“Overreacting to your children’s desire to follow a fashion fad—especially if there is nothing morally or biblically wrong with it—could unnecessarily close you off from more meaningful relationships with them.”

“Beginning with the first day of life outside the womb, every child is asking two core questions: 'Am I loved?' and 'Can I get my own way?' These two questions mark us throughout life, and the answers we receive set the course for how we live.”

“Magnificent weddings do not make perfect marriages … It’s not bridal consultants and caterers who set the bride and groom on the right path. Consulting God and following His leading does that. And only prayer keeps our children continually seeking God’s will instead of following their own emotions.”

“From the time my children were born, I prayed for God to reveal to us the gifts, talents, and abilities He had placed in them and to show us how to best nurture and develop them for His glory … Because the enemy wants to use our children’s gifts for his glory, or at the very least keep them from being used for God’s purposes, we need to cover them in prayer. Praying for the development of our children’s God-given gifts and talents is an ongoing process.”

“Young men and women are hungry for affirming words as their sexual identities emerge. Use these struggles around clothing and appearance to challenge them to become God’s man and God’s woman.”

“In thinking about the girls God has given us to guide through life, these precious daughters He has placed under our authority and protection as fathers, we need to free ourselves up to think future tense in our relationship with them—no matter what it may cost us in the present.”

“The primary word that defines how God deals with His children is grace. Grace does not exclude obedience, respect, boundaries, or discipline, but it does determine the climate in which these important parts of parenting are carried out.”

“It is your relationship with your daughter that is the single most important aspect of protecting her. If she feels your love, she’ll be more apt to allow you to be her advocate. If she knows you’re in her corner, she’ll be more open to your role as her defender. Your relationship with her will keep your interest and involvement in her dating life from seeming unnatural, out of place, and overbearing.”

“There is a cause and effect between encouragement and confidence. Kids who hear well-timed and well-placed affirmation from their parents are more easily convinced of the truth the Bible says about their intrinsic worth.”

“Some couples underestimate how their outward appearance influences their children. A mother’s appearance, for example, is a statement of her character and of her values as a woman. I believe moms especially need to be careful. Daughters are watching what we wear, how we act, and how we present the body.”

“Young girls will punish themselves with diets—even starvation—to try to look as thin as popular models. The body-image scam is particularly cruel because the photos are retouched through computer re-imaging.”

“One of the concepts that I impress upon women is that we teach people how to treat us. We either teach them to treat us with respect or we teach them to treat us with disrespect. How? By our modest dress or our immodest dress.”

“When we model qualities of our Father in heaven by allowing the love of Jesus Christ to flow through us and into our children, we’re succeeding as parents. We do not propose a complicated, deeply theological set of practices to make this happen. Our advice is simple and summarized by three ‘T’s: time, touch, and talk.”

“We need to let our children know they can come to us at any time about anything. After the first few times that they come to us and hear us assume responsibility and apologize for our actions against them, they’ll know they can trust us with their emotions.”

“As you parent you must never back off from giving affection. When your sons and daughters are teenagers, it may feel awkward—but don’t stop. They still need your loving touch.”

“We have yet to meet a child (or an adult, for that matter) who feels deeply loved when he is given only occasional bursts of ‘quality time.’”

“We want our children to feel a freedom to talk with us about anything.  How much more does our Heavenly Father desire for us to experience this same freedom in coming to Him … When we spend regular time alone in private prayer each day, praying with our children will become more natural.”