things they do for pleasurable entertainment, integrating them into their lives without harmful effect. Others, however, have grown so dependent on these games that they are abandoning their lives to pursue this activity, which they seem to prefer above all others. Video Games & Your Kids: How Parents Stay in Control is for parents who are worried that their children may be spending too much time playing video games.

Hooked on Games: The Lure and Cost of Video Game and Internet Addiction

The Parenting Collection by James Dobson

It can be tough to be a mom or dad. Aren’t there days when you wish you could sit down with an expert on parenting—somebody who really understands what you’re going through and knows just what advice and counsel to give you? Good news: The parenting wisdom you need is here—in one complete volume! In The Dr. James Dobson Parenting Collection, you’ll find three bestselling books (The New Dare to Discipline, The New Strong-Willed Child, and Parenting Isn’t for Cowards) containing the straightforward, practical, biblical truths you need—from Dr. James Dobson, the world’s foremost authority on parenting.

Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel
Parents in our post-modern world tend to be committed to but anxious about their child-rearing responsibilities. They’ve tried the countless parenting books on the market, but many of these are strident, fear-based books that loving parents instinctively reject, while still searching for direction.

Now Dr. Tim Kimmel, founder of Family Matters ministries, offers a refreshing new look at parenting. Rejecting rigid rules and checklists that don’t work, Dr. Kimmel recommends a parenting style that mirrors God’s love, reflects His forgiveness, and displaces fear as a motivator for behavior. As we embrace the grace God offers, we begin to give it-creating a solid foundation for growing morally strong and spiritually motivated children

Parenting Isn’t for Cowards: The ‘You Can Do It’ Guide for Hassled Parents by James Dobson

Does your heart skip a beat when you think of all that could go wrong in the parenting years ahead? Anxiety is normal, but your worst fears don’t have to become reality. Speaking both as a therapist and a father—and drawing on a landmark study of thirty-five thousand parents—Dr. James Dobson helps you .

Christians are struggling to live set apart lives in this generation. God said that we are to differently than the world—image bearers of the King of Kings! Since we are called to be image bearers of the one who created us—He can have faith that He is able to transform our lives—and the lives of our children.

Don’t miss a podcast!

Subscribe on iTunes Here

Visit our SPONSOR: YWAM Publishing to find wonderful, engaging, life-changing stories for the entire family!

Resources for today’s podcast:

Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live. by David Platt and Francis Chan

In this new book, David Platt, author of the New York Times bestselling book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, contends that multitudes of people around the world culturally think they are Christians yet biblically are not followers of Christ.

Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World by Craig Groeschel

As standards of conduct continue to erode in our shock-proof world, we must fight the soul pollution threatening our health, our faith, and our witness to others. Without even knowing it, people willingly inhale second-hand toxins poisoning their relationship with God and stunting their spiritual growth.

Soul Detox examines the toxins that assault us daily including: toxic influences, toxic emotions, and toxic behaviors.

By examining the toxins that assault us daily, this book offers the ultimate spiritual intervention with ways to remain clean, pure, and focused on the standard of God’s holiness.

The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist   Craig Groeschel

“The more I looked, the more I found Christian Atheists everywhere.” Former Christian Atheist Craig Groeschel knows his subject all too well. After over a decade of successful ministry, he had to make a painful self admission: although he believed in God, he was leading his church like God didn’t exist. To Christians and non-Christians alike, to the churched and the unchurched, the journey leading up to Groeschel’s admission and the journey that follows—from his family and his upbringing to the lackluster and even diametrically opposed expressions of faith he encountered—will look and sound like the story of their own lives.

Just about the time their kids get into their twenties—many parents realize they’ve been focused on the small things and missed some of the big stuff. How can we know what is worthy of our time and attention when we’re in the midst of parenting? Listen in!Don’t miss a podcast!
Subscribe on iTunes Here

Visit our SPONSOR: YWAM Publishing to find wonderful, engaging, life-changing stories for the entire family!

Resources for today’s podcast:

The 5 Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman

Does your child speak a different language? Sometimes they wager for your attention, and other times they ignore you completely. Sometimes they are filled with gratitude and affection, and other times they seem totally indifferent. Attitude. Behavior. Development. Everything depends on the love relationship between you and your child. When children feel loved, they do their best. But how can you make sure your child feels loved?

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know by Dr. Meg Meeker

In today’s increasingly complicated world, it’s often difficult for parents to connect with their daughters–and especially so for fathers. In this unique and invaluable guide, Dr. Meg Meeker, a pediatrician with more than twenty years’ experience counseling girls, reveals that a young woman’s relationship with her father is far more important than we’ve ever realized. To become a strong, confident woman, a daughter needs her father’s attention, protection, courage, and wisdom. Dr. Meeker shares the ten secrets every father needs to know in order to strengthen or rebuild bonds with his daughter and shape her life–and his own–for the better.

Parenting by The Book: Biblical Wisdom for Raising Your Child by John Rosemond

Picture respectful, responsible, obedient children who entertain themselves without television or video games, do their own homework, and have impeccable manners. A pie-in-the-sky fantasy? Not so, says family psychologist and bestselling author John Rosemond.

In the 1960s, American parents stopped listening to their elders when it came to child rearing and began listening instead to professional experts. Since then, raising children has become fraught with anxiety, stress, and frustration. The solution, says John, lies in raising children according to biblical principles, the same principles that guided parents successfully for hundreds of years. They worked then, and they still work now!

The New Strong-Willed Child by Dr. James Dobson

Is a willful little darling driving you to distraction? The New Strong-Willed Child is the resource you need—a classic bestseller completely rewritten, updated, and expanded for a new generation of parents and teachers. Challenging as they are to raise, strong-willed children can grow up to be men and women of strong character—if lovingly guided with understanding and the right kind of discipline. Find out what Dr. James Dobson, today’s most trusted authority on parenting, has to say about what makes strong-willed children the way they are; shaping the will while protecting the spirit; avoiding the most common parenting mistake; and much more. If you are struggling to raise and teach children who are convinced they should be able to live by their own rules, The New Strong-Willed Child is a must-read!