Round-ups

2017 was a big year for us at Gospel-Centred parenting. Our vision is to see families enjoying the gospel and applying it to all areas of life, and so it was a thrill to see God using the blog to that end across the year.

We don’t always know why, but some of the content we produce seems to especially connect with people. There were  several posts across the year that really seemed to strike a note. You may have missed one or two of them, so we thought we’d collate our 5 most popular posts of 2017.

So here they are, in reverse order. Click on the title to dive into the post…

5 Parenting Mistakes to Avoid | #4 Discontentment

This is a post from early in 2017. It was the fourth of five posts exploring things that we, as parents, mistakenly believe about ourselves or our children, that show how we’re forgetting the gospel and living under unnecessary burdens. In this post we consider discontentment – if you’re tempted to think the grass is greener on the other side (whatever that side is) then this post is for you.

How to support a friend through a miscarriage

If you’ve read this blog for a while, you may know that it was started after we suffered the grief of miscarriages. We wanted to create a space where we could think about how the gospel applies to all areas of parenting, including grieving over the death of unborn children. One of the ways God has ordained to support couples going through miscarriage is the Christian community. Our experience of this support network at the time of our miscarriages was mixed (although we are very grateful for all who tried to support us). In light of this, we thought it might be helpful to write a post to help people think through how to best support a grieving parent going through a miscarriage. We hope you never need to heed the advice in this post, but with one in four pregnancies ending in miscarriage, chances are you may need to.

Announcing our beautiful gospel-centred product!

One of the biggest changes in 2017 for Gospel-Centred Parenting was the launch of our Jesse Tree Ornaments. We we very apprehensive to launch a product, but were bowled over by the support it received from you, the lovely Gospel-Centred Parenting community. This support is evidenced by the fact that the post announcing the launch of the Jesse Tree Ornaments was the third most popular in the year. (Cheeky plug: we’re selling them all year round, so if you want to start your advent preparations really early, you can order yours now!)

A Mean Mum, Mastitis and Mars Bars

Cathy went through a difficult patch in 2017, and she reflected on that in this post. It’s often through the grit of real life that we appreciate the gospel most fully, and we were thrilled to see how this post connected with lots of people who had shared similar experiences. If you’re going through a hard time at the moment and feel like it’s just one thing after another, then you might find this post helpful.

Guest Post | Talking To Your Kids About Sex

The most popular post of 2017 came once again in January, with this wonderful guest post on talking to your kids about sex. Joanne Parks shared her insights on this tricky topic, and well over a thousand of us engaged with what she had to say. It’s a great post and, we think, a must read. So if you’ve not read it yet, head over to the post to glean some wisdom from the lovely Joanne Parks.

There we have it – the top 5 posts of 2017. We’re grateful to God for the way he’s kindly used Gospel-Centred Parenting over the past year, and are looking forward to seeing what 2018 brings. If you want to enjoy that journey with us, why not subscribe to our email newsletter to receive a weekly digest of what’s new on the blog. Click here to find out more.

There’s no conundrum like the Father Christmas conundrum!

Should we embrace the cuddly old man with open arms? Or should we nip the deception in the bud?

Time for another round-up!

You might think it’s a bit early, but we really don’t think so – Santa is already everywhere. There’s no time like the “present” to ponder such things.

It’s a big decision.

For some, ditching Santa will impact relationships, unnecessarily raise eyebrows and damage the grandparents expectations for Christmas day. Surely it’s just harmless fun?

Others think that embracing Father Christmas is going to cause our children to mistrust us and cast doubt upon the very gospel itself – is Jesus just another myth?

These (and other) thoughts are shaping people’s opinions of what to do about old St. Nick.

The following articles represent a bunch of different opinions on the Santa Claus tradition. Some are more philosophical, some are more practical and one is really all about decision-making as a parent.We hope you find them helpful.

Have a read, and let us know your own thoughts.

The Gospel-Centred Mom: What to do about Santa

Sara Wallace shares why she and her husband decided not to do Santa Claus with their family, despite enjoying the tradition themselves as children.

Christianity Today: Why Santa belongs in your kids’ Christmas 

A helpful article about the historical Christian, St. Nicholas, and the importance of keeping the Santa tradition alive.

The Guardian: Belief in Santa could affect parent-child relationships, warns study 

This is very interesting. It is written from a secular viewpoint, but argues that lying to your children may damage trust and discourage belief in the supernatural in later life. Give it a read.

The beginning of Wisdom: Santa, Strategically 

We’ve included this post because it contains some helpful practical advice for how to encourage imagination in our children but not to lie to them.

Crosswalk: What to do with Santa Claus 

This post reflects on children and their love of fantasy with examples from the works of J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.

Christian Mom thoughts: Should Christians include Santa in Christmas? 

This article doesn’t necessarily address the Santa conundrum directly, it more encourages a discussion about how to make difficult parenting decisions. After reading all the above articles you should use her question to provoke a conversation with your spouse (or friend if you’re a single parent) to help you come to a conclusion.

Well that’s all folks! Please do comment with your own experiences, advice and questions. We’d be particularly interested to know how you felt as a child when you found out the inevitable?

There’s no denying that Halloween is spookily popular. Now the third biggest grossing event after Christmas and Easter, it is frighteningly commercialised. Sick of the puns? Sorry, they are pretty Grim!

But on a more serious note, there’s no avoiding it. At this time of year, spiders, zombies and pumpkins are everywhere you look.

So what are we to do about it as Christian parents? Hide away? Go with the flow? Something in the middle? Halloween is undoubtedly the most contentious festival in the calendar and Christians can fall anywhere on the above spectrum.

Today we want to put it to you that you need to make a decision about how you are going to approach Halloween as a family. Because whether you decide to get involved or avoid the festivities, you need to help your child engage with it on some level. If you don’t speak to your children about halloween then they’ll draw their own conclusions – and not necessarily gospel-centred ones!

So to help you make an informed decision, we decided to do a round-up of five helpful resources to help you think through Halloween as a Christian parent.

Krish Kandiah: Why I’ve Changed My Mind about Halloween

This first one is written by Dr. Krish Kandiah, the former president of London School of Theology and current director of Home For Good. His article has got some history about the origins of Halloween and is written from the perspective of a dad trying to figure out how to navigate this tricky (and treat-y! Sorry!) festival.

Jimmy Needham: God, Frankensteins and More

This is a heart-warming article about how to make the most of the missional opportunity of Trick or Treat-ers coming to your house. It’s an amazing testimony to God’s grace.

Scripture Union: Talking with your children about… Halloween 

This article by Scripture Union includes some of the history about Halloween, what the Bible says about Jesus defeating evil, and also some practical ideas for alternative events. You can even order a pack for running a “Light Party” (admittedly a bit late for this year, but you should bear it in mind for next year).

Angie Tolpin: Redeeming Halloween 

This article is written from the most conservative viewpoint out of our selection, as we wanted to show the differing opinions about Halloween. There’s some useful printable resources linked to this post, to help you share the gospel with your kids while carving pumpkins.

Russell Moore: How should Christians handle disagreement about Halloween? 

This final one is a podcast about how handle disagreement with other Christians in how you approach Halloween. It’s helpful to think about how to disagree graciously once you’ve formed your own convictions.

We hope you find these resources fang-tastic and thought-provoking, please share any others that you’ve found in the comments section – we’d love to hear from you.

Happy Halloween!