The MAVEN Parent Podcast

How should you respond when your child bites, hits, or refuses to apologize? Is your child really “good inside”? Popular parenting expert Dr. Becky Kennedy (and many other gentle parenting gurus) would say so. But while much of today’s parenting advice sounds compassionate and appealing, it doesn’t actually line up with reality. In this episode, Brett and Erin take a closer look at popular parenting expert Dr. Becky Kennedy’s advice on child behavior, human nature, and teaching kids to apologize. And more importantly, analyze if it aligns with what Scripture teaches about the human heart. Watch the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqnhSZCl0PM Does Gentle Parenting work? Here’s our free ebook: https://equip.maventruth.com/gentle-parenting-ebook San Antonio! You don’t want to miss out on the MAVEN Conference THIS WEEKEND: https://www.mavenconferences.com/sanantonio MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/

Why do so many kids who grow up in the church walk away from the faith? And is there anything Christian parents can actually do about it? There are no guarantees, but too often the church disciples kids’ hearts while neglecting their minds, leaving them unprepared for the challenges waiting for them after they leave home. In this episode, Brett and Erin share how a college philosophy professor nearly dismantled Brett’s faith and lay out a practical three-stage plan for discipling your kids’ minds, from toddlerhood all the way through high school. Resources mentioned in this episode: I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek: https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Have-Enough-Faith-Atheist/dp/1433580756 The New City Catechism: https://newcitycatechism.com/ Send your student on a MAVEN Open Enrollment Immersive Experience: https://maventruth.com/open-enrollment/ Join us at the 2026 MAVEN Conference in San Antonio on November 7: https://www.mavenconferences.com MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

What is the purpose of dating? Most Christian parents know what they don’t want for their kids when it comes to love, sex, and relationships, but struggle to explain what God does want and why. And with stories like the Cornell Seven case all over our kids’ social media feeds, the culture is more than happy to answer that question for them. In this episode, Brett and Erin build a biblical framework for dating from God’s original design in Genesis and share the practical boundaries they’ve used with their own kids to guide them toward healthy, God-honoring relationships. Listen to our series on helping your kids navigate dating: Helping Your Kids Navigate the Wonderful World of Dating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPXKcnVPsMM 5 Conversations You Should Have With Your Teens Before They Date: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dG4sfmLjpE What Boundaries Should Parents Set for Teens and Dating?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYohNhcIdzY MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/

People make truth claims all day long. This is true, that's a lie, that's false. Ask them to actually define the word and most of them have nothing. MAVEN recently hosted a C.S. Lewis Symposium in Southern California with Dr. Jerry Root — Lewis scholar, longtime Wheaton College professor, and a man with a deeply pastoral heart. In this session, Jerry makes the case that truth is simpler to define than we think and far more costly to abandon than we realize. There's a relativist, a blue cow on a piano, a sitcom romance that teaches logical fallacies better than any textbook, and an idea Jerry calls the biggest one Lewis ever had. Want to hear Jerry in person? He's speaking at the 2026 MAVEN Conference in San Antonio on November 7! Register here: https://www.mavenconferences.com MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

Imagine a field trip permission slip that listed the side effects: anxiety, suicidal ideation, obesity, shortened attention span. You'd never sign it. But that's the trip we've sent an entire generation of kids on, and the results are in. In this episode, Brett and Erin talk with Arlene Pellicane, author of The Great Tech Reset: Reclaiming Real Life for Christian Families. Arlene lays out what she calls the A-B-C-D harms of a screen-based childhood, starting with anxiety, and explains why the problem isn't only bad content. GET THE BOOK FREE: Summit Ministries is giving away copies of The Great Tech Reset while supplies last: https://techresetbook.com More from Arlene Pellicane: https://arlenepellicane.com/ Watch her free film, Screen Kids: In Their Own Words: https://www.happyhomeuniversity.com/film The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt: https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/book Download the MAVEN smartphone contract: https://equip.maventruth.com/sign-up Get the free Navigating a World of Screens course: https://equip.maventruth.com/navigating-a-world-of-screens MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

