Brave Parenting

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 189: Can God Be Gamified? Jul 08, 2025

Show notes

Today, Kelly is joined by Nathan, a Brave Parenting ambassador, parent, and internet security expert, to discuss the video gaming app TruPlay. This app offers Christian video games that the company promotes will nurture your child’s faith and teach them biblical wisdom. Those are strong claims, so we spent weeks researching every aspect of the app, playing the games, and watching the videos. Kelly and Nathan unpack the great and the not-so-great aspects of TruPlay so that parents can wisely decide if this game is better than no game at all.

Be sure to check out the Brave Parenting Guide to TruPlay Christian Games on our website. The guide offers a more comprehensive overview of the app, complete with screenshots and images, to help parents make an informed decision.

TruPlay website

Brave Parenting Guide to TruPlay

Scripture referenced:

Matthew 5:44
Luke 6:28
Romans 12:17
Ephesians 6:4

Book a Speaking Event!!

Buy the NEWLY UPDATED book: Managing Media Creating Character (2024 Revised & Updated)

Get Kelly’s new Study Guide & Workbook, with video teachings for small groups.

Teach your kids how to have a biblical worldview with Foundation Worldview!
Use PROMO CODE: BRAVE to save $10 on any curriculum purchase.

Check out the Pinwheel phone – it’s our favorite not-as-smart kid-safe smartphone on the market.

Sign up for the Brave Bullet Points newsletter! This helps us communicate what’s new without social media – a win for everyone!

Are Dumb Phones the New Thing? Jul 01, 2025

Show notes

In this cultural update for Christian parents, Kelly examines the trend of Gen Z opting for dumb phones and embracing Blackberry phones. News outlets are reporting this but are teens and young adults actually getting tired of their iPhones and boldly embracing dumb phones? This sounds amazing….and totally too good to be true.

Articles referenced:

Gen Z is swapping their smartphones for this retro alternative: ‘Need a social media detox’
Who Wants a Blackberry? Apparently, Gen Z.

Scripture referenced:

Proverbs 14:12
Matthew 11:28

DO YOU LOVE Kelly’s T-shirt? It’s AVAILABLE NOW on our website!

WATCH the Brave Briefing on YouTube

Get the newly published Managing Media Creating Character STUDY GUIDE & WORKBOOK!

Ep. 188: Instagram is Not Worth Twenty Years of My Life Jun 26, 2025

Show notes

Today, we continue in our series of testimonies from those who have boldly decided to quit social media. Joining Kelly on the podcast is Lucy Staples. Lucy’s story is representative of many teens we have spoken to, whose parents restricted their social media use throughout most of high school. When Lucy was finally able to get Instagram and TikTok, she experienced what only wisdom and maturity can provide: doubt that it was good for her and regret for the time she’d already lost inside the apps.

Parents do not want to miss this conversation. It will motivate you to hold strong despite the pushback! No parent ever wished they had given their teen access to social media earlier in life, but many regret allowing too much, too soon.

Book a Speaking Event!!

Buy the NEWLY UPDATED book: Managing Media Creating Character (2024 Revised & Updated)

Get Kelly’s new Study Guide & Workbook, with video teachings for small groups.

Teach your kids how to have a biblical worldview with Foundation Worldview!
Use PROMO CODE: BRAVE to save $10 on any curriculum purchase.

Check out the Pinwheel phone – it’s our favorite not-as-smart kid-safe smartphone on the market.

Sign up for the Brave Bullet Points newsletter! This helps us communicate what’s new without social media – a win for everyone!

Ep. 187: Radical Freedom from Instagram Jun 18, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, Kelly talks with Pearson Segina, a 23-year-old student pastor who felt the conviction by God to not just stay off Instagram, but to delete his account altogether. The faith and obedience of this young man will so inspire parents!

Also in this episode:

Is it possible to use social media to the glory of God?
Youth Pastors on social media
The importance of physical Bibles in the church

Watch Pearson’s original sermon on “Radical Freedom.”

