CHM158:Faith and Family: Homeschooling with a Christian Purpose with Lee Ann Mancini

[00:00:00] Everybody, welcome to the Christian Homeschool Moms Podcast. I have a wonderful guest today.

[00:00:15] Her name is Leanne Mancini and she is the founder of Raising Christian Kids, which is

[00:00:22] a nonprofit organization that she'll tell us more about. She's also the author of Raising

[00:00:27] Kids to Follow Christ and Stealing a Lifelong Trust in God. And she also hosts a podcast

[00:00:35] and she has a couple of other things that we're going to talk about including a Netflix

[00:00:39] series. So it's going to be a fabulous show today and I can't wait to dig into this information.

[00:00:45] We're going to talk about concerning Raising Our Kids for the Lord. Welcome to the show,

[00:00:49] Leanne.

[00:00:50] Thank you for having me. It's an honor to be here.

[00:00:53] I'm so glad you're here. I love the work you're doing. I love everything that I've

[00:00:59] been reading your books. So I'm just still really processing all this, the good

[00:01:04] nuggets in your book about raising kids and I'm excited about it because in today's society,

[00:01:09] when parents are looking for information to help us to raise our kids in the ways of

[00:01:17] the Lord, it's not easy to find it. Like information that's just that kind of information

[00:01:23] we can take and run with it practical. And so that's what I love about what you

[00:01:27] offer. So I just want to get started with you just sharing who you are. Like who

[00:01:32] is Leanne? What do you like to do? What makes your life happy? Tell us all about yourself

[00:01:37] and your family.

[00:01:38] Well, Leanne was raised by a single mom many years ago, but she was a mom who loved the

[00:01:43] Lord and there was a big huge picture of Jesus on our wall. We had family pictures.

[00:01:49] They were littler ones, but Jesus was big front and center and I was taught how to love

[00:01:55] the Lord from a very young age. And I don't remember a day where I accepted into

[00:02:00] my heart because he had always been into my heart. Always hasn't been in my heart,

[00:02:06] but I'm a mother now of two grown children and a professor at South Florida

[00:02:11] Bible College and Theological Seminary. But I haven't been teaching recently for

[00:02:15] a while now because God had put me on another mission and that's to help

[00:02:20] parents raise their children so they stop walking away from their faith,

[00:02:25] giving them tools and techniques and resources to help support parents

[00:02:32] raising their children in this ever increasing evil anti-Christian culture.

[00:02:37] Yeah. So would you say this is your driving passion for developing these

[00:02:43] families, helping them to to develop kids in these biblical foundations?

[00:02:47] What what drives you to do this?

[00:02:49] Yeah, I believe God called me on this mission.

[00:02:51] I had written three stories for my children when they were little, many years ago

[00:02:57] because I couldn't find stories that taught my children how to live out the

[00:03:01] biblical principles I was trying to instill in them in real life situations

[00:03:06] that they faced. I found a lot of Bible stories and fruits of the spirit.

[00:03:12] Yeah. So I wrote these three of these stories.

[00:03:15] My kids loved them and I shelved them thinking I'd take them out for

[00:03:18] my grandkids, but a long story short, God called me to write the books,

[00:03:25] the children's books. We have seven C-kids books.

[00:03:29] I have seven C-kids books and then they were made into an animation series

[00:03:33] that's on right now media, Pure Flix, Answers TV and Minnow.

[00:03:40] And they're very biblically based series.

[00:03:43] They're Disney like in quality, the books and

[00:03:47] the animation series.

[00:03:49] My illustrator for the books worked for Disney and Warner Brothers.

[00:03:53] And the head animator for the animation series also worked for Disney.

[00:03:59] He he did Mulan and so they're very colorful, very entertaining,

[00:04:04] but extremely biblical.

[00:04:06] You'll have the parent in in the video say, well, you know,

[00:04:10] Corey, the apostle Paul said, and then she'll repeat the Bible verse.

[00:04:13] So the children see how to live out God's word

[00:04:16] in real life situations that they face.

[00:04:19] I love that.

[00:04:20] And since we're on video for those of you listening on audio,

[00:04:22] you can come over to YouTube and watch as well.

[00:04:24] But I'd love for you to hold up one of the books so we can see how the cover looks.

[00:04:28] And so this is a servant like Jesus

[00:04:33] and all the books are extremely colorful.

[00:04:37] As you can see, that's beautiful.

[00:04:40] Yeah. And the characters, they pray to Jesus.

[00:04:45] They give thanks or they ask for help.

[00:04:49] And the stories teach children how to be kind and accepting of others,

[00:04:54] teaching them how to be like Christ.

[00:04:57] And we have a hidden Christian symbol on each page

[00:05:00] like a wears Waldo for the kids to find.

