License to Parent with Trace Embry

The Christmas holiday has gone from being a mere “12 days of Christmas” to virtually a 365 day commercial enterprise. We see stores open all year-round, merchandising the Christmas theme with items that play on the sentiments that resurrect the fondest times of our lives—particularly our childhoods. In light of all this, keeping our kids grounded toward the true meaning of Christmas has always been a challenge for godly parents. Since our Lord is most glorified by us when we are most satisfied in Him, keeping our kids satisfied in Him by keeping “Christ” in Christmas is certainly a win/win proposition for everyone.

Our guest, Josh Helms and his wife Lindsey are the creators of a resource for families called the Shepherd on the Search. This resource is a fun way to keep the family conversation focused on the real meaning of Christmas through the character of a young shepherd who spends the weeks leading up to Christmas looking for God’s greatest gift. They created Shepherd on the Search by looking for ways to keep kids excited about the Christmas season while focusing on the birth of our Lord and Savior. Josh, Lindsey, and their children live in Nashville, Tennessee.

Why Families Should Contemplate the True Meaning of the Christmas Holiday

If your family is like many other Christian families across the country, Christmas is a time for producing life-long memories. Food, fun, and family comes together to celebrate the Christmas holiday, and the celebration of the birth of Christ is special time for many. But sometimes we focus so much on the food, fun, and family that we forget the first and foremost fact for which the aforementioned food, fun, and family are being enjoyed—the incarnation or advent of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My family is just like the family I described above. And, except for keeping Christ in Christmas, I think even most garden variety heathens enjoy Christmas in a similar way. It might be more about the winter solstice or Santa Clause or snow or gifts or jingle bells or whatever, but the Christmas season for most Americans is a time for getting together with family and enjoying one another over a meal and the exchanging of gifts.

Unfortunately, the commercialization of Christmas can easily cloud the true meaning of Christmas for even the most devout among us. That is why it is important to pause and contemplate what is really at the root of this holiday. I don’t think Christians do that nearly enough—especially with our kids. That’s why we have invited today’s guest to be with us today. This week, Josh Helms and I discuss the true Christmas story as we share the following subjects:

How you can use Shepherd on the Search to help your kids learn the story of Christmas.

What does God think about how our nation celebrates Christmas.

How to debunk the myths about Christmas.

Was Christmas a pagan holiday?

How to tell your child about Santa Claus.

What is the truth about St. Nicholas.

How to legitimize the story of Christ vs. the story of Santa Claus.

Picture provided by: pexels.com

The Christmas holiday has gone from being a mere “12 days of Christmas” to virtually a 365 day commercial enterprise. We see stores open all year-round, merchandising the Christmas theme with items that play on the sentiments that resurrect the fondest times of our lives—particularly our childhoods. In light of all this, keeping our kids […]

This week, I continue my conversation with Dr. Cretella. In a time where there are many questions about gender and sexuality, it is wise for parents to have some answers.

Dr. Michelle Cretella serves in the role of President for the American College of Pediatricians. She is a pediatrician who is specifically interested in the behavior of children. Dr. Cretella is a regular consultant for organizations such as the Family Research Council, Breitbart News, and One News Now, among others. She speaks on issues of pediatric mental and sexual health. Dr. Cretella has gained personal parenting experience from raising her four children with her husband. They have three teen boys and one preteen girl.

How False Premises Lead to Many Questions About Gender Today

In last week’s conversation with Dr. Cretella, we focused on the fact that the term “gender” has now been modified to get around the scientific fact that a person’s sex can only be male or female and that “transgender” is not a scientific description, but more of a matter of what people believe about themselves.

You have probably heard of the term “junk science.” The LGBT community has been guilty of this. Wars have been started with simple semantics, and you can make a case for anything when you redefine terms and buy into false premises. One of the false premises the LGBT community has forced upon the American public is that there is a definite line of demarcation between gender and sex. However, when you go back and look at the dictionaries before Wikipedia and some of the other digital agencies who got involved in the equation—politically correct as they are—you’ll see there really was none.

Basically, the LGBT community found a way to legitimize perversion—sexual perversion, sin, and narcissism. I call much of the LGBT issues that have been proliferated in our culture sexual narcissism. It is basically the idea that this gender over here can’t do anything for me, so I need a better experience over here; it's a selfish thing. Love is a give and take thing, but this is all—for the most part—take.

