kids

You may not have heard of it yet, but there’s a new approach to parenting. It’s called “gentle” parenting. It emphasizes the emotions of the child. The parent is a coach rather than a disciplinarian.

Recently, an article in Nautilus magazine touted the benefits of play. Authors Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross conclude, “Play … is universal to our species, and when humans play, it positively influences both their cognitive development and their emotional well-being.” This is particularly important for developing what experts call “the 6 C’s”: collaboration, communication, content, critical thinking, creative innovation, and confidence.

But today’s kids aren’t playing. Instead, the generation of human beings with more leisure time than at any other moment in history is spending it on screens.

The large majority of children who grow up with a Christian mom remain Christian as adults, according to new research from the American Bible Society that also shows faith has more "staying" power among kids than atheism.

An uplifting comment from Ainsley Earhardt’s childhood is the basis for a new children’s book that teaches children they’re not an accident but instead were created by God for a purpose.

I'm So Glad You Were Born: Celebrating Who You Are (Zonderkidz) is a 32-age children’s book filled with faith-based, hope-filled rhyme and colorful illustrations that Earhardt says will teach kids “God has a plan for your life.” It was illustrated by Kim Barnes and has been a bestseller on Amazon’s children’s books lists since it was released. It also reached No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list for children’s picture books.

Three months ago, an 11-year-old sixth grader from Maine read a passage from a book to his local school board. It described a sexual encounter between two teenage boys. When he found the book in the library of his public school, the librarian asked if he’d like to see other books that were like it, or if he’d like to check out the book’s graphic novel edition. The boy’s father, who also spoke at the school board meeting, was not nearly as calm as his son. Like many parents around the country, he demanded that school officials remove all books with explicit content from his son’s public school library.

This story is, according to many loud voices right now, part of a “dangerous trend.”

The National Down Syndrome Society is applauding Mattel for releasing its first-ever Barbie doll with Down syndrome, calling it a “huge step forward for inclusion.”

A church based in Austin, Texas, is giving back to its community by paying off over $20,000 worth of student lunch debt and helping to provide school meals to underprivileged kids.

A 2019 paper in World Psychiatry summarized that divorce and separation are associated with higher risk of academic difficulties, lower grades, higher school dropout rate, conduct and substance use problems, and depression. Children of divorced parents are also “more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior, live in poverty, and experience their own family instability.” They are also more likely to have mental health struggles and to be institutionalized for mental health struggles.

Recently, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt launched a Substack newsletter called After Babel to explore the cultural effects of social media which, he says, reminds him of the biblical account of the tower of Babel. Recorded in Genesis, the project seemed like a good idea at first but, in the end, “everything you built together has crumbled, and you can’t even talk together or work together to restore it.”

Haidt is convinced, as are others, that social media has fueled the exploding mental health crisis among teenagers, especially among adolescent girls.

The Bible App for Kids is celebrating a significant milestone of being downloaded 100 million times.