[00:05:03] So it makes it fun.

[00:05:04] You know, after you read the story, they go back and they look for the symbols

[00:05:07] and interactive. Yeah.

[00:05:10] Yeah. And what's really unique and you're going to love this is

[00:05:14] all are all my books are on this free app called Novel Effect with an E.

[00:05:20] Now, Novel Effect is an app you can download to your smart device.

[00:05:25] So you take your phone, you click on my book,

[00:05:29] then you start reading the book in your hand.

[00:05:32] You have to physically have the book,

[00:05:34] but the phone does the sound effects to each page you're reading.

[00:05:39] Oh, that's cool.

[00:05:41] So it's really cute.

[00:05:43] For example, in my book, I'm Not Afraid, it takes place in an amusement park

[00:05:49] where Susie's afraid to ride a roller coaster as well.

[00:05:51] While you're reading the book, you hear the roller coasters in the background.

[00:05:54] You hear the balloon popping game

[00:05:56] and it really encourages the children to want to read the book

[00:06:00] because they want to trigger the sound effects.

[00:06:02] Exactly. They want to hear the sound effects.

[00:06:05] And that just makes it feel 3D and yeah.

[00:06:08] And you know, they have a lot of your classics on there also like

[00:06:11] Good Night Moon, Love You Forever.

[00:06:13] They have hundreds of books on that app and it's Novel Effect with an E.

[00:06:17] OK, I'm glad you shared that.

[00:06:19] I mean, thank you. That's amazing.

[00:06:21] Yeah, like all the things that we have today to bring our books to life.

[00:06:25] But I love that we have biblically based books for children

[00:06:30] that you've written and with the sound effects and just all the fun things.

[00:06:34] And so we're going to talk more about raising our kids for the Lord in a moment.

[00:06:38] But I want to take a little detour to what you've written for adults

[00:06:42] to help us and parenting our kids.

[00:06:44] So could you hold up your book raising sure it's to follow Christ?

[00:06:49] Yes. So that book is I was just telling you a few moments ago

[00:06:54] how I could not put it down because it does have a lot of negative.

[00:06:59] Like mine is I've got highlights all over because a lot of what you're

[00:07:03] you're talking about in the book, it's it's like teachings.

[00:07:07] It's like little mini teachings for parents to help us.

[00:07:10] So what inspired you to write this book for parents?

[00:07:15] About five years ago, I was alarmed

[00:07:19] at the statistics at that time of how many

[00:07:22] of our children were walking away from their faith from Christian homes.

[00:07:27] At that time, it was 40 percent of middle schoolers

[00:07:31] and 65 percent of high schoolers and students going to college.

[00:07:36] And I was like, Lord, what is going on?

[00:07:39] And I felt called because I'm a professor and I love to research.

[00:07:44] And I felt coming Lord to find out what's going on and what could we do about it?

[00:07:49] And so I started researching the brightest minds and children's spirituality.

[00:07:53] I've read over 250 parenting books.

[00:07:56] I've looked in the archives of a parenting books from way,

[00:08:02] back in the 1800s, 1900, anything that I could get my hands on that talked

[00:08:06] about parenting children to have a belief in God and a faith in the Lord.

[00:08:12] And I condensed this information into this book, a lot of the information.

[00:08:18] That's why you said there's little nuggets everywhere because there was

[00:08:21] it was a lot of your parenting books will tell you need to do this

[00:08:24] and you should do that and they'll give you examples,

[00:08:27] but they don't tell you how to this because about how to.

[00:08:30] So anyway, I felt the Lord giving me all this information.

[00:08:33] And then I felt him say, have a podcast.

[00:08:35] So in 20 get this information out.

[00:08:37] So in 2019, I started raising Christian kids podcast

[00:08:41] and I started sharing the information and started even doing more research.

[00:08:46] In fact, I have a month of apologetics

[00:08:49] that people can go listen to Jay Warner Wallace, Natasha Crane, Ken Ham,

[00:08:56] Greg Colkel to find out how we can teach our children how to

[00:09:00] effectively defend their faith in a loving manner.

[00:09:03] And then I have another month of disciplining

[00:09:05] because disciplining is important.

[00:09:07] If you can't, you can't teach a child who's not disciplined well.

[00:09:11] Absolutely. So I started sharing all this on the podcast.

[00:09:15] And then I felt the Lord calling me to write a book.

[00:09:20] And what's really alarming right now

[00:09:23] is that the recent statistics show,

[00:09:26] and this is from Barna Research in Arizona Christian University.

[00:09:32] Seventy percent of children between the ages of 13 and 14,

[00:09:37] they don't believe St.

