Bruce Powers

Our daughter Abby is starting to scare us. We thought she would unquestioningly believe everything we told her for several more years, but no such luck. She learned to thank God for things as we say our prayers at bed…

Have you ever thought about how confusing it must be for children when we talk about where God is? Although we rarely sit them down to talk about God's location, they pick up ideas from things we say. We tell…

God sent Jesus partly to make himself real to us, and his reality makes Jesus the easiest topic among the Trinity. By teaching children about the nature of Jesus, we also teach them about the nature of God and the…

Most people who teach students of any age can relate to that moment when they get stumped by an unexpected question. This seems to happen more often with children because they think so differently compared to adults. It is okay…

As our children enter adolescence, they are beginning a phase of searching that will last through much of their young adulthood. There are a number of developmental, physical and psychological reasons for this phase, but for our purposes the key…

During the school years, children develop greater ability to focus and sit still, and their brains are developed enough to soak in staggering amounts of information. As preschoolers, children also learn quickly, but they learn primarily through direct experience —…

What are we trying to do to our children? You have probably read or heard the statistics that indicate the importance of instilling faith in children. The likelihood of a person coming to faith declines significantly with the onset of…

To My Church, Do you remember when my son said, “Whoever puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for service in the Kingdom?” I hope you don't think he meant to never think about the…

I had some idealistic younger days when I would argue that no child should be punished, but the days didn't last long. Even before I learned the hard way from my own children, I saw time after time the devastating…

Punishment is a touchy topic, isn't it? When I was young, schoolteachers could take a child in the hall and paddle them. I still remember, quite vividly, our assistant principal visiting the class to let us see his large, carefully…

Last month we discussed ways to extinct undesirable behaviors. Now we will turn our attention to the other side of the coin. Reducing our reinforcement of negative behaviors is a great start, but we also have to be purposeful about…

Parenting with a long-term focus rests on our ability to strategically increase desirable behaviors while reducing undesirable ones. Our next few articles will focus on how parents can take greater control of the learning process. The key is to remember…