Light Duties
We all want to be good mums and we want to like doing motherhood. The trouble is, it's hard to work out what's good and harder still to be happy about it. This podcast is a long meditation on what Jesus has to say about what's good when we're raising children. It so happens that joy sneaks up on us when we get on with doing it.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 16 minutes
- Episodes
- 97
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
#50. Unrestrained Cute Blasphemy
If there was a way to sober me up in the euphoria of anticipating new motherhood, this verse was it. A hint that there was a weighty trust and great danger. I wasn’t merely welcoming a baby, but a pe…
How do Kids Become Independent?
In this think-aloud chat, Cathy talks aloud through a few things she's noted watching kids grow from complete dependence to almost the opposite (in a shockingly short space of time). A few things she…
Maternal Mood Strategies
In this think aloud chat, I continue thinking through my experience of handling motherhood and unwieldy moods. This is about some practical considerations that have helped. And books. See website for…
Maternal Mood and Mental Health
In this think-aloud-chat, Cathy talks through some of her experience of learning to cope. This is a look at one mum's experience over a long time, and the things that made a difference when dealing w…
Digital Kids Think Aloud Chat
My experience as a mum started before it was normal to have a smart device on hand constantly, but I soon had to come to terms with the opportunities and follies of screens. These are some thoughts (…
#49. Belong and Obey
Obedience doesn’t bring about belonging, the belonging comes first. When we belong, we express our connectedness through obedience.
Obedience isn’t about keeping ten thousand rules. In our own obedi…
To the Young Women, Thinking Ahead
This is a think-aloud chat especially for my unexpected audience: the women who are still young enough to be dependent on parents; the women who are looking at a future full of unknowns--the not-yet-…
#48. The Perils of Teaching Obedience
Once we’re persuaded that it is good for us to train our children in obedience, a new set of potholes form in the road, some deeper than others.
There are many ways we get things wrong. Our sin mangl…
#47. Taught to Obey, By Whom?
Teaching children to obey is a delicate, yet robust work. No relationship other than parent to child is designed to bear the weight of it. The trained childcare worker, the babysitter, the neighbour,…
#46. Some Basic Features of Teaching Obedience
So, how do we actually teach children to obey? Here's a bullet point list to start with.
Bible Reading Challenge {Think Aloud Chat}
This chat is about what has been helpful in different stages of my mothering years, as far as personal Bible reading goes. Resources I mention in the chat can be found on the webpage.
#45c. Ideas That Hinder Obedience: The Threat to Grace
Like me, were you ever the person at school who hated every subject you weren’t intuitively good at? The need to save face meant avoiding the areas where one’s incompetence could be exposed. Which me…
Boredom {Think Aloud Chat}
A casual chat about both maternal boredom and bored kids. Is boredom really good for us? I used to think so. It's taken 17 years of being a mum to think otherwise. And, what can we do about it?
#45b. Ideas That Hinder Obedience: Belief Before Behaviour
Bringing about belief in Jesus is God’s, hidden, sovereign work. On the other hand, tending to behaviour (which can either help or hinder belief) is definitely on the rather visible parental job desc…
#45a. Ideas That Hinder Obedience: Total Depravity
Should we expect children will learn to obey when we know they have a sinful nature? Is it even possible this side of Genesis 3?
The fallen, sinful nature does not completely erase the divine likene…
#44. If Your Theology Stops Obedience...
When it comes to fulfilling the great commission in our families (to teach our children to obey Jesus), sometimes our Christian conundrums paralyse us:
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Should we expect children will learn to obey …
Teaching Kids to Obey Jesus {Think Aloud Chat}
This is another audio-only free think about some aspects of teaching kids obedience, shared casually over my kitchen sink. These think-aloud chats are a bit of a birds-eye view from 17 years of paren…
Christian Music for Kids {Think Aloud Chat}
This is another audio-only stream of consciousness. Cathy talks through some reflections on the changing relationships she's had with music for kids across her 17 years of mothering. Real-time, real …
#43. Why We Don't Teach Kids to Obey Jesus
When I was younger, “obedience” was merely uncool. In the 90’s and 00’s, we didn’t use the word because it was daggy, uptight and prudish. Obedience meant deprivation and legalism, the arbitrary spoi…
#42. The Mission of Motherhood: Teach Them to Obey Jesus
Jesus tells us to teach obedience to those for whom we have some sort of discipleship responsibility.
The most profoundly connected disciples Christian parents have are their own children. We are obl…