27 - Cultivating a Mentally Healthy Home (with Dr. Danny Huerta)
April 10, 2022
Today's guest is Dr. Danny Huerta, Vice President of Parenting & Youth at Focus on the Family. Focus on the Family is an amazing, faithful ministry that has been serving families for decades and Dr. Huerta has so much wisdom to share with us today on how to cultivate a mentally healthy home. Dr. Huerta emphasizes that we as parents have the primary influence in our children's lives and what a wonderful invitation that is. You will be blessed to learn from Dr. Huerta!
Today's guest is Dr. Danny Huerta, Vice President of Parenting & Youth at Focus on the Family. Focus on the Family is an amazing, faithful ministry that has been serving families for decades and Dr. Huerta has so much wisdom to share with us today on how to cultivate a mentally healthy home. Dr. Huerta emphasizes that we as parents have the primary influence in our children's lives and what a wonderful invitation that is.
Programs that Dr. Huerta leads at Focus on the Family include:
Programs that Dr. Huerta leads at Focus on the Family include:
- Clubhouse & Club Junior Teams
- Plugged In
- Clubhouse Magazine
- Raising Highly Capable Kids (outreach program for impoverished communities coming alongside single parents)
- Alive to Thrive (suicide prevention train-the-trainer resource)
Topics we cover include:
- The most foundational relationship that kids have is their parents
- There's a lot coming at families and right now there's a true war for our children's minds & souls
- Parents need to be in the game and see our job as an invitation to speak truth into our children's minds
- Problems he hears from families: sexuality, gender confusion, panic disorder, stress disorders, depression, use of marijuana and alcohol, suicide & suicidal thoughts, phones, social media
- A crisis of influence: the gap between the average amount of time we spend in intentional conversation
- Mentally healthy homes are balanced, are serving one-another, include lifegiving reproofs, have no fear of conflict, have structure, attunement, boundaries & limits are seen as loving
- Statistics on mental health issues for young people, including the dangers of Instagram & TikTok and bigorexia
- Calling a timeout to provide counter-momentum within our homes
- The idea of soul care and how God wants to reach our souls; examining our souls and being self-reflective to be ready each day for what God wants to do in our lives; starting the day off with a humble heart.
- We tend to focus on behaviors, but there can be a lot of illusions with behavior.
- Five areas of health for a mentally healthy home: emotional, thoughts, physical, relational, and spiritual
- Being calm with our kids in order to create an environment conducive finding out what's in our kids' hearts & minds
- Influences in young people's lives: the addiction of video games, the worldview of media
- We have a worldview crisis in our culture
- Dr. Huerta's contract for his own kids' phones
- Walking through mental illness - getting counseling and letting them know they're not alone
- As parents, we are the most influential people in our children's lives
Resources
- Raising Highly Capable Kids
- focusonthefamily.com/parenting
- 7 Traits of Effective Parenting Assessment
- Seven Traits of Effective Parenting
- BringYourBible.org (monthly Live It challenges)
- Captain Absolutely (regarding worldviews)
- Free Counseling Line: 1-800-A-FAMILY
Music:
- Intro: Life of a Traveler, by Black Rhomb (License #3565685)
- Outtro: Avocado Street, by Wes Hutchinson (Courtesy of YouTube Music)
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