Dear Mattsons with Jeff and Terra

We live in a hyper-sexualized culture and the porn industry is out to create addicts.  So what do we do if we discover our child has been viewing porn? Join us as we discuss how to turn toward your child and take shame out of the conversation. We will encourage you to take a proactive approach to discussing pornography with your child and remember that it is less about sex and more about connection and emotional intimacy. 

Links for Supplemental Resources:

• https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-freedom-fight-and-the-pornography-conversation/id1483802883?i=1000526358181
• https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-92-teaching-our-children-to-navigate-a/id1483802883?i=1000532236201

Help! What do I do when my toddler has a meltdown in public?

Join us as we walk through specific steps to make a plan to tame the tantrums. We will remind you to set reasonable expectations, set up a simple reward system and give lots of grace as we train our little ones.

Sex can be an uncomfortable conversation to have with our kids, but we need to have these discussions early and often so that that our children have a healthy biblical view of sexuality. Join us as we talk through when and how to start the conversation. We will encourage you to have an ongoing open dialogue about sex so there is no added shame and our kids will feel safe to come to us with questions.

How can we raise our children to have a healthy self-esteem and be confident in who God created them to be while still encouraging humility? If we expect perfection and are constantly correcting, this leads to insecurity. Instead, we will encourage you to notice and affirm who your kids are and the gifts that God has given them, so that they will not seek that affirmation elsewhere.

How do we shield and protect our kids while still encouraging them to have non-Christian friends? Teaching our kids to identify counterfeit by knowing what is real and studying God’s word is the best place to start. We will walk through three tips that will help us get out of our comfort zone while still holding true to our core values and beliefs.

God gives us limits and guardrails because he loves us, and we need to do the same for our children. Rules without relationships breeds rebellion and relationships without rules breeds entitlement. Join us as we walk through how to find the balance between the two and become the parents God wants us to be.

We take our children to church and read the Bible to them, but how do we help our kids develop real faith? Join us as we seek to recognize that God made each of our children uniquely in order to encourage them to experience God in their own way. Be open about your faith and talk about all that God is doing in your own life and your children will be encouraged to make their faith their own as well.

Raising kids is exhausting and balance is an illusion when parenting young children. The order of our priorities should be God, marriage, children, and when we get those out of order, life can feel overwhelming. Quality time with your children is important, but put your guilt aside and remember that your kids do not have to be constantly entertained.

The Mattsons give us practical steps for regulating our own emotions before we take them out on our children. When we inevitably mess up, they remind us that owning our responses and asking for forgiveness repairs relationships and models those skills to our children.

More than ever, smartphones are a part of our children’s lives, but they can become addictive and cause more harm than good. What are some steps we can take to set parameters with technology as a family?

The Mattsons are in this technology battle with us and remind us that ground rules are important, but relationships and modeling are the most important thing when it comes to teaching our children how to use technology.