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parenting

Can Complementarian Parenting be Achieved in a Single-Parent Home?

For the Christian parent, on top of sleep habits, picky eating, socialisation and development milestones, on top of fear of stranger danger, bullies and medical needs, on top of developing a work ethic, empathy, resilience, strength and gentleness, Christian parents also have to worry about a heart for Jesus. How do we guide them the right way? How do we help them grow up with strong theological foundations? How do we ensure they don’t drift away as they get older? And so we chew through parenting books, mommy blogs, dad groups, Facebook chats and podcast series at a rate of...

Ruth Baker

When Work Comes Back Home: Children as Apprentices

Harriet Connor

In my previous article, I suggested that the current situation—where many people have had to bring education and work back into the home—could actually help our families to live out their God-given calling. I suggested that parents should see this time as an opportunity to reclaim their role as their children’s primary teachers. In this article, we move from the world of education to the world of work. In Bible times, these two things were inextricably linked: the relationship of teacher to student was more like that of a tradesman to his apprentice. The teachers we meet in the Bible...

When Education Comes Back Home: Parents as Teachers

Harriet Connor

Last month I drafted an article about how modern families would benefit from bringing more of our education and work back into the home. It went something like this: Over the course of a few generations, modern life has become increasingly fractured: the various aspects of our lives have become disintegrated and we feel pulled in different directions. Modern families scatter during the day to their different places of work and education and come together at night for sleep and entertainment. In our modern life, home is simply where we recover from all of the working and learning done elsewhere....

Treasuring the Work of Mothers— a Surprising Postscript

Harriet Connor

A few months ago I asked God what I should do with my time once our youngest son starts school next year (link). Inspired by the legacy of my grandmothers’ generation, I wanted to pursue my God-given vocation rather than just a job. I wanted to find work that would honour, rather than compete with my role as a mother—as a “worker” who is not interchangeable, but already entwined in a web of relationships with particular people in a particular place. I collected stories from other mothers who had done this by: working in family businesses, working in their church...

Treasuring the Immeasurable Work of Mothers

Harriet Connor

Unlike many women, I did not have an identity crisis when I became a mother. That’s probably because I didn’t really have a career to identify with in the first place. I had tallied up seven years of tertiary study and worked a few part-time jobs; but I certainly didn’t experience any grief at having to stop work when our first son was born. I spent the next ten years of life with my centre of gravity at home. We welcomed a second son and then a third into our family: I was busy caring for babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers...

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