Jonathan McNair

Many parents look for good, practical guidance that can help us steer our children through their formative years. In particular, how should we help our children lay the groundwork for godly relationships and a successful, happy marriage?

Let’s be honest with ourselves: We’ve all heard it from our parents in one form or another. How many times did your mother tell you, “Clean up your mess”?

A comment on Twitter recently caught my eye: “Sure, kids cost roughly $14,000 annually, but think about all the money you save from no longer having a social life.” It was tongue-in-cheek, but correct—kids are expensive!

A 2017 U.S. Department of Agriculture report found that the average cost of rearing a child from birth to age 17 is $233,610 (“How Much Does It Cost to Raise a Child in the U.S. in 2018?,” TheStreet.com, December 19, 2018). And this figure does not include the cost of college.

In 2017, author Tom Nichols published a book titled The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters. Nichols makes the case that we are experiencing “the growth of an irrational conviction among Americans that everyone is as smart as everyone else” (p. 7).