God’s wisdom and plans are greater than ours. It is tempting to chart our children’s lives for them, but even better is when we let God take the wheel – directing our lives and our children’s lives too. Do you already have the “perfect” plan designed for your children’s lives? As parents, I believe this is a particularly difficult area to manoeuvre. Wanting the very best for our children, we can ...

Can’t sleep? You’re not alone, and you’re also not without hope. Consider these simple, practical strategies to get your sleep habits back on track. Whether it’s your late afternoon latte, noisy neighbours, or just too much on your mind, daytime mayhem often means bedtime bedlam. We work hard to meet our daily commitments, but a lack of quality sleep can play havoc with our bodies and minds. Tiredness can affect our ...

An open letter to kids church leaders: you are doing more for our children than you realise. Praise God for your ministry! For 15 years, I’ve served in kids church or children’s ministry at different churches and denominations. During that time, I worked almost solely with 2-4 year olds. Through those years, I wondered about the impact it had on their lives – if any – apart from providing a child-free ...

The desire to change other people is natural but it will only lead to frustration. You will enjoy the most success and contentment in life when you focus not on changing people but changing yourself. If only my children were more helpful and cooperative… If only I had a smaller behind and a prettier face… If only they understood me better… If only everyone in this house was more considerate… If ...

Anger feels right in the moment, but no child wants an angry parent. Below is some great advice on how to deal with your anger to become more effective and loving as you raise your kids. To be honest, I still struggle with anger sometimes, especially when I’m tired. Every time I think I’m making progress, I find myself yelling again. I’ll even stamp the occasional foot and wonder to myself ...

The question of identity — who am I? — is a huge one in society today. When everything is stripped away, what makes us, us? I went to a retreat once where the director used a reflection that stuck in my mind and bugged me for ages as I tried to work out what he meant. Who Am I? He asked us to imagine ourselves as a boat floating down a ...

Let me begin this article by saying to you that the journey that healed my wounded heart has only ever happened once to me, and I believe it was for a very specific reason. I am by no means a spiritual visionary! The Healing of A Wounded Heart As I mentioned in my introduction, the first big cracks in my façade of perfection occurred with the birth of my second child. I ...

When extreme perfectionism becomes embroiled in a family context, it invariably leads to deep discontent. This is part 1 in a series on perfectionism and how to find peace in the midst of it. When you get right down to it, most perfectionists are searching for peace. Basically, we want to be able to look around at the world we’ve created and proclaim, like our Creator, “Everything is very good” and so ...

I honestly believe that a lot of the struggles with our children have to do with the pressure we put on ourselves. We have set the bar so high that we hate ourselves if we don’t get it ALL done today.

I contemplated whether to share a snippet of my “real life” today, but then I thought, that is exactly how other Moms can relate. Acting as if I have it all together is the last thing I want to portray. For those dear Moms in my Bible Study, they have heard me say numerous times: “I do not have it all together, but thankfully I serve a God who does!” These ...

True fatherhood means the world to your kids, and, whether they know it or not, you have a massive influence on their lives. Dads, you’re kind of a big deal! Dad the Superman! Recently, we celebrated my hubby’s birthday and discovered, all too late, that we’d run out of ‘grown up’ candles. Of course, our boys were poised on their daddy’s lap in anticipation of the official ‘blowing out of birthday ...

Orange, yellow, red, green, blue, purple, white, brown… did you know our fruits and vegetables come in all colours of the rainbow? In fact, research shows we need to plate up as much colour as possible every day to get the maximum health benefits from fruits and vegetables. Far too few of us eat the recommended daily intake of five serves of vegetables and two serves of fruit. Not only do we ...

It was a sunny Saturday morning; I was dining alfresco at a restaurant on a busy street, casually sipping my coffee, when I noticed a little girl wander past our table and down the street. Her mother was deep in conversation and didn’t notice. I didn’t want to cause alarm by yelling at her to watch her child from across the busy tables, so I walked toward the little girl. She ...

Did you know that nearly half of Australians expect to gain up to two kilos during winter? Some surveys suggest 90 per cent of people eat more fast and snack foods and takeaways because they make them feel warmer and happier; 36 per cent of Australians worry about weight gain during winter; and 59 per cent know that weight gain will be caused by exercising less and eating more fast and ...

One of my most favourite things of all time is when one or both of our boys have a day out with dad. Partly because it means I get a day out with myself that usually consists chocolate, girly movies and/or pampering, but also because I notice a distinct difference in my boys every time they return. As if they’ve grown up a little bit, and for the next few days, ...

Listen to author Annette Spurr’s interview with Focus on the Family Australia here. ‘While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.’ ~ Angela Schwindt Nothing can truly prepare you for parenthood. The tears and tantrums, toilet training, sleepless nights, the worry that you’re not doing it right, or the indescribable love that changes everything. As soon as I found out ...

Sometimes I find myself wondering what it would be like if he were here now. I’d like to make a place for him at our table for Christmas lunch, like I do for Mum and other family and friends. I’d like to serve him and make up the spare room in our home. I’d like him to see what I’ve become. I was a skinny, pimply, constantly awkward teenager when he ...

So, my eldest started school last week and I was cool with that. Yes, I did get a little misty-eyed at drop-off time (Tyson, as predicted, was totally fine and ran off into the proverbial distance with nary a look over his shoulder). I thought I’d be anxious about leaving my baby, about him making friends, about liking his teacher… but do you know the thing that freaked me out the ...

Around half of all toddlers are considered fussy eaters, screwing up their nose at salad and pitching butternut pumpkin from their high chairs. Establishing healthy eating patterns in children is important and can have a big impact on their everyday health, growth and cognitive development. So, how do we avoid the daily food fight? Cancer Council Queensland has five tips to get parents started. One, be a good role model: Children ...

Some days, being a mother is just plain hard. Today was one of those days. I promised to take my boys to play mini golf. Secretly, I was looking forward to it more than they were! I’d been wanting to try out this place for months and finally the day had arrived but… My youngest was in a bad mood all morning; he threw a tantrum because there wasn’t enough honey ...