Parent Forward
Parent Forward: Where Parenting Meets Spiritual Formation
with Julie Ann Luse
Parenting is more than managing behavior — it’s sacred, formative work.
Parent Forward invites you to see raising kids through a new lens: as a holy journey of becoming, both for your children and for you. Join longtime ministry leader, mother of three, and spiritual formation guide Julie Ann Luse as she explores the everyday moments of parenting through the lens of faith, neuroscience, and soul-deep connection.
Through personal stories, research-backed insights, and biblical wisdom, Julie Ann helps parents move beyond quick fixes and behavior charts to embrace the slow, beautiful work of forming souls — including their own. Every episode offers gentle encouragement, honest reflections, and practical steps to help you cultivate a spiritually nurturing home where love, grace, and presence shape the next generation.
If you’re longing for deeper connection, tired of parenting tips that miss the heart, and hungry to weave your faith naturally into daily family life — Parent Forward is for you.
It’s not about perfection.
It’s not about performance.
It’s about becoming — one faithful step at a time.
Subscribe and begin moving forward today.
Parent Forward
Episode 7: SACRED PLAY SERIES pt2 | The Playful Parent - Why kids need you to be silly again
SHOW NOTES: https://parentforward.com/sacredplayseries-theplayfulparent/
What happens when a parent chooses to be ridiculous on purpose? Something sacred emerges in those unguarded moments of laughter and play.
Through a story about a tension-filled dinner transformed by an impromptu Sound of Music performance, we discover how play creates connection beyond what words could achieve. That moment of shared silliness didn't just lighten the mood—it created a sanctuary where everyone belonged, where even a resistant three-year-old found her way back to joy.
We've been taught that adulthood means productivity and emotional efficiency. Play gets labeled as childish or optional, something we outgrow when "real life" begins. But researchers like Dr. Stuart Brown and Dr. Karen Purvis have discovered something profound: play isn't decorative—it's developmental. "The opposite of play isn't work," Brown notes after decades of study, "it's depression." When play fades, confusion and emotional disconnection take its place.
Even Jesus modeled this playful approach to transformation. His stories about camels squeezing through needle eyes and people with logs protruding from their eyes weren't dry theological points—they were vivid, sometimes absurd windows into the kingdom. What if Jesus told them with the joy of a campfire storyteller, using humor not to entertain but to invite?
This week's spiritual practice is beautifully simple: be silly. Use a funny voice. Make up a secret handshake. Narrate bedtime like a nature documentary. For some of us, this feels harder than it sounds, especially if we were raised where play wasn't safe. But when we meet our children in the absurd, we're communicating something profound: this space is safe, you are free here, joy doesn't need to be earned.
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