Book a Speaking Event!!

Buy the NEWLY UPDATED book: Managing Media Creating Character (2024 Revised & Updated)

Get Kelly’s new Study Guide & Workbook, with video teachings for small groups.

Teach your kids how to have a biblical worldview with Foundation Worldview!
Use PROMO CODE: BRAVE to save $10 on any curriculum purchase.

Check out the Pinwheel phone – it’s our favorite not-as-smart kid-safe smartphone on the market.

Sign up for the Brave Bullet Points newsletter! This helps us communicate what’s new without social media – a win for everyone!

Ep. 186: What’s it Like to Quit Social Media? Jun 11, 2025

Show notes

Today, Kelly and Chelsea speak with Reagan Rose from Redeeming Productivity about what he has learned and, more importantly, what he has gained from quitting social media. As someone who leads an online ministry, it seems counterintuitive for him to quit. Still, his reflections after one year reveal the beauty of what is possible for anyone who commits to leaving the social media sites for good.

Check out Reagan’s original YouTube video reflecting on quitting social media and his theology of leisure.

Redeeming Productivity

Book a Speaking Event!!

Buy the NEWLY UPDATED book: Managing Media Creating Character (2024 Revised & Updated)

Get Kelly’s new Study Guide & Workbook, with video teachings for small groups.

Teach your kids how to have a biblical worldview with Foundation Worldview!
Use PROMO CODE: BRAVE to save $10 on any curriculum purchase.

Check out the Pinwheel phone – it’s our favorite not-as-smart kid-safe smartphone on the market.

Sign up for the Brave Bullet Points newsletter! This helps us communicate what’s new without social media – a win for everyone!

Ep. 185: Seventy-Five Percent of Parents of Little Kids Do Nothing to Limit Screen Time Jun 04, 2025

Show notes

Today’s episode continues the review of Common Sense Media’s 2025 Consensus: Media Use by Kids 0-8. This week, we are reviewing the parents’ concerns regarding media use. Kelly unpacks the reasons given for allowing screen time at these young ages and how the concerns parents reported in the survey do not seem to match the allowances given.

This episode is so important as it highlights the deception so many parents of young kids are under. Parents of Gen Z must come alongside these younger parents and graciously warn them of the consequences of living a content-driven life.

Articles referenced:

Common Sense Media 2025 Consensus: Media Use by Kids 0 to 8

Book referenced:

Shepherding Your Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp

Scripture referenced:

Deuteronomy 6:7
Proverbs 29:25
1 Corinthians 6:20

Book a Speaking Event!!

Buy the NEWLY UPDATED book: Managing Media Creating Character (2024 Revised & Updated)

Get Kelly’s new Study Guide & Workbook, with video teachings for small groups.

Teach your kids how to have a biblical worldview with Foundation Worldview!
Use PROMO CODE: BRAVE to save $10 on any curriculum purchase.

Check out the Pinwheel phone – it’s our favorite not-as-smart kid-safe smartphone on the market.

Sign up for the Brave Bullet Points newsletter! This helps us communicate what’s new without social media – a win for everyone!

Ep. 184: Society’s Youngest Consume Nearly 2.5 Hours of Media per Day May 28, 2025

Show notes

Today, we review Common Sense Media’s 2025 Consensus Report on Kids’ Media Use in ages 0-8 where they reveal that society’s youngest are consuming 2.5 hours of media every day. We talked about this briefly in Tablets Are Taking Over Toddlerhood, but in this podcast, Kelly reviews several of the report’s key findings and examines them through the lens of scripture and parental discipleship.

Articles referenced:

Common Sense Media 2025 Consensus: Media Use by Kids 0 to 8

Scripture referenced:

Matthew 11:28
Proverbs 22:6

Book a Speaking Event!!

Buy the NEWLY UPDATED book: Managing Media Creating Character (2024 Revised & Updated)

Get Kelly’s new Study Guide & Workbook, with video teachings for small groups.

