Advertise on podcast: Ten Minutes with Dad

As we all strive to navigate life’s chaos, we swiftly fall into an unsustainable pace. We sacrifice essential aspects of well-being for the allure of constant busyness. We struggle to slow down and disconnect, fearing we might miss out or fall behind. It’s a real struggle.

Welcome back to Ten Minutes with DAD

When it comes to parenting your kids, where do you put your focus? Are you fixated on helping them learn all the right information so they can be “successful” in life (whatever that means)? Are you intent on getting them onto the right team or into the right class or attached to the right group of friends so they can excel in the world? None of these things are inherently bad or wrong, but they might not be the best things for you to focus on. What if you decided to really focus on their heart and cared for them in a way that goes beyond the mechanics of life? What if your care for them led them to a place where they experienced life in a different way and felt a true sense of peace?

This weeks ten minutes provides some great ideas for Personal God Things to Share With Your Child to encourage their spiritual growth. Many parents communicate that they are at a loss when it comes to answering kids’ tough questions about God. For example, when someone close passes away—a friend or family member—parents scramble to teach their kids about life, death and heaven. More often than not, parents end up avoiding complicated matters altogether! Instead of waiting until certain topics come up, make a list of subjects you want to talk about and begin addressing them one by one, casually, but through your eyes. How do youknow God is real? Share that with your child! How have you experienced God’s love? Try to express this in a way they can understand; this means talking to your child about what you believe personally.

We’re talking for the next 10 minutes about the difference between discipline and punishment, and how the words are often used interchangeably but are quite different. To review, punishment seeks to control a person’s behavior by fear or retribution, or by inflicting pain to motivate change. Discipline, however, seeks to tie the unwanted behavior to a natural or logical consequence for that behavior. Discipline does not connect a child’s identity to their choices.

Today's 10 Minutes is focused on handling frustration, anger, and arguments in the home. John 16:33 says, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Tribulation is great trouble or suffering. Though you will have days as a parent when you will feel like indeed you are experiencing great trouble and suffering resulting from your child’s intense moods, Jesus said “take heart” for He has overcome the world. He has overcome the tension in your home! However, you may have to muddle through those difficult times as you raise your child hand in hand with God!

Visit us at SuitUpMinistries.org This weeks 10 minutes with Dad is focused on helping your child develop good study habits. Paul talked about “studying” in 2 Timothy 2:15, reminding us to “Study to show yourself approved by God, a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Though Paul was speaking about studying God’s Word, there are principles that can be drawn from this truth that can carry forward into all areas of your child’s life. However, kids don’t tend to love doing homework or studying, and parents often wrestle with crossing that line of helping to motivate their kids and nagging. Consider the following ideas to avoid homework battles and develop good study habits that will carry with them into adulthood. First, set some reasonable goals. If your child’s attention runs short, set a timer for, say, twenty minutes. After he or she works for the agreed-upon time, allow them to take a break for five minutes before returning to their studies. Set weekly targets, as well. On a day where your child is not stressed or weighted with other distractions, sit down together and talk about reasonable goals they feel they can meet to set them up for success. Next, brainstorm an appropriate reward system for completing a week of homework. Together you can create a chart to document progress and meaningful rewards that will motivate your child. Does your child enjoy computer time? Perhaps thirty minutes of computer time would be an agreeable reward. Does he or she like to bake with you? If the child’s goals were met, maybe making cookies with mom is the perfect reward. If your child is social, consider hosting a play date the following week. Make sure to follow through with these rewards—or the whole system will fall apart! You may even teach your child the verse: “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty” (Proverbs 14:23). Help them to connect this verse with how hard they have worked—to connect their success with their effort. I am with you in the journey, and am praying for you and your family. Please don’t hesitate to email me at [email protected] if you have questions or concerns as you are working through this difficult topic.

