Jake is Sarah’s eldest child. I saw Sarah on the first Sunday after she dropped Jake off at University for his first term. She said to me, “It’s pathetic. I want to get into the car and drive four hours to take him to church! There’s a good local church so clo ...
In Uganda, for Christmas, most city dwellers head to the countryside where their families live. Once they arrive, families sit together and tell their stories; laughing, eating and celebrating. We heard about a Ugandan Christmas on our recent Faith in Parents podcast, "
It was like a wrapping paper blizzard. It already covered the floor. It didn’t stop. Tearing, ripping, throwing and moving on. In that moment I knew our family Christmas had taken a wrong turn. It felt like we were ripping through each present without gratitude or any sense that someone had ...
We live in an area that loves Halloween. Each year hundreds of kids get dressed up and walk around the street trick or treating. Families decorate their gardens and really embrace this event. Until this year we’ve done the complete opposite. We’ve closed our curtains; told o ...
“Saving Lives at Sea” is one of our family’s favourite TV programmes. It shows remarkable rescues performed by the volunteer crews of the RNLI. It’s extraordinary how quickly a lifeboat crew can respond to an emergency call, but even if they run to the lifeboat, launch imm ...
I live in London. I’ve never experienced a significant earthquake, volcanic eruption, tsunami or landslide. My disaster preparedness is limited to taking in the washing before it rains! It’s never seemed particularly important to know what to do when the house starts shaking. But I ha ...
This week, I tripped over a whole new corner of the Internet – Ambient Noise websites! Having friends with babies, I knew that you could find white noise online, but I had no idea just how vast and varied the selection of available background sounds now is. Pining for social interaction? St ...
“Mummy loves you. Daddy loves you. God loves you most of all.” I can’t remember exactly when I stopped saying it, but for the first few years of our daughters‘ lives, those were the last words they heard each night as I kissed them and tucked them up in bed. (Or, at least, ...
It’s a familiar scene: the anxious, shuffling child, the lack of eye contact, the missing item, the reluctance, the embarrassment, then – finally - the confession. “The boy at school laughed at my …. coat / bike / water bottle / lunch box / trainers / hairstyle / face.&rd ...
I have a photo I show whenever I am asked to speak to parents. It is me leading a family devotion. I am sitting in the middle of the sofa with my Bible open. My eldest is curled over one arm of the sofa, her back to me, her bottom directed towards the Bible. My middle child has his face embedded ...
