All family articles
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ArticleMotherhood as ministry: The case for staying-at-home
From the beginning of time, the role of women has often been tied to domesticity and child-rearing. The traditional roles undertaken by women—roles sometimes looked down on today—positively defined many of the matriarchs of the past. Yet today, society critiques the maternal homemaker stereotype and instead celebrates the contributions women have made beyond the home. With the exception of Mothering Sunday, the role of ‘motherhood’ and ‘homemaker’ now seems little celebrated or advocated for.
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ArticleA woman’s place? Rethinking work, home, and biblical calling
I remember the first pay packet I received; it was actual cash in a small brown envelope and was the result of my eight hours in a local coffee shop. I loved that job—the freedom it gave me, the finance it provided, and (retrospectively) the experience it gave me of the working world.
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ArticleFiction as a faith‑builder: How Christian parents can use stories in discipleship
Long ago, before my husband and I had children, we were staying with a family who had teenagers. Together we watched a TV series featuring an alcoholic. I was surprised that the parents allowed their young people to watch it, but the ensuing discussion proved invaluable.
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ArticleA Christian parent’s guide to mandatory reporting: What’s going on and why it matters
Trigger Warning: This article contains information about child sexual abuse
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ArticleLetting go to let them grow: Christian parenting without mowing down every obstacle
If you could describe your parenting as a picture, what would it be? A helicopter always circling around; a bulldozer flattening everything in your path; a gardener, carefully nurturing tender stems?
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ArticleThere is no good parenting without Good Friday
We spend a lot of time on NexGen providing helpful, biblical, practical articles for Christian parents on all manner of subjects: films, social media, additional needs, disability, schools, awkward questions, reviews of Christian resources and much more. But the most important element in Christian parenting is you. That sounds obvious, after all the clue is in the word! But sometimes we might forget the centrality of that truth. Your parenting starts with you. Not the skills, not the tips, not the information – you.
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ArticleWhen church attendance isn’t simple: Parenting, faith, and the beauty of flexibility
When our children were young, attending church on Sundays and midweek was a regular, prioritised part of our weekly rhythm. If you’d asked me back then, with toddlers in tow, what parenting teenagers would look like, I’d have confidently told you church attendance would be mandatory.
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ArticleIt takes a village: Rediscovering biblical parenting through community
Think of how often the wider faith community shaped the lives of biblical characters. When Jesus was 12, his mum and dad found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening and asking questions – absorbing the wisdom in the room. He gravitated towards those who could teach him and guide him. Moses was raised by his biological mother, Pharoah’s daughter and the Egyptian royal court. His mum saved him from certain death, but it took the care, protection and the influence of different people from diverse cultures to shape him into the leader he became. Timothy’s faith was nurtured by multiple generations of women before Paul stepped in as a spiritual mentor. And Samuel – his mum, Hannah, entrusted her son to the care of the temple community. Orphaned Esther was taken in by her cousin Mordecai, who raised her as his own daughter and played a crucial role in God’s plan to save the Jewish people from annihilation.
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ArticleFinding peace after loss: Trusting God while supporting your child’s grief
Grief is one of the most challenging experiences that we endure in life. Whether it arrives suddenly or evolves over time, nothing fully prepares you for the plethora of emotions that it brings. When my father passed away last year, the grief was overwhelming. Though I continue to hold on to my faith, there are days when the weight of his absence feels unbearable, and the notion of ‘healing’ seems distant.
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ArticleMake your home the safest space for the biggest conversations with your youth and children
I don’t know if you knew this already, but you parents are scary to many younger youth workers.
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ArticleClever Club Bible Bingo: A great game to help children learn and meditate on Bible stories
Clever Cub Bible Bingo is a recent addition to the collection of resources offered by David C Cook. The game is designed to help kids learn Bible truths through a familiar and engaging format. As a mother of four, eager to make the Bible enjoyable for my children, I was immediately drawn to it. Packaged in a travel-sized box, the game includes 12 double-sided Bingo boards along with perforated sheets that need to be separated to make the calling and marker tokens.
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ArticleSiblings of youth and children with additional needs need support too - Here’s five things Christian parents can do
This article is written by Phoebe Ridout, who is the daughter of Mark Arnold (from the Additional Needs Alliance). Phoebe shares her experience of growing up as an additional needs sibling to her brother, James, as well as offering learnings for us all…
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ArticleChristian parents will find that the Real Easter Egg collection from the Meaningful Chocolate Company is well worth trying
When it comes to Easter, there is one very important question that everyone should think about: When is it too early to eat a chocolate egg?!
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ArticleThe Garden the Curtain and the Cross is a great resource for Christian parents to try in the run up to Easter
As the last few remnants of the Christmas stock are in the seasonal sale aisle, in comes the chocolate eggs and hot cross buns. ‘Happy Easter’ is on bunting, hats, and toys everywhere we look. It can be difficult for Christian parents to navigate yet another consumer-hacked event in the calendar, as the colour pallet in the shops turns to pastel yellow, pink and green and the shelves are filled with chocolate eggs, and fluffy bunnies and chicks. So, how do Christian families manage this time of year as they explain the biblical account of the first Easter to children in a theologically accurate, yet age-appropriate way, especially as eggs, hot cross buns and bunnies can be easier to digest than sin, death and resurrection.
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ArticleChristian devotions at home for children with additional needs are hard but worth working at
Hands up if you feel pressured by your church to do family devotions every morning. In some areas of our wonderful church, we can be left feeling that having daily family devotions is compulsory and doing it in the morning brings extra holiness points.
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ArticleChristian parenting in hospital: surviving through everyday faith
I’m sitting just to her side, wedged between the ward wall and my child’s hospital bed. For me and many other parents this has become a familiar yet daunting place. The rhythmic soundscape of oxygen masks and intermittent beeping from machines becomes our lullaby. It merges into the background of chatter and children’s cries, as we try to rest and get some sleep.
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ArticleAre smartphones rewiring my kid’s brain?
Robin Barfield wonders if Christian parents are sometimes a little too negative on the impact of smart phones and social media. For an alternative perspective click here.
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ArticleChildline’s tips on tackling loneliness are helpful. But Christians should go further.
This month Childline revealed that that they ran nearly 5,000 online or telephone counselling sessions with youth and children in 2023-24. There are lots of issues that worry youth and children but, in those sessions, the main concern was loneliness. This isn’t an outlying report. The Office for National Statistics said something similar about the same time period. Loneliness, it seems, is a big problem.
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ArticleDiscipline – Getting it right, biblically, legally and practically
When you think about discipline, what comes to mind? Perhaps it brings back memories of how you were treated as a child. Those memories could be positive or negative. As parents, we know discipline is key in helping children become well-balanced and responsible people, but the way you approach discipline can have a lasting impact on your child’s emotional and behavioural development.