Teach your kids how to have a biblical worldview with Foundation Worldview!
Use PROMO CODE: BRAVE to save $10 on any curriculum purchase.

Check out the Pinwheel phone – it’s our favorite not-as-smart kid-safe smartphone on the market.

Sign up for the Brave Bullet Points newsletter! This helps us communicate what’s new without social media – a win for everyone!

Do Kids Need Their Own Phone to Stay Connected to Friends? May 15, 2025

Show notes

In this Brave Briefing, Kelly addresses the ever-present plea of kids to have their own phone to connect with friends. Is the only real option to give them a smartphone? We do not believe so and therefore present the simple and powerful alternative: The Home Smartphone.

Resources referenced:

Pinwheel Kid-Safe Phones
Corded handset for Smartphone

Articles referenced:

How Parenting and Self-Control Mediates the Link between Social Media and Youth Mental Health
Common Sense Media Consensus: Media Use in Tweens & Teens

WATCH the Brave Briefing on YouTube

Get the newly published Managing Media Creating Character STUDY GUIDE & WORKBOOK!

GET the Revised & Updated book Managing Media Creating Character

Are We Loving Our Neighbors or Ourselves? Apr 28, 2025

Show notes

In this Brave Briefing, Kelly asks whether we are loving our neighbor or ourselves in response to an article published by The Telegraph in the UK lamenting how smartphones have caused us to lose all sense of common decency. The reference is to selfies taken with Pope Francis’ open casket at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Not only does the article’s author have a valid point, but Scripture also speaks clearly to the respect due to others and the command to love our neighbors.

Articles referenced:

Smartphones are Destroying Our Common Sense of Decency
Why the Phone-Free Atmosphere of the Masters Still Matters

Scripture referenced:

2 Timothy 3:1-4
Matthew 22:39
Philippians 2:3

WATCH the Brave Briefing on YouTube

Get the newly published Managing Media Creating Character STUDY GUIDE & WORKBOOK!

GET the Revised & Updated book Managing Media Creating Character

Ep. 183: Biblical Takeaways from Netflix’s Adolescence Apr 23, 2025

Show notes

The popular Netflix series Adolescence can easily bring about fear for the future of today’s children because of the content of the internet. The show is generating a lot of conversation about misogyny and the “manosphere,” but few are evaluating it biblically. In this episode, Kelly and Brave Parenting Ambassador Mandy consider and discuss what Scripture offers in understanding the themes of Adolescence:

The parents’ role in training and discipling children
How modern public education is equally shaping adolescents
The many dangerous ideologies perpetuated on social media that shape worldview
How human’s sinful nature could lead any adolescent down this dark path

Learn how you can be a Brave Parenting Ambassador like Mandy here!

Articles referenced:

Do Parents Actually Want Kids Watching Adolescence in School?
American Worldview Inventory 2024: Millions of Americans Embrace Common Unbiblical Perspectives

Scripture referenced:

Romans 5:12
Exodus 20
Genesis 4:6-8
Proverbs 29:25
Proverbs 4:23
Ephesians 2:10
Deuteronomy 6:7
Ephesians 6:4
Jeremiah 17:9
Romans 3:23
Romans 3:10
Genesis 3
Romans 12:2
1 Peter 5:8
Proverbs 22:15
2 Timothy 1:7
Hebrews 12:11
2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Book a Speaking Event!!

Buy the NEWLY UPDATED book: Managing Media Creating Character (2024 Revised & Updated)

Get Kelly’s new Study Guide & Workbook, with video teachings for small groups.

Teach your kids how to have a biblical worldview with Foundation Worldview!
Use PROMO CODE: BRAVE to save $10 on any curriculum purchase.

Check out the Pinwheel phone – it’s our favorite not-as-smart kid-safe smartphone on the market.

Sign up for the Brave Bullet Points newsletter! This helps us communicate what’s new without social media – a win for everyone!

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