[00:09:37] Exists. This next statistic is startling.

[00:09:42] Eighty four percent of 13 to 14 year olds from Christians family

[00:09:47] don't believe we are born into sin and need a savior.

[00:09:51] Hmm.

[00:09:52] Ninety percent don't believe in absolute moral truth.

[00:09:56] They believe your truth is your truth, relativism.

[00:10:01] And what is even more shocking

[00:10:04] or I don't know if it could be any more shocking than that,

[00:10:06] but the Christian pastors of children,

[00:10:11] Children's Christian pastors,

[00:10:13] fifty percent believe that there is

[00:10:16] that Jesus possibly sinned on earth in his human form.

[00:10:22] These are past and yeah,

[00:10:24] and fifty three percent believe that it's possible for reincarnation.

[00:10:30] So when I read these statistics, I cried.

[00:10:33] In fact, George Barna says in his book,

[00:10:36] we're on the precipice of irreversible destruction.

[00:10:41] So we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

[00:10:46] That is it's eye opening and it's shocking

[00:10:51] because when you say it in terms of a statistic, a number,

[00:10:56] it's so concrete that you can't you can't argue with the fact

[00:11:00] that our society has shifted drastically

[00:11:04] and seems like a short period of time.

[00:11:07] If we're at these numbers today, we've got work to do.

[00:11:10] With our children and the next generations to come.

[00:11:13] So that's why I think it's so important what you're doing,

[00:11:17] because every one of us who has something to contribute

[00:11:20] to raising our kids in the ways of the Lord, we need to do it.

[00:11:25] This is the time.

[00:11:25] This is the season and whatever God is putting on our hearts to do,

[00:11:28] we've got to do it.

[00:11:29] And I love that you're just moving forward

[00:11:31] with what God tells you to do, the podcast, the books,

[00:11:35] everything that that he gives you the opportunity to do.

[00:11:37] You're saying yes.

[00:11:39] And so I love that.

[00:11:40] And I was reading.

[00:11:43] So I have so much I want to share.

[00:11:45] But one of the things I read in your book is that we are our children's

[00:11:49] first teachers that really stood out to me.

[00:11:52] I've always believed that.

[00:11:54] But for parents who don't homeschool,

[00:11:57] their parents who do homeschool kind of understand that idea of teaching.

[00:11:59] But for those who don't homeschool, what does that mean

[00:12:02] that we are the teachers, the first teachers of our children?

[00:12:06] Well, first, I'd like to say that over 80 percent

[00:12:09] of our children attend the public school system.

[00:12:14] You know, there's a lot of single moms or a lot of parents

[00:12:16] that can't afford to homeschool or to send their kids to a private Christian school.

[00:12:21] But we are their first most impactful teachers

[00:12:25] that can anchor their lives here and now for in Christ for all eternity.

[00:12:30] And it starts very early.

[00:12:33] And as I say this, I want the parents to understand that it's never too late either.

[00:12:37] There's things we can do later.

[00:12:38] But what helps us is when you start early, what does that look like?

[00:12:43] Well, you know, Psalm seventy eight six says,

[00:12:45] teach even to the children yet to be born.

[00:12:48] At 18 weeks in the womb, the baby can hear sounds.

[00:12:53] They can hear children singing at the nursery or daycare center,

[00:12:58] Christian daycare center of Jesus loves me this.

[00:13:01] I know, you know, volunteer, they need help anyway.

[00:13:06] And when you have an infant and they're screaming

[00:13:10] because they're hungry and, you know, you give them the bottle

[00:13:12] and all of a sudden they're cooing because their their needs are getting met

[00:13:17] and their bellies are getting full.

[00:13:19] Simply say, Johnny, Jesus loves Johnny.

[00:13:22] Jesus loves you.

[00:13:24] You're connecting the name of Jesus with their needs being met.

[00:13:28] Well, I talk about a baby who's six months old looking in a mirror

[00:13:33] and he's laughing.

[00:13:35] You simply say, Johnny, Jesus loves Johnny.

[00:13:38] Johnny is so handsome and he and God created Johnny.

[00:13:42] You're connecting his happy emotions with the name of Jesus.

[00:13:46] And then the last example for young ones, I'll give you because there's so many.

[00:13:50] Yeah. Is, you know, instead of saying, let's take a nap,

[00:13:53] say, let's take a Sabbath's rest.

[00:13:56] Now, they don't understand the true meaning of Sabbath,

[00:13:59] but you're building a vocabulary and a category in their mind

[00:14:03] for the word Sabbath that has something to do with rest.

[00:14:06] Now, I call this preparing the soil from the womb to age three.

[00:14:10] And then from four to seven, when you're teaching them the true meaning of Sabbath,

[00:14:14] you're planting seeds into rich soil to grow deep roots.

