Parenting is not for the faint of heart. Let's be honest: there are a lot of sad things that can happen to kids these days: As babies, they could stop breathing in their sleep, fail to thrive, get strangled by their soother strap, get stepped on, or get dropped. As toddlers, they could swallow a small toy, pull furniture down on themselves,...

Today's kids are living in a whole new world - one that's practically unrecognizable to anyone who grew up in the twentieth century. Blogs, ipods, MSN, nexopia, myspace, peer-to-peer…if this sounds like Greek to you, then you're not part of this new world. But your kids are. The mainstreaming of the internet has radically altered the way in...

In his day, John D. Rockefeller was one of the richest men in the world. For all practical purposes, his money was virtually limitless. Once, an interviewer asked him, “How much money is enough?” Rockefeller replied, “Just a little bit more!” As outrageous as it sounds, haven’t we all been there? Whatever our income level, we think...

Reality TV is all the rage these days. Survivor, Big Brother, The Amazing Race, The Apprentice – they all share the same premise: ordinary people confronted with extreme adversity. I have an idea for a great new reality show – one in which the task is so challenging as to be nearly impossible. Take a typical mom, dad and daughter, and drop...

An alarming story recently made headlines across Canada. Desirae Shannon, an intelligent, well-liked teenage girl – raised in a strong Christian family, on the verge of graduating high school with straight A’s – ran away with her boyfriend. Not just any guy, mind you, but a young man wanted on charges relating to prostitution and physical assault...

A prevailing myth in our society says that during times of extreme crisis, many (if not most) marriages falter and fail. Certainly it was something we were told time and time again when we faced our own tragedies. Grief counsellors and social workers cautioned us about this danger after the stillbirths of both our sons Noah and Simon, and even the...

The May 2005 issue of Cosmo Girl, a popular magazine among teen and pre-teen girls, published the results of a 70,000 person study on the sexual behaviour of youth. Consider some of the findings: 69% of young people think that sex before marriage is okay The average age at which teens lose their virginity is 15 39% of teens have engaged in...