In this episode, we are talking with Carol Garborg about using everyday items to spark faith conversations with our kids. Carol is an author and Bible teacher to families who has a great way of making really abstract ideas like God, prayer, and forgiveness concrete and practical, easy for children to understand. Carol gives us some practical examples from her own experiences, and from her blog site. 

Check out her books and other resources: www.carolgarborg.com and sign up to receive weekly ideas on talking to kids about God’s Word.

What do we do when the pressures of life get too much for us?  We are talking out with our special guest Carol Garborg, author and creative Bible teacher for families, about lessons learned from a pressure cooker.  Join us as she shares helpful suggestions about avoiding comparison, safely diffusing life’s pressure, and taking care of ourselves so that we don’t explode all over our families.

Check out Carol's blog post to hear more!

https://carolgarborg.com/pressure-cooker-how-to-survive-parenting-pressures/

You can also find more great resources from Carol on her website at www.carolgarborg.com.

Okay, sometimes we really get it wrong. We overreact, and overcorrect, and blow everything way out of proportion. In this episode, we talk about how to avoid the big bang and set natural and realistic consequences that we can all live with.

One of the most challenging issues for all of us comes when we know that we need to discipline our kids, but we wonder how to do it fairly, wisely, and creatively. We want to make sure that we are actually training, focusing on their character, instead of simply punishing them.

Join us as we discuss how to calmly hold a standard for our kids.

In this episode, we talk about learning to listen to our kids, no matter what their method of communication. 

Join us as we share how to ask good questions, learn when to be quiet and really observe, and how to make ourselves available and present at the time that works for our kids. We also talk about the challenge of finding other people that will listen to our kids well.

We're glad you're here!

How can we manage the expectations that we have for our children? 

We talk in this episode about the pressure that we can put on our kids if we don't acknowledge their gifts and strengths.  There is a danger when we place our own hopes and dreams on them.  The set of behaviors or accomplishments we desire may end up being more about us rather than who they have been created to be! 

Join us as we talk about the challenge of knowing our kids well, and helping them to discover all that God has for them.

So we have talked about times when kids mess up, out of a good heart, just by accident or immaturity. And the times when we mess up as a parent, through our frustration or exhaustion, saying or doing things we now regret. 

But what about those times when we know that our child acted out of rebellion, defiance, or simple disobedience. . . then what do we do? 

How can we disciple in ways that are good for our children, and keep the most important things in front of us? 

Join us as we share stories, and think through ways to guide our kids even in these tough situations.

What about when we mess up as parents? How do we recover if we get so frustrated that we lose it, yell, or explode? What do we do then? 

Join us as we consider ways out of our own mess through asking our kids for forgiveness, taking a break to step back, and looking ahead to what we really want for our kids. 

We all have times of weakness, failure, and just messing things up, so let’s talk about how we can turn even those embarrassing times around for good.

Welcome to “It Can be Messy . . . on the way to becoming a faith-filled family.” Join us, Jen Leslie and Jan, as we talk about how to navigate the crazy place that parenting is these days while also trying to help our kids know and love God. 

Jen shares a story of the mess on the door to her basement, that inspired the name of our podcast. We hope that our conversations inspire you, make you laugh, and encourage you that we are all in this together. We would love to hear from you.