Raising Kids from the Heart
From left to right: Tamie, Danielle and Stacey.
Tamie lives in Utah and has 2 children
Danielle lives in Arizona and has six children with one on the way. Three of her six were adopted and came from a situation of terrible abuse.
Stacey lives in California and has two children
Darin speaks with three Free Believer women who are raising children outside of the typical church culture. The discussion is about whether or not we can “train” our children to know God. Is parenting about teaching obedience, and getting our kids to think like us or is it about connecting with them and encouraging heart-living? Letting go of the parenting-standards of the religious past is perhaps the most difficult thing to do when it comes to rearing children in the wild.
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I consider you guys my saturday morning cartoons! I never miss a podcast. LOL. Anyway I say true parenting is only found when one does what he/she sees the Father doing. I will one day have children and I can only imitate my Father. Training a child up in the way he should go is not giving him rules and putting him in bondage. we as free believers know that the way a child should go is in love of the freedom christ has for us and living well in the wild.
Darin, this is the most amazing podcast! I’ve already listened to it twice and can’t wait to listen again. I no longer have children at home and I’m now in the grandmother stage so it has been helpful since there are times I forget I love my grandchildren but I’m finding my life being personally impacted by this podcast. I’ve found that being a child or an adult makes no difference in learning how to live from the heart so this podcast is really helping me to understand how I can live from my heart. It’s funny. Even though the topic is children, this grandmother is being set free in some tremendous ways.
Darin, it’s me again but this podcast has so excited me! It has answered so many questions about what it means to live from the heart and how to re-connect with my heart. My brain doesn’t function in complex mode. I need simple and I’ve finally heard something that’s simple enough to wrap my brain around. Thanks for this podcast. It’s absolutely fantastic! Also, I don’t think anyone sounded like an expert. You all just sounded like parents who have learned a few things sometimes through trial and error and that in my opinion is something else that made it so special. Anyone can relate to you and your struggles to raise your children as free believers.
Thanks Aida.
D.A.R.E = Drug Abuse Resistance Education. I graduated DARE...and um didn't resist. :) my favorite part - Banning Perfection. Thanks D and Ladies. This was positive reinforcement for me!
I love you Ann
Thank you everyone for your comments, being my first podcast, it's nice to know people liked it.
Tamie, it was absolutely wonderful! I hope we'll hear from you again. BTW, I'm listening to it for the third time and still enjoying it.
I always thought it was Drugs Are Real Expensive!!! Oh well. Hey go listen to the God Journey podcast! They had Danny Silk and his wife one there talking about parenting! That's awsome. Did you guys do that on purpose? Thanks ladies for taking time out of your horrific schedules to talk to us! (7 kids!!! oh my!)
Scott, even though Danielle has the seven kids, I'm convinced that my oldest child could give them all a run for their money. Having one "Caleb" is like having 17 kids who ate sugar all day. And no, we didn't plan it that way. Darin came up with the topic and he was surprised when I mentioned that The God Journey was focusing on parenting, too, last weekend. I guess we all needed a parenting boost from a couple of different directions :-)
Really fantastic reminder as my son is launching into full fledged independence as a two year old. This is my intention in parenting however we do need reminded because it's SO easy to pick up again the "need to be obeyed" as Darin said. I feel so icky when something happens in public and I get that, "Now I have to prove I'm a superior parent" feeling. In other words, it has nothing to do with what's best for my son. I think his innocence and delightfulness keeps me in check though. I'll be in my "must be obeyed" mode and all of a sudden I see into his eyes through to the most generous, simple, compassionate heart and once again I am reminded that he is an eternal being, not a pet.
Thanks Candice. What great words!
“The greatest gift you can give to your children is not that they would obey you, but that they would be connected to your heart.” As your discussion reflected, this is something that many of us raised by an authoritarian parenting generation struggle with every day. But, I’m glad to at least be aware and working on it, just like you said Stacey. Unfortunately, many conservative home school teachings rely heavily on the “first time obedience always” parenting philosophies. This is a world I was in for several years and am now recovering from. But, the willingness to admit when we’re wrong and eat crow in front of our children goes a long ways in healing. Thanks for all you had to say everyone :-D.
Thank you for this podcast. It realy helped me to see things in perspective. I don't have to do a lot of stuff, just love them is enough. Wow, finaly relaxing in being a good mom!
Hey, we are parents to 9dc (2-23yo) and we still don't know what the heck we are doing, still making mistakes, but learning more and more how to love them. That's enough. It's really enough. Thanks for the podcast.