Visit us at SuitUpMinistries.org  This week's Ten Minutes with Dad is focused on helping your child develop good study habits. Paul talked about “studying” in 2 Timothy 2:15, reminding us to “Study to show yourself approved by God, a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Though Paul was speaking about studying God’s Word, there are principles that can be drawn from this truth that can carry forward into all areas of your child’s life. However, kids don’t tend to love doing homework or studying, and parents often wrestle with crossing that line of helping to motivate their kids and nagging. Consider the following ideas to avoid homework battles and develop good study habits that will carry with them into adulthood. First, set some reasonable goals. If your child’s attention runs short, set a timer for, say, twenty minutes. After he or she works for the agreed-upon time, allow them to take a break for five minutes before returning to their studies. Set weekly targets, as well. On a day where your child is not stressed or weighted with other distractions, sit down together and talk about reasonable goals they feel they can meet to set them up for success. Next, brainstorm an appropriate reward system for completing a week of homework. Together you can create a chart to document progress and meaningful rewards that will motivate your child. Does your child enjoy computer time? Perhaps thirty minutes of computer time would be an agreeable reward. Does he or she like to bake with you? If the child’s goals were met, maybe making cookies with mom is the perfect reward. If your child is social, consider hosting a play date the following week. Make sure to follow through with these rewards—or the whole system will fall apart! You may even teach your child the verse: “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty” (Proverbs 14:23). Help them to connect this verse with how hard they have worked—to connect their success with their effort. I am with you in the journey, and am praying for you and your family. Please don’t hesitate to email me [email protected] if you have questions or concerns as you are working through this tough topic.

Nobody is perfect—you and your kids included. While I know this doesn’t come as a big surprise to you, intellectually, I also know that all too often parents choose to focus on their child’s imperfections instead of tending to their hearts.

Dads, Hello, there! How long has it been since you’ve thought about the difference between hearing and listening? Hearing is the physical reaction of the brain to sound waves. Listening, however, requires you to focus and make use of what you’re hearing. I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard parents say that if their kids would listen to them things would be a lot better for the entire family. Well, guess what? I’m hoping this month’s ten minutes with Dad helps you to make that happen. Visit SuitUpMinistries.org Email the HOST - [email protected]

It’s time to address another important parenting issue—the one of having a scream-free or yell-free home. Not only will this make for a more peaceful home, but it will also help to make your children calmer and more confident in who they are. I know how easy it is to feel you have to raise your voice to be heard or even yell rather than going to your children to speak normally so they can hear you. But as parents, we owe it to our children and ourselves to speak in calmly and respectfully so they will learn to do the same. Connect with Us @ SuitUpMInistries.org Hit me up! [email protected]

Raising our children to pursue a personal relationship with God is something every Christian parent wants, but statistics show that only five percent of teens study the Bible on their own on a daily basis and over half of teens say they read or study their Bible away from church. I don’t think I need to tell you that these numbers are not very encouraging. But I’m also happy to tell you that YOU can influence your children to be one of the five percent who study their Bible every day. How? By getting creative, that’s how! For ways to make studying scripture with your kids more fun, check out this weeks podcast. It will give you a good start towards making positive changes in your home in this area. I hope you find this lesson helpful. You are always welcome to email me with any prayer requests your family may have. [email protected] Visit SuitUpMinistries.org to learn more.

Rebellion in kids takes a Dad who is consistent with leading them through it.  Connect with us @ suitupministries.org Email me! [email protected]

Teacups are beautiful, yet they’re very fragile and must be handled with extreme care. Today, university professors call our children just that, teacups. They see college students as very fragile because of overprotection. And while teacups are aesthetically pleasing, they are rarely used and of little value to us on a day to day basis. As DADs it’s hard to watch our children fail, so often we swoop in to make sure they don’t. In the process we create children that don’t know how to fail well. This week we want to process how we can STOP being our child’s superhero, and instead, allow them to develop the courage and problem solving skills to work through any issue life hands them.  Connect with us @ SuitUpMinistries.org Email: [email protected]

Dads, We must take responsibility for our kids/teens safety online. That doesn't mean keeping them off technology. Thats the easy way and ultimately doesn't work. What we have to do is face the problems and guide our kids through safety protocols.  SuitupMinistries.org Email the show [email protected]