Among the unanticipated consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine is the toll on mental health, and thus, emotional health. New studies since the beginning of the quarantine examine the psychological impact of confinement on children.

Are you concerned that your child’s faith and values will be negatively impacted in a public school? You are not alone. However, I’d encourage you to not look at your child’s school as a battlefield. Instead, see it as a garden where you can plant seeds of love and truth.

What does it mean to have freedom of religion? You can be sure they will be told there is a “separation between church and state” meaning any event sponsored or permitted by the state cannot include religion. And because a public school is state funded, God cannot be recognized, worshiped or even discussed in the school setting. “Freedom of religion” also includes the “free exercise of religion.”

My kids always loved going to visit their grandparents. They knew they’d get their favorite sugary cereal, play lots of games, and be doted on by loving grandparents. And they learned from their grandparents too!

As a child, Labor Day was the last day off before going back to school. We’d gather together for a big family picnic. I didn’t really understand the meaning of why we celebrated Labor Day; I was just glad to have a day off to enjoy the end of summer. I imagine most kids are the same. They probably wonder, Why would you celebrate work?

There are a hundred wonderful things about being God’s child, but perhaps the most wonderful is this truth: God loves me and gives me His salvation even though I don’t deserve it. What a wonderful thing to be loved in spite of unworthiness. How sad that people all over the world are deceived by false religions that require good works in order to please God and to make it to Heaven.

When we think of health, physical health comes to mind first. But a wholistic view of the person includes five areas of health. In addition to physical, there’s mental health, emotional health, social health and spiritual health. All aspects of health inform the others, either supporting or tearing down.

Do you wonder if your children are going to make it through some of the difficult tests life will throw at them? Do we have to go live on poverty street and make the kids walk ten miles in snow to school so we know they’re hardy enough to make it?