Patti Neighmond of NPR reports that more couples live together before marriage than ever before. The figures show how far our culture has changed in just one generation. But interestingly, couples who live together still tend toward marriage. This trend distinguishes the U.S. from some European countries where unmarried couples may live together for decades without getting married or having children.
Author Archive
Amused at our Predicament
Dennis Prager has written a wake-up call to our society regarding our thoughts about modern families and respecting our elders. The fodder is the recent Doritos Super Bowl ad. He makes an interesting point. Some of the things we laugh at as a society are some of the sadder points of our corporate existence.
Feeding Your Family
I’m actually speaking of literal food this time. Inka Leoni at My Modern Metropolis has written a post which includes some very interesting photos of what families throughout the world eat in a typical week. When your week’s food is piled up in one place, it makes you wonder how well you consider the health of your family. Let me humbly recommend Food, Inc. before you buy next week’s groceries. Read the rest of this entry »
WiFi on the School Bus
The New York Times reports on an experiment in Vail, AZ in which the school district has outfitted a school bus with a mobile WiFi router. Interestingly, disciplinary problems have all but disappeared. But one has to ask, is this really a productivity booster or are we further capitulating to the entertainment “needs” of today’s students?
Effective Abstinence Education
Robert Rector comments on a new report demonstrating the success of abstinence education programs in the face of the failures of so called “safe-sex” and comprehensive sex-ed programs. What is most interesting is the response from the New York Times which capitulated to the study with the excuse that these successful abstinence education programs were “freed from the moralistic overtones and ideological restrictions.” Rector goes on to list three violated non-negotiables that lead to this sort of reaction.
Trends in Media Use
The Kaiser Family Foundation has released their study of the use of media among 8 to 18 year olds. The figures are simply astounding. Just to highlight a few of the key findings, overall media use was up to – on average – 7 hours and 38 minutes per day while total media exposure was at 10 hours 45 minutes per day. Many media categories saw increases in use, but music/audio was the biggest category gainer over the 2004-2009 time period. One of the most interesting findings of the study was that more than one media is often being consumed at any given time. Kids are listening to music, streaming Internet video and watching television at the same time. As you might guess, the foundation reports an inverse relationship between media use and academic performance. Read the report and adjust your understanding of today’s reality.
photo from rashdan
When You Don’t Do Santa
Thabiti Anyabwile has shared a few thoughts for parents who don’t go about the whole Santa thing. You might also want to read Sinclair Ferguson’s article on Christ and Santa.
Educating Your Children About Sex
Speaking to your children about sex certainly isn’t on your list of most anticipated things to do. But certainly it’s something that should not be avoided. This was the subject of a recent Albert Mohler Radio Program.
The Baptism Discussion
Christ the Center recently had the privilege of discussing credo-baptism with James Dolezal. There is a very interesting discussion currently underway in the comment thread. While this leans heavily toward the academic side, the baptism issue is an extremely important issue for families to think through. There is a helpful (and friendly) debate on the subject of paedo- versus credo-baptism during the last twenty minutes or so.
God’s Alphabet for Life, 2nd ed.
Reformation Heritage is close to releasing a 2nd edition of God’s Alphabet for Life, by Joel R. Beeke and Heidi Boorsma. The second edition of this helpful book for young children has a completely new layout as well as a new introduction, conclusion and appendix of Bible memory verses. If you haven’t seen the first edition, this book provides 26 devotional meditations for children ages 4-9. They’re based on Biblical texts that children can understand and memorize.
Reformation Heritage Books writes that the aim is to stress
that, like adults, children must be born again, come by faith and repentance to the Lord Jesus Christ, and live lives of thankfulness to God for His great salvation.