The Parenting for Faith podcast

We start by asking how important is fun in faith formation? Sarah Hogben, Children's Work Team Leader at Gateway Church in York answers a question about what to do if you go to a church with no provision for under threes... and you have some with you! In the wildcard section, find out why Rachel is annoyed at her kid's school.

In this bonus episode, we explore: - how to decide what you personally think about Halloween and how to explain that to your child. - how to find the right fit for your family and tailor your response to them - how to engage or deal with films that talk about the afterlife such as Coco - how to help your children find comfort in the darkness with a sample chapter from Rachel's book.

This week, Rachel asks how can we help our kids deal with shame? She answers a question about how to handle the situation where your kids aren't allowed to see or hear the same things as their peers. In our wildcard section, Anna shares what it was like to attend an event and church service in a different language and culture. This sparked four ideas for how to help our kids and visitors navigate a church service.

Anna asks what are we growing in our kids and shares how to get involved with the Homegrown online conference on Tuesday 8 October, for more see methodist.org.uk/homegrown . We take our question this week from a parent who asked 'How can we be merciful to ourselves?'. We hear lots of great ideas and advice but sometimes it can just feel overwhelming and we can beat ourselves up or feel too scared to start. Rachel shares what to do if you find yourself in that rut. For our wildcard section today, Rachel interviews her mum, all about her teenage years. Rachel was involved in the world of theatre and her mum shares how they managed that as a family and found ways to connect with their teenager and connect to God in that.

This week, we kick off by looking at the story of David and Goliath(1 Sam 17)and asking what Saul's role was. What did he do and what can we learn from it? During our Facebook Live events (parentingforfaith.org/upcoming-events#facebooklive), we encourage you to ask questions about anything. We were asked one about how to explain Bible stories that include non-monogamous relationships, for example concubines. Discover how Rachel tackled it in our Q and A section. In our wildcard section, Anna Hawken interviews Crystal Chiang, Executive Director of Student Strategy at Orange and asks her how we can support our teenagers as they head off to uni or leave home. Find out more about Crystal and her resources at crystalcchiang.com and onmyteam.org .

Becky kicks off with some thoughts on the gospel and different worldviews. Rachel answers the question 'Why isn't the church more like holiday club?' The wildcard section is an exploration of gender neutral toys, do we think they are a good idea or not?

This week, Rachel asks how do we get our kids ready to serve in church? For our question and answer section, she explores how to deal with parental guilt. This week's wildcard section is from Anna Hawken, part of the Parenting for Faith team. She looks at how to get started using chat and catch if you are pregnant, waiting to adopt or have a new baby by taking us through some steps to start catching for your child.

How do we help our kids live in a world which tells them the most important thing about them is the way that they look? We steal from one of our Facebook Live events for parents and carers 'Bedtime Drinks' to explore ideas of beauty and manliness. You can catch up on more past episodes at https://www.facebook.com/pg/parentingforfaithBRF/videos For our Q&A section, we ask should grandparents ask permission from their children to talk to their grandchildren about God? For our wildcard section, we interview Chad Chadwick from the Gen2 team in Peterborough diocese to hear his experience of encouraging faith in the family home.

You are called to be significant and powerful wherever you are and the Parenting for Faith tools can help you to do that, with all sorts of people, not just your children. Rachel shares some of her experiences with this. Our question this week is 'How do you deal with your kid in church when they are allowed certain things and other people are allowed different things?'. Becky shares some thoughts on parenting an adult child.

We kick off this week's episode by sharing stories of surfing the waves in summer. So many things are different over the summer - how can we make the most of those opportunities? Our question is about how to get creative with 'chat & catch' so that we're not just getting stuck in a rut of using this tool in the same way. We hear from Simon Parry, founder of Allstars Kids Club, about HOME. This album was written for kids and families dealing with grief and loss. We hear how it came about and the different ways it might help you or people you know.