Is Islam a religion of peace? It's one of the most common claims in our culture, especially after a terrorist attack. But what do Islam's own sources actually say? In this episode, Brett and Erin continue their conversation with Alan Shlemon of Stand to Reason. Christians follow Jesus, and Muslims follow Muhammad, so Alan takes us to the three sources Muslims look to for how to live: the Quran, the hadith, and the sunnah (the life of Muhammad). He explains why he thinks the better question is "Is violent jihad a valid Islamic doctrine?" He also explains why most Muslims you'll meet are peaceful even though, in his view, the doctrine is legitimate. If you haven't yet, start with part one of our conversation with Alan: https://linktw.in/qtcxbm Resources mentioned in this episode: The Ambassador's Guide to Islam by Alan Shlemon: https://store.str.org/purchase/the-ambassadors-guide-to-islam More from Alan Shlemon at Stand to Reason: https://www.str.org/alan-shlemon Answering Jihad by Nabeel Qureshi: https://www.amazon.com/Answering-Jihad-Better-Way-Forward/dp/0310531381 Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi: https://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Allah-Finding-Jesus-Christianity/dp/0310092647 Still the Best Hope by Dennis Prager: https://www.amazon.com/Still-Best-Hope-American-Triumph/dp/0061985139 MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

Most Christians know a few things about Islam—the Quran, Allah, whatever they've picked up from the news—but not enough to put the pieces together. So when someone says "Muslims and Christians worship the same God," they're not sure how to answer. In this episode, Brett and Erin sit down with Alan Shlemon of Stand to Reason, a longtime friend and colleague, for a ground-level introduction to Islam. Alan walks through the three things that matter most in any conversation with a Muslim—who God is, who Jesus is, and how salvation works—and explains why the Islamic doctrine of tawhid makes the Trinity not just wrong but blasphemous, why the Quran actually says more about Jesus than about Muhammad, and how the five pillars fit into a system where your good deeds are weighed against your bad ones. Get Alan's booklet The Ambassador's Guide to Islam and more resources at Stand to Reason: https://www.str.org/ Register for the C.S. Lewis Symposium: https://www.mavenconferences.com/cslewissymposium MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

Abdu Murray grew up in a devout Shia Muslim home where faith wasn't one activity among many—it was identity, family, and daily life woven together. He was confident enough in it to spend years challenging Christians on their own beliefs, and winning. Then came a nine-year investigation into Islam and Christianity that led him to Christ, at real cost to the family and community that raised him. In this episode, Brett and Erin sit down with Abdu, president of Embrace the Truth and author of Fake ID, to hear that story from the beginning: the home that formed him, the objections he pressed against Christians, the evidence that eventually broke through, and what it cost him to walk away. They pull out what Christian parents can learn from it—why Muslim families are often better at forming identity than we are, the two questions our kids are least prepared to answer (Who is God? and Why trust the Bible?), why conversion asks far more of a person than we usually admit, and how to teach our kids about Islam in a way that treats Muslims as image-bearers rather than opponents. Listen to our first conversation with Abdu on AI and identity: https://linktw.in/rKcxDZ Learn more about Abdu's ministry Embrace the Truth here: https://embracethetruth.org/ Register for the C.S. Lewis Symposium: https://www.mavenconferences.com/cslewissymposium MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

AI is changing the world and developing faster than we can track. But what if the biggest danger isn't what AI can do, but what it reveals about what we believe about reality and what it means to be human? In this episode, Brett and Erin sit down with Abdu Murray, president of Embrace Truth and author of Fake ID, to unpack the convergence of artificial intelligence and identity ideology, why he argues that both are accelerating a reality collapse in our culture, and what this means for Christian parents who are trying to disciple the next generation. Purchase Abdu's book here: https://embracethetruth.org/fake-id/ Get the parent reader guide for Abdu's book here: https://embracethetruth.org/fake-id-resources-sign-up-form/ Learn more about Abdu's ministry Embrace the Truth here: https://embracethetruth.org/ Register for the C.S. Lewis Symposium: https://www.mavenconferences.com/cslewissymposium MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/ 

What do you actually do when your kids don’t listen? We talk a lot on this podcast about setting boundaries, holding kids accountable, and discipline but what do those strategies actually look like in the nitty gritty of real life with real kids? What do you do when your child ignores you, hits a sibling, speaks disrespectfully, or refuses to do their chores? In this episode, Brett and Erin get incredibly practical by walking you through real-life discipline scenarios and explaining how Christian parents can move from biblical principles to concrete action. Learn more about why Gentle Parenting isn't an effective way to parent: https://equip.maventruth.com/gentle-parenting-ebook Register for the C.S. Lewis Symposium: https://www.mavenconferences.com/cslewissymposium MAVEN...is donor-supported...DONATE HERE: https://maventruth.com/donation/