When we’ve been invested in giving good and restraining harm for our kids, the situations that bring them low can be bitter to us. But we and our children need these pains, lest we miss the best of comfort.

One of the most brutal realisations is that our mothering will not achieve all that we imagine. So why bother? This article is about trading our speculations for the sure thing.

There is every reason to be honest and optimistic.

A response to a question about how we can fill the vast gaping hours with preschoolers.

Perhaps we find motherhood difficult because we haven’t given much thought to building a house?

We learn to love what we give our attention to.

Jesus has words for our abundance and our losses. We must be careful not to confuse a blessing for a curse, though.

Perhaps telling people about Jesus while we have children isn’t as complicated as we often make it?

The great terror of motherhood is that we’d ruin it. This dread causes some mothers to do less: the less we do, the less we can fail. The same dread causes others to grip tighter and work harder: the harder we try the more sure the outcome will be. The painful truth is that both—minimal doing and overdoing—are ruinous to the thing we are trying to preserve.

Thoughts on Christmas effort from a chronic effort-avoider.

An interview about helping, rather than hindering, our teens, especially the young men.

We don't have to trick kids into obedience. And we mustn't neglect climbing trees.

What if our kids grow up to squander the good gifts we labour to give them? Comfort and fortification for the perilous work.

A few questions answered: preparing for teens, books I wished I had read earlier and Bible study recommendations.

If there was a way to sober me up in the euphoria of anticipating new motherhood, this verse was it. A hint that there was a weighty trust and great danger. I wasn’t merely welcoming a baby, but a person who would grow into an adult who would either fear the Lord or despise him.

Think-aloud chat about how independence happens.

Some strategies I’ve found helpful for learning to persevere with mothering alongside uncomfortable mood variations.

A long-distance view of learning to cope with depression and anxiety while being a mum of young children.