Juggling childcare and a day job - how can Christian parents flourish?

According to the recent survey by Capital One, parents are deeply depressed, stressed and financially challenged because of having children. The main overarching theme of the article was to budget well and all the worries of parenting will disappear. But that is only a small part of managing a family successfully.

I don’t want to address each part of the article; you can read it for yourself here.. You might resonate with some parts of it. The pandemic opened the doors for homeworking, home schooling and juggling the job of parenting and paid work to the maximum. For many of us, our stress levels rose as we tried to cope with loss of freedom, loss of routine, loss of loved ones, loss of alone time, loss of choice, and so many other things. But over time, we adapted to the new way of being, and lots of us quite liked working from home. Not having to sit in the rush hour traffic, the ability to be able to work in our pajamas, pop a load of washing on or not pay for childcare appealed to many of us. The trouble is, we’ve learnt to adapt to loss and accepted it as part of life and haven’t recognised the true loss of freedom.

Jesus said, ‘the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come to give you life and have it to the full’ (John 10:10). But what does that have to do with you raising a family?

When God created Eve, He said it wasn’t good for man to be alone. Then He told Adam and Eve to procreate and fill the earth. God loves families and the joy, laughter, and mess that they bring. He knows that we are stronger when we are together. This is why the devil will always target relationships. If the enemy can get you on your own and make you start to believe lies that he whispers in your ear, you are much weaker and more vulnerable. So, the enemy is out to steal, kill and destroy your family.