[00:14:19] These are the things that families can do at home.

[00:14:21] We teach our children by the time they're five years old,

[00:14:24] 90 percent of their brain is fully formed.

[00:14:27] That's why young ones can learn two languages.

[00:14:30] So teach them everything according to Deuteronomy,

[00:14:35] which is the Shema Chapter six, four through nine.

[00:14:38] When you rise up, when you walk along the path and when you lie down,

[00:14:43] impress these things upon your children, impress means to mold,

[00:14:46] to mark, to place a biblical doctrine within their hearts and minds.

[00:14:51] That's why we're their first most impactful teachers.

[00:14:55] We teach them how to speak.

[00:14:58] We teach them how to walk.

[00:15:00] Did you know that 20 I think it was 21 percent of our 21 percent of our DNA,

[00:15:05] the DNA that determines what eye color and hair color we have.

[00:15:09] Twenty one percent is spiritual.

[00:15:11] The scientists have proven this.

[00:15:13] I was shocked when I read that.

[00:15:15] I did not. Isn't that amazing?

[00:15:17] And there's so much we can do.

[00:15:20] We just have to do it organically day by day, moment by moment,

[00:15:24] lovingly and in a fun way.

[00:15:26] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:15:27] You know, like you said, we're called for such a time as this.

[00:15:30] Right. Well, I love what you just said about lovingly and in a fun way.

[00:15:34] So that leads me to ask about the importance of our words as parents

[00:15:38] and not just what we say, because like you said, we are their first teacher.

[00:15:43] So what we're saying makes a difference goes a long way.

[00:15:45] But how we say it.

[00:15:48] So can you kind of speak on the how of how we speak to our kids?

[00:15:53] Absolutely.

[00:15:54] I say always be careful not to label your child, the loner, the shy one,

[00:16:00] because that becomes a self-fulfilled prophecy.

[00:16:02] If they hear it enough, that's what they become.

[00:16:06] Your words are to be edifying, not only for your children,

[00:16:09] but also for people around you, your children here.

[00:16:13] You speaking about other people and two other people

[00:16:18] were to act like Christ in all we do.

[00:16:20] Yes.

[00:16:21] So you speak words that are loving, kind, full of grace,

[00:16:25] extending grace when they misbehave or do something wrong.

[00:16:30] There's just everything positive.

[00:16:32] Take every thought captive for Christ.

[00:16:35] And the experts have stated that you never know

[00:16:39] when a child will grasp a biblical concept.

[00:16:43] So don't hold back, say sin, salvation, redemption,

[00:16:47] resurrection, whatever the word is, use it.

[00:16:50] Good. And, you know, explain it as best as you can for their age.

[00:16:55] And as they get older, you can go into a deeper explanation.

[00:16:59] But words are important and they have meaning

[00:17:01] and pray those words out loud. Yes.

[00:17:04] I also say, you know, and you've read the book,

[00:17:07] when children are memorizing Bible verses,

[00:17:10] make sure they understand each word in that Bible verse.

[00:17:14] Honor your father and your mother.

[00:17:16] Do they know what honor means?

[00:17:19] That's good. Yeah, it's so important.

[00:17:23] I like the one phrase I put in one little girl says,

[00:17:27] and forgive us our trash.

[00:17:29] Forgive us our trashes.

[00:17:30] We forgive those who put trash in our baskets

[00:17:34] instead of trespasses.

[00:17:35] Yes, trash.

[00:17:37] So you have to remember, help them to memorize the words properly

[00:17:42] but to know each meaning of each Bible verse that they're memorizing.

[00:17:46] So that's the importance of biblical literacy at a young age

[00:17:51] where we really can teach them when they're young.

[00:17:54] We don't have to wait until they're of certain age

[00:17:57] before we start to explain concepts to them.

[00:18:00] It's what you just said, like start now and and let make sure we know

[00:18:06] that they know what they're reading and what they're memorizing.

[00:18:09] So that also means that we parents have to be reading and studying the Bible.

[00:18:14] Yes, that is so important.

[00:18:16] We can't teach what we don't possess.

[00:18:18] Exactly. Exactly.

[00:18:20] We can't model it either.

[00:18:21] Right. Well, OK, so I wanted to go back real quick about

[00:18:26] so I thought about virtues because when my

[00:18:29] when my daughter, my youngest daughter now 16, when she was four,

[00:18:33] I remember doing and it's on YouTube,

[00:18:35] I have a little video of like the fruit of the spirit.

[00:18:37] And so we had this fruit of the spirit game

[00:18:38] and we were always memorizing and reading

[00:18:41] and singing about the fruit of the spirit.

