Do What Matters Most

Researchers have identified four experience domains that make up an individual's identity and shape how it develops. In each of these four areas, there are things you can do as a parent that can ensure that your children are healthy and successful. When you learn these methods, you can feel more confident as a parent. Visit FirstAnswers.com to find more about the podcast and tons of resources for families.  

Reviewing Erikson’s eight stages of identity can show us how identities develop over time. With this in mind, you can also learn what you can do to influence your children toward a healthy gender identity. Visit FirstAnswers.com to find more about the podcast and tons of resources for families and relationships.

The remarkable increase lately in gender-related problems tells us that we should be searching for a better way to help our children. This episode introduces a rationale for parents to learn more in order to promote healthy development in their children. Visit FirstAnswers.com to find more about the podcast and tons of resources for families and relationships.

The people most likely to get a divorce think the problems between them stem from some personality defect or inadequacy. Affairs, for example, are considered a defect. Those less likely to divorce understand that the cause of their marital problems has to do with inadequate transmission or communication. In this episode, learn positive and negative forms of communication so you change the negative, improve the positive, and perhaps avoid a divorce. Visit FirstAnswers.com to find more about the podcast and tons of resources for families and relationships.  

Instead of being numbered among the rising tide of those who get divorced, learn proven methods in this series of avoiding or solving serious relationship problems. In this episode, learn some of the principal causes of divorce and a few preliminary things couples can do to avoid them. Visit FirstAnswers.com to find more about the podcast and tons of resources for families and relationships.

When your children become young adults, it can be one of the best times for your family if you have prepared them well. Learn what to do to successfully prepare your children by creating a family forum to accommodate children who leave, then return, then leave again. Remember freedom is more influential than control. Visit FirstAnswers.com to find more about the podcast and tons of resources for families and mental health.

Today young adults are running into more contradictions, biases, and intolerance that may not have existed at any other time since the civil war. In addition, the relaxing and disappearance of clear moral structures presents confusion so that many resort to the idea that there is nothing better than their own opinions and preferences. Learn about the milestones successful young adults demonstrate, and learn how you can help them. You will have a better time if you do. ​​Visit FirstAnswers.com to find more about the podcast and tons of resources for families and mental health.

Adolescent children face significant challenges that can be harmful to them or prepare them for success. Their success may even depend on what you do. Learn about the milestones of growth for teens so you can see the progress your children are making, and learn how to help them. It takes more time and effort to solve problems than it does to prevent them. Visit FirstAnswers.com to find more about the podcast and tons of resources for families and mental health.

Most of us know someone with one or more children who have left religion and are unwilling to exercise faith in God and Jesus Christ. Even with great resources provided by our churches and actual experience with faith, increasing numbers of our children are losing their faith. One possible reason why children lose their faith might be what happens—or fails to happen—in their family. In this episode, you will learn the family dynamics that are the foundation for faith. If these are mishandled, it can lead to children’s failure to develop and then live faith-filled lives. Visit FirstAnswers.com to find more about the podcast and tons of resources for families and relationships.

For 21st-century children to succeed, they need parents that understand the threats to their growth. Learn the 15 threats that impact your teens so you can adapt your parenting appropriately during this stage and make this time as great as it can be. Visit FirstAnswers.com to find more about the podcast and tons of resources for families and mental health.

Adolescence is considered a critical period in our society because teenagers’ development can be impacted in so many ways. This is one reason why it is important to provide firm, flexible, conversant, and accountable parenting during these years. Learn how to successfully apply this form of parent leadership and feel more confident with your teens. Visit FirstAnswers.com to find more about the podcast and tons of resources for families and mental health.

Since our podcast has always been sponsored by FirstAnswers.com, it will now be called First Answers. Same great host, same great content. Follow First Answers on Facebook to stay up to date. Visit FirstAnswers.com to find more about the podcast and tons of resources for families and mental health.

As parents, we adapt to our children as they mature so we can provide the conditions that will help them avoid the pitfalls or threats to their growth. This works best when you communicate to your children that you understand each one of them in a unique manner and at the same time make your family the primary point of reference for your children. Visit mattersmostmedia.org to find more about the podcast and FirstAnswers.com to find tons of parenting resources.

When parents adjust their leadership to match their children’s ages and stages, they will also need to have two types of knowledge: what healthy development looks like and the nature of the threats that can adversely affect children. In this episode, learn how to begin the process of adjusting to the circumstances your children ages 6-11 are in and turning them into success. Visit mattersmostmedia.org to find more about the podcast and FirstAnswers.com to find tons of parenting resources.

There are several things you can do to create a great formula for success as a parent leader of children in this generation. In this episode, you will find descriptions of the five types of growth and development you’re working toward and how to apply ten impact practices that increase the possibility of your parenting success. Learning these will give you a set of tools that will help you feel confident that what you are doing is the right thing for your children. Visit mattersmostmedia.org to find more about the podcast and FirstAnswers.com to find tons of parenting resources.

The exciting benefits of parent leadership can be seen when parents adapt to the maturing of their children, to individual children, and adapt their family to promote children's development. See how this works for children from birth to five years of age. Knowing how children will develop and then matching what you do to help them will provide a lot of satisfaction and fulfillment for you and success for your children. Visit mattersmostmedia.org to find more about the podcast and FirstAnswers.com to find tons of parenting resources.

Good parents want to make sure the important lessons they teach their children inside the family will be applied when children are away from the family. This episode describes what you can do to organize your family to ensure that your children will internalize and apply the good things you teach them. Visit mattersmostmedia.org to find more about the podcast and FirstAnswers.com to find tons of parenting resources.

When you become a parent, you have a choice. You can simply try to cope with all the new demands you face, which is necessary, or you can develop a strategic plan for your children and your family. In this episode, learn how to strategically use the resources in your family to promote growth in your children and more satisfaction for yourself. Visit mattersmostmedia.org to find more about the podcast and FirstAnswers.com to find tons of parenting resources.

It can be very easy when your family is young to get so preoccupied with the demands on your time that you unwittingly become parents who are busy reacting and putting out fires more than you are leading. In this episode, learn how to be an intentional parent and organize your family's work, rules, and relationships to produce the outcomes you want. This can make parenting easier and more engaging for you and more clear and effective for your children. Visit mattersmostmedia.org to find more about the podcast and FirstAnswers.com to find tons of parenting resources.

Some people still think that leadership is not important and all parents need to do is just manage a few details of family life. If you believe this, you are willing to rely only on biological aging to create change. And if that is the only tool you rely on, you are missing many opportunities to prepare your children for success. In this episode, learn the six steps of promoting change in yourself, your children as individuals, and your family. Using these tools will give you confidence that you can achieve more of what you hope for. Visit mattersmostmedia.org to find more about the podcast and FirstAnswers.com to find tons of parenting resources.