1. Infants and toddlers

Faith-building Ideas for Infants and Toddlers

When our first child began to talk, I was amazed at how much information he already had stored in his bald, fuzzy head. This hit home for me one day during a diaper-change. As I opened the tabs, releasing the foul odour of a rather ripe baby poo, I heard his little voice pipe up, “Holy smoke!” Startled, I realized how often I must have used that exclamation while standing at the change table.

Since then, I’ve learned that that expression is another way to say “holy hell.” Inadvertently, I had taught our baby to use language that many would deem to be swearing! Looking back, I wish it had occurred to me to let our baby “eavesdrop” on my constant conversations with God. Had I done so, maybe he would have said, "Thank you, Jesus, for this stinky bum," instead.  Read more ...

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2. School Age

Raising Kids Who Love Christ

As parents, we all want what is best for our children. We want them to live happy, healthy lives while they also stay away from the at-risk behaviours of sex, drugs, alcohol and gangs. And as I’ve had the opportunity to speak to parents literally all over the world, what I see are parents who desperately want to do a better job parenting than in the household they grew up in.

I do not believe that we have bad parents today. Yet when it comes to the one thing that will lead our children to “enjoy long life” (Deut. 6:2) ¬– which is a loving relationship with God in which they love and serve Him with “all of their heart, soul and strength” (Deut. 6:4) – as parents, we don’t know how to instill this in our children. In other words, many parents today like the idea of their children having a strong faith in God that will positively impact the life decisions they make; yet, when it comes right down to it, many parents today don’t know how to instill faith into their children.  Read More ...

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3. Teens

Teens and their cellphones

My teen wants a cellphone with unlimited text messaging. How do I negotiate healthy electronic boundaries and respect?

When I was growing up, my generation negotiated with our parents about the keys to the car, curfew, a telephone in our bedrooms and dating rules. Today’s parents have to add technology. Although cellphones may appear to be standard fare, they are not an inalienable teen right. They are a communication tool that can make family contact easier, but not without risks. Weigh the pros and cons of a cellphone before purchasing one for your teen. Then establish clear boundaries up front.  Read More ...

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Building Healthy Relationships is a series of workshops designed to help couples to communicate and manage conflict more effectively. With the assistance of trained professionals, couples will learn and practice listening,speaking, and conflict resolution skills in a safe and comfortable environment.  To find out more read here ...

History of the BHR

(adapted from article by Dr. Rob Lees)

Rationale for BHR

Healthy parental relationships and marriages contribute to the well being of all family members, both children, parents and even grandparents. This in turn contributes to community health.

The field of health promotion has demonstrated the link between social determinants and physical health. Although considerable public debate has focussed on same sex marriage and to a lesser degree issues related to divorce, there is no similar discourse related to marital and couple quality, despite it’s known implications for health. Recently the American Government, through its Department of Human Services, has launched a five year, half a billion dollar, Healthy Marriage Initiative. No similar program exists in Canada.

There are complex explanations for this problem. In part, marriage and couple education may be associated with ideas of traditional male dominance in a society that has been coming to terms with the violence against women hidden in this agenda. As well, there was the problem that promoting healthy marriage could contribute to stigma or a sense of inferiority in other family structures, such as single parent lead homes or gay and lesbian relationships. For this reason, academics and researchers have stayed away from the topic. At the recent International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE), funded and supported significantly by Health Canada and Canada’s Public Health Agency, with Co- Chair Dr. David Butler- Jones, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, among literally hundreds of presentations on the determinants of health, not one addressed marital health. .

The issue may as well be much deeper than these sensitivities. Over 50 years ago, David Mace, the founder of The Association of Couples for Marriage Enrichment, wrote about “the myth of naturalism” and the “inter-marital taboo”. Mace suggested that when life spans were shorter and marriages held together through economic and social pressures, marriages would survive naturally. There would be no need for education. As well, he described a taboo in families related to passing on accurate information about what makes relationships work.  Read more ...