Parenting Uncovered Sneak Peak + Listen For A Chance To Win!
1 Nov 2023 · 2 min
Dave and Ashley Willis launch Parenting Uncovered, a podcast about what actually works in parenting and what doesn't. Ashley shares how their attempt at morning quiet time flopped, but their son Connor later turned it into an evening gratitude practice on his own.
Hey, friends, Dave and Ashley here. We are so excited about our brand new parenting uncovered podcast. Every week we break down parenting's big questions and uncover the secrets to raising great kids. Check out this clip from our very first episode.
And I think too I said I would point out things that backfired, okay? Because we've talked about all these good things, but it has not always been smooth sailing.
Like, yeah, we don't want to paint that picture, guys. We've made so many dumb choices and a lot of stuff that we thought was smart that just wasn't right or.
Didn'T work for our family.
Didn't work for our family. That's right.
Yes. And one in particular. I remember this was probably like seven years ago or something. And I really was like, you know what? I want to teach our kids how to have quiet time. Okay. And I think I had talked to another friend of mine and how they did it in their family. And I was just really like, well, we've got to do this. So I went to Amazon. I ordered each of our boys their own age appropriate devotional. Do you remember this? And then I think I had like a journal. If they wanted to journal, they could journal. And I had little journals for em. And then in the morning before school, I got them up like 10 minutes earlier than usual. And then I would, you know, they get down, they get ready for school. And then I'm like, okay, now it's quiet time. And I would do it alongside them and you would too. But it just turned out to be a very frustrating time because this is what I did not think about is that in our family we have one morning person and Dave, you would think it was Dave.
It's not.
It's actually our second son, Connor. He's the one morning person in the family. I'd say Chatham is a close second. He's our youngest. But really the rest of us are not really necessarily mourning people.
The mornings, we're not even Christian until about him.
We're not firing at all cylinders. We're not exactly, you know, like, we're just not in that mode. It's just not right, you know. And you know how most there's a lot going on. You're trying to get breakfast in, you're trying to get dressed, you're trying to remember if you signed the papers or if you have the homework and all that stuff. And I felt so defeated. I remember after about a week of it, I was like, our family just can't do this. You know, like, why can't we get quiet time. And I just. I really prayed about it, and I felt like God really kind of through my prayers, you know, was really telling me, like, listen, it's not that your family can't do quiet time. It's that you feel like it has to look a certain way.
That's right, Exactly.
And so we talked about it at our dinners. Cause our dinner time worked for us, having those conversations. And we just encouraged each of the boys to have that quiet time. And this is something that is also reinforced in their classes at church and in their small groups and things like that. But what's so cool about it is that boys adapted to their own way of doing it. And, like, one son in particular really took it in stride. Our son Connor, who's now 16, he asked us for a journal. Didn't tell us at first what he wanted to do with it. And it turned out that he said, you know, he said, when I'm praying, it's at night. And he said, but I wanted to take it to another level. And I wanted to do a gratitude journal. And I was cleaning his room one day, and it knocked over, and it went to that first page. And all it was is, Connor wrote out, I am thankful for whatever. You know, he just went through this long list of friends of. I mean, the most random little thing, and just focusing on what God is doing in his life. And I didn't flip. Don't worry. I know it's his journal. But, you know, it flipped open, and I was. But I was so. My heart just. It just swelled with just. I was just so proud that he took that upon himself. And I think sometimes as parents, we underestimate, you know, how God is working in their life, and he is answering our prayers in that way. But it maybe looks different than what we expected. And I think that we underestimate, you know, we underestimate what God is doing and also what they've seen modeled not only from us, but from others in their life, from other leaders that God's brought into their life. And so. Yeah.
So good. Well, guys, that brings us to my favorite part of every episode. We're going to end every single episode the same way. It'll be a fun fact from Ashley and a dad joke from Dave.
Hey, friends, we hope you like this preview. Go listen to our new parenting podcast, Parenting Uncovered, and enter to win two free VIP tickets to the conference in February and a special meet and greet with us. All you have to do is go and listen to episode one, review the podcast, and then click on the giveaway link in the description of that episode and fill out the form for your chance to win two VIP seats at the 2024 EXO Conference on Valentine's Day weekend and a meet and greet with us. So go right now and listen to episode one of Parenting Uncovered. Give us a five star review and click on the giveaway link in the description. Hurry. Thank you. The giveaway ends November 10th at midnight. We hope that you get to be part of this.