[00:18:44] And so those are some virtues.

[00:18:45] But can you share with us about ways we can some practical ways

[00:18:50] we can instill those virtues in our kids?

[00:18:52] Absolutely. The best way, first of all, is to model those virtues.

[00:18:58] You know, be honest, be truthful, be kind and be all of the fruits of the spirit.

[00:19:02] Those are those are virtues.

[00:19:05] And also remind your children when you when you get an opportunity

[00:19:10] to point out something that they did well and say, you know, Johnny,

[00:19:16] you were very kind kindness is a virtue.

[00:19:20] You know, Second Peter tells us to supplement our faith with virtue.

[00:19:24] So we want our children to understand the characteristics of God are virtuous.

[00:19:30] We can act like that and we can teach our children to do the same.

[00:19:33] And in the book I have I forget how many virtues,

[00:19:36] but I have the I have the explanation of the virtue

[00:19:39] that you can explain to your children.

[00:19:42] I have the Bible story that shows how to live out the virtue.

[00:19:48] And then I have Bible verses to remember to to memorize regarding the virtue.

[00:19:53] But virtues are very important.

[00:19:55] Yes, and then I have the stones, you know, that I talk about the stones.

[00:19:59] Now a stone what we talk about is

[00:20:04] gemstones, OK, represent not a represent.

[00:20:08] They have no power.

[00:20:09] They represent a certain virtue.

[00:20:12] So I say, just take little rocks, white rocks, paint them the color of the gemstones,

[00:20:17] taking, you know, a five four by six card,

[00:20:20] write the name of the gemstone and the virtue

[00:20:24] and have your child carried for the day and practice that virtue.

[00:20:28] It's a little stone in their pocket.

[00:20:30] You know, the Bible is full of stones, but the stones represent many things.

[00:20:36] Make sure your child knows that the stone has no power.

[00:20:38] Yeah, but you know, so there's there's so many things you can play virtue game

[00:20:43] for the day where the family picks a virtue for that day.

[00:20:47] And every time someone exhibits that virtue, they get a point on the chart.

[00:20:53] You know, and whoever gets the most points that night

[00:20:56] gets to pick out where they're going to go out to dinner or whatever you choose.

[00:21:00] Make it fun. We can make this so much fun.

[00:21:03] God's word is fun.

[00:21:04] It's alive.

[00:21:05] Yes, it's not dull and just right.

[00:21:08] Emote memorization.

[00:21:10] That's very cool laws.

[00:21:11] It's not any of that.

[00:21:13] Right. And especially when we're working with kids,

[00:21:15] we have to be careful that we don't get legalistic

[00:21:19] and and you know, boring with this stuff because this is the word of God.

[00:21:23] This is good. This is life.

[00:21:25] And, you know, we don't have to to do things the way

[00:21:29] maybe we were raised or how things were 50 years ago, 80 years.

[00:21:33] We can we can make it fun and make it come alive for our kids today.

[00:21:37] So that's important.

[00:21:40] I love that you are an advocate for fun plus the Bible.

[00:21:45] I love that.

[00:21:46] You know, I didn't do half of the stuff in my book

[00:21:49] when I was raising my kids because I didn't know.

[00:21:51] Right. So I'd like to also tell parents don't feel guilty

[00:21:55] because that's a tool of the devil to hold you back from doing what you need to do.

[00:21:58] Right. And it's, you know, and it's never too late.

[00:22:02] Erwin Lutz, who tells about the story of the seeds and the Egyptian tombs.

[00:22:06] They were 4,000 year old seeds and they took them out of these Egyptian tombs

[00:22:10] and they watered them and planted them and gave them sunshine and they grew.

[00:22:15] You know, God says he's able to restore what the locusts have eaten

[00:22:19] and his his word never returns void.

[00:22:21] So there's a lot of things you can do with teenagers too

[00:22:24] if you haven't done this stuff early on.

[00:22:27] That's perfect that you've you kind of segwayed right into

[00:22:30] what I wanted to ask you next.

[00:22:31] So for parents who have.

[00:22:34] Got into the stage of life where now we're you know,

[00:22:37] realizing OK, maybe we should did this different or that different.

[00:22:41] Or maybe we have grown adult kids who maybe we should have felt

[00:22:45] like we should have raised differently.

[00:22:48] Like if we miss the mark, you know, that kind of thing, those questions come up.

[00:22:52] So what is your what?

[00:22:55] What how would you speak to that for parents who are feeling remorseful

[00:22:58] that they didn't do what they wish they had done?

[00:23:01] Yeah, first of all, I would take away the guilt

[00:23:05] and just ask the Lord, pray to him to give you opportunities

[00:23:09] to talk to your adult children if they're not living in your home.

