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Read MoreAre your parenting batteries depleted?
Could you use some encouragement and inspiration to help you on the parenting journey? Would you like some tips and ideas for ways to have fun and to make memories with your child? Then you’re at the right place and we’re glad you’ve joined us! Eighteen years sounds like a long time—but you really have just 18 summers . . . and we want to help you make the most of them.
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Read MoreSo how did the Just 18 Summers® brand come about?
My pastor, Rev. Ralph Sexton, dedicated a baby at church one Sunday. As the parents walked off the platform, he said, “Don’t forget, you have just 18 summers. Take time to make some memories.” Whew, the poignancy of that slammed into me and I knew at that moment that God wanted me to do something with that thought.
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Read MoreWe want Just 18 Summers® to be about YOU.
We’d love to hear from you with your thoughts, ideas, and ways we can help you on the parenting journey.
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Read MorePlease help us spread the word about Just 18 Summers®!
Post about us on Facebook and Twitter. Tell your friends and family. Tell your pastors, family ministry leaders, and organizations about Just 18 Summers. Let’s encourage and strengthen families across our nation and the world!
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Most Recent Articles
It’s Not Easy Being Big
The life of a giant is no piece of cake. I recently listened to a book about the making of the classic movie, The Princess Bride, which featured a humongous actor known as André the Giant. André was a gentle giant, according to the book’s writer, Cary Elwes, who played a lead role in the movie. André stood 7 feet, 4 inches tall, and weighed 520 pounds. But all of that bulk left him with an aching back. Imagine how your body would feel if you carried an extra 300 pounds around with you every day. It was difficult for Andre to fit into many vehicles, and they couldn’t find a horse that could carry him in the movie. Everywhere he went, people stared. When children saw him, they would either run toward him in delight or flee in terror, screaming. But André took it all in good stride until he died in 1993 at age 46. (Giants also often live shorter lives.) The tallest man in recorded history was Robert Pershing Wadlow from Alton, Illinois, who soared to the height of 8 feet, 11.1 inches. He weighed 490 pounds, but in photos he looks quite thin because the weight was spread across an enormous frame. He died especially young—at age 22 due to...
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The Positivity of Just 18 Summers
Recently I saw a re-posted rant on Facebook. It complained “Stop telling me I only have eighteen summers.” In it, the author wrote that the slogan judged her and she outlined many negatives the phrase incited in her. She told that she was constantly stressed doing the math and traumatized about how much she may have missed. The writer pointed out the pain the comment would have if someone’s child died before eighteen years. She mentioned parents who might have a problem child or screaming youth they don’t even recognize. In summation she nit-picked that folks were telling her she was a bad mother if she didn’t enjoy every single minute of those eighteen summers. I was saddened by her discouraged state. Not just because I am privileged to be a columnist for the Just 18 Summers on-line parenting magazine, but because the concept is a positive statement for me and real motivator for my fathering. I don’t take the “you have just eighteen summers” as a negative. As a father, I recall the numerous articles I have read and speakers I have heard who reminded me the most pivotal moments that shape our lives occur in the first eighteen years. Many specialists claim it happens in the first five years. Some even claim...
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Loving Others at Lunch Time
Lunch time in the school cafeteria can be both a positive and negative experience for children. On the one hand, it is lunch, and food often makes us happy, but it’s also social time with friends. It’s exciting to see our buddies after a long morning of learning, but what happens when our children don’t have friends, or when the other children make them sit alone because they’re just not cool enough. Let’s face it, lunch time can be...
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Banana Stickers and Big Questions
Charity bounced into the kitchen. Two braids swung behind her. Her black Italian school uniform covered mismatched pants and shirt. The hidden kaleidoscope of colors was her way of nose-thumbing against the system’s imposed social equality. It was hard to stand out in a standardized sea of black robed children. But not our child. Oh no, Charity was the only one that sported a Chiquita banana sticker stuck on her forehead. “I’m starting a new fad,” she told me....
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Praying for Our Children’s Attitude Toward Change
I love autumn. With the crisp weather and beautiful fall leaves, this is my favorite time of the year. It’s also a season that God used to teach me a valuable lesson. I’m a card-carrying control freak, and while it’s something I’m trying to move away from, that change is coming slowly. I’ve always viewed change—particularly when I wasn’t in control—as a negative thing. Any changes in my life were met with a poor attitude and that coping mechanism...
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A Hunger for More
The girls were restless. After multiple rainy days and a few hours of watching videos, they were physically and mentally lethargic. Ideas for non-screen activity were met with a groan and the whine of boredom. I had to admit that most of the fault lay at my feet. Busy with various projects, I needed time to myself and the DVD player had come to the rescue. Now I was paying the price. Before my tired-mama eyes, my girls had...
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What is in the Mirror?
“Can we make a video of us?” Two-year-old Baylor came into my office and walked up to my office chair. “Sure. What do you want to talk about?” I pulled her up in my lap. “Just talk,” she said. We turned on the camera and started talking. For a minute we exchanged pleasantries, made funny faces, and conversed about various things. Time came to view our work. I pushed play and Baylor watched intently. She laughed at every antic....
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