Thank you for downloading the Focus on the Family Parenting Podcast. You can find more helpful advice at

Focus on the Family.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I don't know if you knew this or not but in the Gospels in the Bible Jesus

asked over 300 questions and it seemed that his chief concern wasn't

correcting people but helping them discover what was inside

their hearts. He really targeted the heart with probing questions and there's a lesson

there. I'm John Fuller along with Danny Werther who leads our parenting department here at Focus.

And Danny, as we apply that question asking idea to parenting, what's the value of asking our kids questions?

It's a fantastic value and I have to say Jesus was amazing and asking questions.

He's a master question.

He really, really was good at it.

Yeah, it really, questions create a less threatening environment,

especially when it's done without sarcasm,

but it's truly with the desire to know what's going on.

And kids can pick up on that and they'll react or respond to whatever your true intention

is.

So if you're bringing big emotions to the table and you're trying to

ask a question in a very threatening way to them, it's not going to go well.

But when we start to lecture, especially teenagers, what begins to happen is they tune

us out as parents because they already

know it, they've heard it before and they can almost even say it, but it hasn't gone into

their heart and that's where the questions help penetrate.

You ask, so what is it that you're needing?

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