[00:23:12] Ask him for opportunities to show them how you are living out God's word

[00:23:19] and sit down with your adult children and have an honest conversation with them

[00:23:24] and apologize, say, you know, I want to say, I'm sorry,

[00:23:26] I didn't do these things.

[00:23:28] I wish I did, but it's not too late for you.

[00:23:30] It's never too late and have a talk with them now with teenagers.

[00:23:35] They're still underneath your roof.

[00:23:37] I say, have a family meeting.

[00:23:39] Everybody sits down and you say, look, we haven't been doing the things

[00:23:43] we should be doing as a Christian family.

[00:23:45] And we're looking out in this world and we're seeing what is happening.

[00:23:48] And we don't want you to get swallowed up by all this evil.

[00:23:52] So we're going to write a family mission statement.

[00:23:55] And we're going to put in this mission statement.

[00:23:57] We're going to have you work with us to put in the mission statement

[00:24:01] that, you know, what we're going to do is a family to honor God,

[00:24:04] to love each other and to serve others.

[00:24:07] And then you can also draw up a contract

[00:24:12] for obedience and disobedience and what the stipulations are.

[00:24:16] When you have your teenagers involved in that, they're more likely

[00:24:19] to adhere to those stipulations because they've been a part of drawing

[00:24:22] up this contract. Right.

[00:24:24] And then just remember, kids don't have rights.

[00:24:28] I mean, they have rights to food, clothing, shelter,

[00:24:31] but the computer, the cell phone, the car keys, you know, those are not rights.

[00:24:38] Those are privileges. Right.

[00:24:40] And you will see how fast they turn around when those privileges

[00:24:44] are taken away for disobedience.

[00:24:48] And, you know, there's the one thing I want to talk about real quick

[00:24:51] is the cell phone. OK, it is killing our children.

[00:24:55] And there's a new cell phone out there called True Me T.R.O.O.M.I.

[00:25:01] I highly recommend the cell phone.

[00:25:04] It grows with your children.

[00:25:05] So if your children need to have a cell phone where they call just you,

[00:25:08] mom and dad, that's the only number they have on the phone.

[00:25:11] And it looks like a regular cell phone. Wow.

[00:25:13] Then you can add grandma and grandpa or as they get older, a friend.

[00:25:18] Then you can add apps that are vetted by the company so they can do Google,

[00:25:23] you know, research, not Google, but researching all all kinds of

[00:25:27] information that they need.

[00:25:30] And what they found was the teenagers, when they took the phones away

[00:25:33] from those teenagers and gave them, gave them the,

[00:25:35] took their iPhones and whatever phones and gave them this True Me

[00:25:38] phone, the teenagers were very upset with the parents.

[00:25:41] How could you do this?

[00:25:43] But they came back and they thanked their parents

[00:25:46] because they realized when the other teens were saying,

[00:25:49] hey, look at this new app, this new thing on TikTok.

[00:25:52] And maybe it's something they felt uncomfortable with.

[00:25:55] All they had to say was, look, I can't my phone,

[00:25:59] my phone, my parents give me doesn't allow me to do that.

[00:26:02] So it took the peer pressure off of them to comply to look cool

[00:26:07] because they just couldn't because after all they gave them the excuse

[00:26:09] to say, I don't have access to that anyway.

[00:26:12] So yeah. Yeah.

[00:26:13] And you're right.

[00:26:15] It's cell phones.

[00:26:16] Who it's it's an issue.

[00:26:18] It's an issue and it kind of rewires the brain of our kids.

[00:26:21] Yes, it does.

[00:26:22] Yeah, it's it's not a good thing.

[00:26:24] So I'm glad you said that.

[00:26:26] I didn't even know that existed.

[00:26:28] True Me.

[00:26:29] So I'm going to have to leave a leak for that.

[00:26:31] And did you know I just found out today, I live in Florida.

[00:26:35] Our governor signed into law that 13, 13.

[00:26:41] Wait, yeah. 13 and under.

[00:26:45] Cannot have the cell phone apps, all those apps.

[00:26:50] They can't have them on their cell phones.

[00:26:53] And it's 14 to 15 have to get parental permission.

[00:26:58] Now, I don't know how they're going to police that,

[00:27:00] but it's a step in the right direction.

[00:27:02] OK, this is for Florida only so far.

[00:27:04] Is it? Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

[00:27:07] OK, so changes are happening.

[00:27:09] And we've got things need to be changed.

[00:27:12] But as parents, I'm glad that we have the rights in our home

[00:27:17] to set the pace and the atmosphere for what happens in our families.

[00:27:22] And I love what you mentioned about having a contract

[00:27:25] and having a just some guidelines that our teens,

[00:27:29] especially they love to be involved in that.

