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Why We Changed Our Mind About Celebrating Halloween – Twice (Updated January 2022)

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Update January 2022 I've decided not to write an additional post about why we are no longer celebrating Halloween, but I am going to push this out as a "new" post. I'm going to add a bit to what I originally wrote below, including the quick November 2021 update most people probably never saw. If I had it to do over again, I would make the …

Books For Rethinking Children, Learning, and Education

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Imagine putting a couple of dozen people in a room and charging with them with the task of devising the best kind of educational setting and experience for children. We would assemble the best parents, teachers, pediatricians, psychologists, and other people who truly love and understand kids. Then we would charge them with imagining how to give …

Children Are Not Machines Or Robots

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We're relaxed homeschoolers for a number of reasons. One of the chief reasons is because we see ourselves primarily as a family. We're a family who learns together while putting a high priority on developing healthy relationships. I realized something about myself that has shaped the way I think about learning and homeschooling. Maybe you've had …

What Is A Gracious Christian Parent?

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For a long time I wasn't sure how to describe our parenting approach. Labels carry so much baggage these days that I try to avoid them whenever possible. When I was deciding on a website category name for my general parenting posts, I finally landed on Gracious Christian Parenting. Then after I came to that conclusion I looked to see if it was …

The Devil’s Burdens And The Faith Heritage I Give My Child

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This is originally from January 1, 2011. I'm reposting it today, over eight years later. When I wrote it, Caroline was not yet four and a half. She will be thirteen in ten days. We have wandered in the desert quite a bit during that time regarding churches and such. But God gives me glimpses of how He is working in her life, even in ways I haven't …

How Do You Protect Your Tweens and Teens?

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Sometimes I like to call upon the collective wisdom of the women who read this site. Today is one of those days. A couple of things have happened in the past few weeks that make me wonder how other people make decisions regarding the safety of their tweens and teens. The New York Times had an article recently about Pastor Matt Chandler and The …

10 Reasons We Enjoyed the Tween Years

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There are so many warnings out there to enjoy your children when they are little because the tween years hit and things are never the same again. It's strongly implied that the years are difficult and the parent-child relationship becomes a constant struggle. I'm here to say this was not the case for us. Our daughter is wrapping up her tween …

AQSL 003: Don’t Raise Snowplowed Sauce Girls

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What are snowplowed sauce girls? Take a listen to Episode 3 of A Quiet Simple Life with Sallie Borrink. We're breaking down what this means, where it comes from, and how to avoid it in our homes. As always, please feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic! Listen to the Podcast My podcast is available to play …

11 Lists Of 11 Things From 11 Years Of Motherhood

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This was originally supposed to be 10 Lists of 10 Things from 10 Years of Parenting. And then life. So now it is 11 Lists of 11 Things. Here is motherhood for me summed up as I reflect back. 11 Bloggers Who Shaped My Parenting These are the women who shaped my parenting starting before I was even pregnant. Some of them gave me a vision for …

Parenting and Homeschooling at Godspeed

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Several months ago I started thinking more deeply about the family culture we have created in our home. It was an appropriate time to reflect on it because I saw the first eleven years of our parenting journey all culminating when we had our daughter tested and finally had the answers we had been seeking since, really, she was a tiny infant who was …

Children Who Struggle With Church – An Update

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Over the past several years, I've written numerous times about our challenges with parenting and church. But some things have happened over the past few months that made me realize I needed to write an update regarding children who struggle with church and how it has played out in our family. I think it's especially important because I'm hopeful it …

How To Help An Introverted Child Enjoy Social Activities

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Introverts generally enjoy social activities in small doses and in a controlled manner. As they mature and better understand how they are wired, they learn to proactively plan their social life in a way that makes the most sense for them. This is just as necessary for introverted children and their social activities even though parents might not …

I Am Not Responsible For My Child’s Salvation

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I am not responsible for my child's salvation. Likewise, you are not responsible for your child's salvation. Do those statements bother you? Creating Perfect Christian Children Some time ago I ran across an older article from Christianity Today entitled The Myth of the Perfect Parent: Why the best parenting techniques don't produce Christian …

When You Begin To See Your Child As A Problem To Be Solved

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I don't have too many parenting regrets at this point. Sure, I wonder if we've made the right choice about certain things, but we've prayed and researched and made the best decisions we could with the insight we had at that moment. But I remember realizing at one point that I had stopped seeing my child as a beautiful gift from God and instead as a …

Keeping Christ In Christmas With Children

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In the hustle and bustle of shopping, wrapping gifts, sending cards and attending special events, it is easy for families to miss the entire point of Christmas – Christ himself. It's especially important to focus on keeping Christ in Christmas with children. Here are several simple ways to focus on Christ during this special season of the …

How To Talk With Your Daughter About Puberty

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When you held that little baby in your arms, did you ever imagine you would get to the day when you had to think about how to talk with your daughter about puberty? And yet here it is. I think it is especially important to discuss hormones and the emotional aspects associated with puberty if you have a highly sensitive daughter. These girls feel …

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