I’m not saying people of the same sex or gender can’t fall in love; they can. I love a lot of men. David loved Jonathan, and as matter of fact, Scripture says David loved Jonathan above the love of women. That does not mean they were homosexual. To say that gender and sex are two different things is buying into a false premise. If we accept that premise, then we take the rest of the LGBT junk science, and it makes for a semi-compelling story—if you don’t know the rest of the story. Dr. Cretella and I attempt to shed more light on the rest of the story as we discuss the following topics:

1 flaw of the LGBT argument.

Why many people aren’t questioning the LGBT agenda.

Where do parents turn to find solutions and answers to their child’s questions.

How to identify if your child needs counseling.

How to find therapists that can help.

The first step is to get educated.

What do I do if my child demands that I refer to them as the opposite gender.

Picture provided by: Pete Linforth

This week, I continue my conversation with Dr. Cretella. In a time where there are many questions about gender and sexuality, it is wise for parents to have some answers. Dr. Michelle Cretella serves in the role of President for the American College of Pediatricians. She is a pediatrician who is specifically interested in the […]

Things have gone so far off the rails that young children are now given the right to choose whether they want to be boys or girls, regardless of their biological make up. What would have been considered child abuse and or mental illness by mental health professionals just a few years ago is now being accepted to the point that young kids are being physically modified—dare I say, mutilated—to fit what the remnant of rational mental health professionals are still calling delusional. The issues surrounding transgender kids and the parents who love them require sound and sober discussion.

Dr. Michelle Cretella is President of the American College of Pediatricians and a general pediatrician with a special interest in behavioral pediatrics. Prior to being elected President in 2015, Dr. Cretella chaired the Adolescent Sexuality Committee, Pediatric Psychosocial Development Committee, and Scientific Policy Committee. In these roles she became one of the college's chief researchers, writers, and spokespersons on issues of pediatric mental and sexual health. Dr. Cretella serves on the Medical Committee of the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity, a national organization of health professionals who advocate for psychotherapy for ego-dystonic homosexuality and gender dysphoria. Dr. Cretella also served on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Research and Therapy for Homosexuality (NARTH) from 2010-2015.

Dr. Cretella received her medical degree in 1994 from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. She completed her internship and residency in pediatrics in 1997 at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut, and she completed a fellowship in College Health through the University of Virginia in 1999. After 15 years of group practice in rural Connecticut and Rhode Island, Dr. Cretella left clinical practice to devote more time to family and the college. She is regularly consulted by Breitbart News, FRC, One News Now, Relevant Radio, and many others. Her article, Gender Dysphoria in Children and Suppression of Debate was published in the 2016 summer issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Cretella and her husband have three teenage sons and a 12-year-old daughter.

How Postmodernism has Influenced Cultural Beliefs about Sex and Gender Issues

I don’t think you have to be a Bible-believing Christian to discern through the illogical, delusional, and incredibly nonsensical idea that an otherwise normal little boy should be able to choose to be a girl if he wants to, or vice versa. It is a bizarre enough choice when one is an independent adult with fully developed brain matter and responsible for one’s own actions. But if you ask me, in and of itself, it is an act of insanity to give a little kid the power to choose something of this magnitude with the kind of long-term consequences that are attached to it.

Today, this is an issue that almost no one is willing to risk their reputations, careers, social status, or even legal standing to argue against. While we Christians were asleep at the wheel, the LGBT movement has, with all the brains of the devil, gotten the cultural momentum on their side. This is because the people holding the microphones, who have the largest platforms—I am mainly talking about the mainstream media, entertainment industry, arts, public education, higher education, and the current mental health industry—are all shaping the worldview and the moral values of the rest of the lemming-like masses here in America today. Most of them will not address the obvious because of all the things I have just mentioned. It would be career suicide to do so.

I really don't think any of this would have gotten the traction it has if it wasn’t for the initial cultural delusion that snuck in and blindsided us in the 1960s. I’m talking, of course, about postmodern thought,

Things have gone so far off the rails that young children are now given the right to choose whether they want to be boys or girls, regardless of their biological make up. What would have been considered child abuse and or mental illness by mental health professionals just a few years ago is now being […]

As we mature in both wisdom and tenure, our role as grandparents requires us to properly shift gears accordingly as well. Shifting from the role of a parent to the role of a grandparent may not be as simple as it appears. After all, now two generations are looking to us for answers and the hope they will need to flourish in life.