[00:27:31] So if they can help figure out what the rules are,

[00:27:33] they're more likely to comply.

[00:27:35] And then with the adult children, you said, you know,

[00:27:38] just just talk to them, just apologize, just have a conversation.

[00:27:42] Is there adults and live out what what you believe?

[00:27:45] You know, I forgot to mention that when your teens,

[00:27:48] if they get upset because why are we doing this?

[00:27:51] Well, it's not because I'm the boss and you're the child.

[00:27:54] You give them real three reasons they cannot push back on.

[00:27:57] You say, because I have to be accountable to God, how I raise you.

[00:28:02] Because I love you and because I want to keep you safe.

[00:28:09] That's plain as day and simple.

[00:28:12] They can't argue with that.

[00:28:13] No, I love.

[00:28:15] Hopefully they won't.

[00:28:17] No, hopefully they won't.

[00:28:19] Well, I'm excited about all that you're doing.

[00:28:23] You have a lot of products, your books, you have a podcast,

[00:28:27] you have a right now media series.

[00:28:30] So can you just share with us all that you're doing to support

[00:28:34] parents and children? Yes.

[00:28:36] Well, our latest addition is our scripture bear.

[00:28:40] And before I say anything, I just want everyone to know that all the proceeds

[00:28:45] from my book, my author proceeds, the proceeds I get from the sales

[00:28:50] of my children's book and the animation series that's in

[00:28:54] scripture bear are new, our new edition.

[00:28:57] And you see he's so cute.

[00:28:59] All the proceeds goes towards our nonprofit.

[00:29:03] They're donated to the nonprofit raising Christian kids.

[00:29:06] And what we do is we work closely with churches to identify families in need

[00:29:10] that can't afford to buy a Bible, a parenting book,

[00:29:16] study guide, a children's book, a teddy bear like this

[00:29:20] that plays eight Bible verses.

[00:29:22] And we give the resources to these families for free.

[00:29:26] Wow. You know, Pew Research has indicated that 66 percent

[00:29:31] of Christian families make less than $30,000 a year.

[00:29:35] They can barely afford food and a roof and clothing,

[00:29:39] you know, let alone a $16 parenting book or a Bible study.

[00:29:44] So we all all the proceeds goes towards our nonprofit raising Christian kids.

[00:29:49] That's wonderful.

[00:29:49] But our scripture bear is our new edition.

[00:29:52] He's really cute. You know, every child wants to have a teddy bear.

[00:29:57] So why not have one that plays eight Bible verses that they can

[00:30:01] they can remember, you know, memorize.

[00:30:04] But I'll play one right now, see if you can hear this.

[00:30:07] As for me, I will call on God and the Lord will sing to me.

[00:30:13] Oh, 55 verse 16.

[00:30:17] Were you able to hear that? Yes.

[00:30:19] That was perfect. Yes.

[00:30:22] And I say eight Bible verses.

[00:30:25] And so every time you press the the hand, you press the hand or the ears.

[00:30:32] And it's a different place.

[00:30:33] Yeah, eight different Bible verses on or your father and your mother, Exodus

[00:30:38] 2012 and I forget the rest of them.

[00:30:41] There's eight of them, though, that they're really cute, easy verses

[00:30:44] for little ones to memorize, but important verses.

[00:30:48] I just want to say for those listening by audio,

[00:30:50] you have to come to the YouTube and check it out because the beautiful plush

[00:30:55] just the cutest bear ever.

[00:30:57] So just come by and look at that.

[00:30:59] That is so beautiful.

[00:31:00] And then what else do you have?

[00:31:02] Oh, just, you know, the

[00:31:05] my book and you have seven of them, right?

[00:31:08] Seven of those and 26 animated episodes

[00:31:13] on that now on art on right now media and now here, Flix.

[00:31:19] OK, here, Flix and Answers TV, which is Answers in Genesis, Ken Ham,

[00:31:24] you know, The Ark Encounter, The Creation Museum.

[00:31:26] They have a new streaming channel.

[00:31:27] So our animation series is on there as well.

[00:31:30] You could you can you can I think it's like two ninety nine or something

[00:31:33] in an episode, I don't remember, right?

[00:31:35] But it's not it's very affordable.

[00:31:37] OK, and, you know, we really shouldn't have our children

[00:31:41] two years and under in front of any screen.

[00:31:44] It delays their speech.

[00:31:46] It's not good for their brain.

[00:31:48] But if you have to take a break, mom, because I know how it is.

[00:31:51] Twelve minutes of sea kids is where you want to go

[00:31:55] because the children love it.

