Instilling God-Given Qualities into Your Children

I loved every stage of raising my two boys, Trent and Troy. I enjoyed them as babies. I enjoyed their energy as little boys. I enjoyed watching them grow up and become young, godly men. My greatest honor and privilege in life has been to be their dad. I’m sure you feel the same way about your children.

Nevertheless, I’m sure you’d also agree that some seasons of parenting can be challenging. Raising kids well is inconvenient. Life is always busy. You’re exhausted. And you probably don’t always respond in the moment the way you wish you would.

We all know that none of us is perfect, but embracing life’s messiness can be tough. If parenting remained convenient and clean, no growth or insight would occur.

As author and homeschooling mom Melissa Hannigan, my guest on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, says, “Messiness is not only sticky countertops and glitter on the floor; it encompasses messy conversations with sticky subjects and complicated answers.”

She’s with us to explain how to avoid doing what is easy and comfortable in your parenting in favor of cultivating long-term success. A great way to do that is by helping your kids grow in biblical understanding, so they can live with good judgement and discernment.

Melissa’s book Inconvenient Parenting covers 12 God-given traits that help kids become all that God designed them to be: