In this conversation we speak with Dr Sarah Allen, a GP with a special interest in anxiety disorders, about the feelings we call anxiety, worry or fear, especially as experienced by our children. Sarah helps us to understand the difference between 'everyday' kinds of worry and clinical anxiety disorders - and what we should do if we think we or our children are suffering from the latter. We talk about how the Bible sheds light on this topic in helping us to understand God's purposes in our and our children's suffering. Sarah encourages us to see how anxiety can actually present an opportunity for us and our children to grow in our knowledge of God and of ourselves. This conversation will equip you not to 'fix' your children's problems, but to walk alongside them with empathy and gently point them back to their loving heavenly Father.

Links:
Scary Stuff by Dr Sarah Allen. A book for children aged 8-12 and parents to work through together to help them discover what fear is all about, how our bodies and minds work, and—best of all!—God himself.

The Parent Hope Project: parenting courses, articles and podcasts designed to empower and support parents in today’s complex world using a 'family systems' approach.

Emerging Minds: Resources on parenting children with mental illness and parenting with a mental illness. This site covers topics such as dealing with trauma, natural disasters and bullying. There are resources for both parents and children

Beyond Blue: Support to achieve and maintain good mental health. This includes resources for family and friends.

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Mothers Union Sydney. Listen to all of the talks from the Mothers Union Seminar on Soundcloud.

Theme music: Soul's Getting Wet by Ali Maegraith. Produced by Ali Maegraith and Gerard Masters. Available on SoundCloud.

In this episode we talk with Kate Morris and Dave Whittingham, who both have first hand experience of living with neurodivergence and/or supporting neurodivergent children. Kate Morris also brings a wealth of knowledge from her studies and research in this field. Our guests' insights are enlightening, educational and very encouraging. We cover questions like:

- What do the terms 'neurodiversity' and 'neurodivergence' mean?
- What language is most helpful when referring to neurodivergent people?
- Why might parents seek a diagnosis for their child? Is it detrimental to 'label' them in this way?
- How does our Christian world view shape our attitude to neurodiversity?
- What would our families and churches look like if we truly loved people in all their neurodiversity?
- How might an understanding of neurodivergence shape parents' approach to discipline?
- How can we foster positive relationships between neurodiverse siblings?

Links:

An Extraordinary Normal: Faith, Family, and Neurodivergence Substack articles by our guest Kate Morris.

Stories of a Faithful God for Kids podcast by our guest Dave Whittingham.

Faith in Kids 4 Kids podcast from UK organisation Faith in Kids.

Growing Faith articles by our guest Kate Morris:
'Supporting families with neurodivergent members'
'Neurodivergent Christians can find true belonging at church'

Mothers Union Sydney. Listen to all of the talks from the Mothers Union Seminar on Soundcloud.

Theme music: Soul's Getting Wet by Ali Maegraith. Produced by Ali Maegraith and Gerard Masters. Available on SoundCloud.

In this episode we talk with Jocelyn Loane about the thorny topic of discipline. We explore what biblical discipline really means - it's not just punishment for a past wrong, but rather the loving, intentional, wholistic, long-term process of modelling, encouraging, training and correcting our children to help them mature towards godliness.

We talk about:
- What is discipline?
- Why do parents need to discipline?
- How can discipline go wrong?
- Is it OK for Christian parents to smack (or not to smack) their children?
- How can we best respond to our children's bad behaviour?

Links:
Parenting in God's Family: Biblical Wisdom for Everyday Issues, which contains a chapter on 'Discipline as discipleship' by Harriet Connor and a chapter by our guest, Jocelyn Loane.

Motherhood: How the gospel shapes our purpose and priorities by Jocelyn Loane, which includes two chapters on discipline.

Mothers Union Sydney. Listen to all of the talks from the Mothers Union Seminar on Soundcloud.

Theme music: Soul's Getting Wet by Ali Maegraith. Produced by Ali Maegraith and Gerard Masters. Available on SoundCloud.