[00:31:57] It's very colorful and they pray to Jesus and the parents use

[00:32:01] they incorporate the Bible verses so the kids learn how to live out.

[00:32:06] Right. And that's everything that parents are trying to do anyway,

[00:32:08] instilling the word of God in our kids.

[00:32:10] And when we need to take those breaks,

[00:32:12] we have something like your animation that helps to fill in the gaps for us.

[00:32:16] So the name of the animation is Sea Kids, S-E-A-H-I-D-S.

[00:32:23] Sea Kids. Yeah, Underwater World, very colorful.

[00:32:28] Love it. Love it. Love it. OK, so

[00:32:31] I'm so happy to have you here.

[00:32:33] OK, tell us how we can purchase your products, purchase your products.

[00:32:39] How to listen to your podcast?

[00:32:41] Where do we go?

[00:32:42] Well, it's on all major platforms, but you can also go to raising

[00:32:47] Christian kids dot com.

[00:32:51] And that way you can look at you can review a list of all the podcast episodes.

[00:32:58] Say you're looking for something under disciplining,

[00:33:00] you just type in discipline and the podcast episodes will pop up.

[00:33:05] I did a lot of research.

[00:33:06] I haven't done as many solo podcasts as I originally did,

[00:33:10] which I plan on going back, but I've had a lot of authors on the show.

[00:33:14] I've had a lot of expert authors on the show also.

[00:33:19] But you can search anything in the search bar and find what we have on the website.

[00:33:24] And we have another section called Tips from the Experts.

[00:33:28] So they're 15 minute videos of experts sharing their parental advice for you.

[00:33:35] For example, Edward Graham, who is Billy Graham's grandson,

[00:33:40] talks about how we shouldn't feel guilty if we mess up as parents

[00:33:44] because there is no perfect parent except for God.

[00:33:48] And he talks about how to leave a legacy.

[00:33:50] Who better talk about legacy than Edward Graham?

[00:33:54] Exactly, you know, so we have a lot on the and we have over 20

[00:33:58] some free resources that parents can download and print out for free.

[00:34:05] Oh, good. And we have biblical curriculum.

[00:34:08] We have biblical curriculum for the seven books in the Seekid series

[00:34:12] that's reproducible.

[00:34:14] So we just have a lot to offer for parents.

[00:34:17] That is a lot of resources.

[00:34:19] So parents listening, we have a place to go to find materials

[00:34:24] to support us in homeschooling our kids and raising them for the Lord.

[00:34:28] We have books, we have the podcast, we have the material for homeschooling.

[00:34:32] And it's just all there on your website.

[00:34:34] So that's wonderful.

[00:34:36] Do you have any last words you want to say on our show today to encourage parents?

[00:34:42] Yes, I just pray.

[00:34:44] You know, I pray every day for parents.

[00:34:46] I know it's so hard right now to be a parent in the times we're living in.

[00:34:51] Right.

[00:34:52] And don't worry about the laundry and the dishes

[00:34:56] because, you know, a child's worldview starts to formulate at 15 months

[00:35:01] and it's solidified by age 13.

[00:35:04] So you have that small window to really teach them.

[00:35:08] And if I could just say one time my niece came to my house and she was upset.

[00:35:12] She said, I don't know what to do, Antly, and her two and a half year old

[00:35:16] and her six month old baby was with her.

[00:35:19] And she said, I kind of want to go back to work.

[00:35:21] I miss work and we could use the extra money.

[00:35:23] And I took her hand and I took her over to a portrait

[00:35:26] hanging on the wall of my little ones.

[00:35:28] And I said, Beth, do you know where they are?

[00:35:30] I haven't seen these two little ones in so long.

[00:35:34] I would give anything to have them sit on my lap again

[00:35:38] and to give me a kiss on the cheek and to feel their little hands in my hand.

[00:35:42] I would give anything to have one more day.

[00:35:45] And she realized, you know, how important this time was

[00:35:48] because it goes by too fast.

[00:35:50] So I would just say to your parents, you know, that I'm praying for you.

[00:35:55] You know, enjoy this time.

[00:35:57] Do all you can to be the very best parents you can be

[00:36:01] and just give thanks to the Lord that he chose you to be your child's parent.

[00:36:06] That's so good. That's so good.

[00:36:08] Well, we appreciate you.

[00:36:10] Thank you so much for your grace infused words today,

[00:36:14] giving us the courage we need to keep doing what we need to do.

[00:36:18] And if we haven't begun, it's not too late.

[00:36:20] These are all words of encouragement for us.

[00:36:23] And I just thank you so much for being with us today, Leanne.

[00:36:26] Thank you. I appreciate you having me on your show.

[00:36:29] And God bless you as well.

[00:36:31] Thank you. God bless you.