Our guest, Mark Gregston is the founder and executive director of Heartlight Ministries, a residential counseling facility for teens in crisis. Mark is the author of several books including Leaving a Legacy of Hope: Offering Your Grandchildren What No One Else Can. He is also a popular radio host and speaker, and he leads parenting seminars all across the country. Mark and his wife, Jan, have served families and counseled youth for more than 40 years. They have two grown children and four grandchildren.

Why it is Important to Learn About the Role of a Grandparent

Having good grandparents can be the best thing to ever happen to a family, but not every family is blessed with a good mix of parents and grandparents. Grandparents can even be viewed as a nemeses by some parents. That’s why I’ve asked our guest, Mark Gregston, to talk with us today; he’s written an entire book on grandparenting! I think he and I both have the same number of grandkids, but his are older than mine. I’m still getting this whole grandparenting thing sorted out.

You know, folks say: “Just remember how your grandparents did it.” Well, my grandparents on my mom’s side were the polar opposite to my dad’s side, so even the middle was too far from each end of the grandparenting continuum for me to know what a good grandparent should actually look like. My parents and my wife Beth’s parents were polar opposites as grandparents too. This is why I’m looking to Mark for some answers.

Now, my dad didn’t comment on grandparenting per se, but he did comment on grandkids. He said that grandkids were God’s reward for not killing your own! Of course, he was talking about me because he didn’t live long enough to see grandkids from any of my siblings. I think he would have been a good grandfather. Though he never really mellowed with age, he had a great sense of humor that was infectious to everyone around him—including his grandkids. I think humor is one important part of being a grandparent, but this is just one small detail.

Today, Mark Gregston and I take an in-depth look at the role of the grandparent as we cover the following topics:

Why grandparents should not be parents.

How to be intentional in your role as a grandparent.

You may be the only person speaking wisdom into in your grandchildren's lives.

Why grandparents should not be the disciplinarian.

How can busy grandparents give intentional time.

Why your time is your most valuable resource.

How to set boundaries with grandparents.

Picture provided by: emailme3

As we mature in both wisdom and tenure, our role as grandparents requires us to properly shift gears accordingly as well. Shifting from the role of a parent to the role of a grandparent may not be as simple as it appears. After all, now two generations are looking to us for answers and the […]

With the prevalence of explicit content online, parents must take active steps to protect children from pornography. Parents must create safe boundaries, foster honest conversation, and work to develop good character in their kids.

Kristen A. Jenson is an author and speaker who is committed to informing parents about how pornographic content threatens children today. She is the author of Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids, a bestseller designed to help parents explain the dangers of pornography to their kids. Kristen also founded ProtectYoungMinds.org, an online resource designed to equip parents with tools and strategies to protect their children from pornography. Kristen frequently speaks about these issues as a guest at various events and on radio programs and podcasts. Kristen is also a parent, and she lives in Washington State with her husband.

How to Begin to Protect Children from Pornography Though Honesty and Good Character

Last week, Kristen A. Jenson and I started a conversation about the dangers of pornography. This week, we continue discussing this topic. As Kristen mentioned in part-one, the availability of pornographic content online is one of the major factors that leads to exposure or addiction to pornography. Parents must not be ignorant about this fact or naively believe their that children are going to be the exceptions when it comes to discovering pornography online.

There are plenty of steps parents can take to protect their kids online, but even after preventative measures have been taken, kids can still be exposed to overly sexual content. Young people are not only barraged by the temptation of instant pornographic content online, but also the sexual themes and images on television and advertisements. As with any other addictions, accessibility often triggers cravings for addicts.

So, on top of making wise decisions about Internet accessibility in the home, parents must also be honest about sex, love, lust, and pornography with their children, and guide their young sons and daughters away from lust and objectification and toward love and empathy. Kristen A. Jenson and I continue to discuss how to protect children from pornography as we cover the following topics:

One reason teens are struggling in today’s digital age.

The need to protect your child, and teach them self-discipline.

How to address the topic of how pornography objectifies women.

The problem with younger children exposed to pornography.

Learn to be proactive not reactive to inform your child about the dangers of pornography.

Informing your children early on helps them to trust and talk honestly with you about pornography.

Picture provided by: pxhere.com

With the prevalence of explicit content online, parents must take active steps to protect children from pornography. Parents must create safe boundaries, foster honest conversation, and work to develop good character in their kids. Kristen A. Jenson is an author and speaker who is committed to informing parents about how pornographic content threatens children today. […]