Adelle M., a valiant single mom in our group, recently shared these thoughts with me about walking past a day care center:

"We, too, live next door to a daycare center and on our morning walks we often see the parents rushing to drop their kids off (sometimes, seemingly pushing them out of the car) many don't even notice we are there but I always pray for them, that they will see us walking and enjoying God's creation and each other and feel the tug in their heart to keep their kids with them. The fence is a chain link type and I see the little ones standing there, holding on to the fence and watching their mommies and daddies drive away, it reminds me of dogs in a cage at the pound, a horrible vision but that's what I think of. The kids definitely do see us walking by and sometimes when we are singing or laughing together I will look up and see not longing in their eyes but rather curiosity, which is just as sad, it seems that they just can't process what we are doing, why we are out in the world.... together. So sad, the children and I always pray for them."

Thanks, Adelle, for that powerful image. When I lived in Irvine, I would stroller past three different preschools on my morning walks with my children. I saw the very same thing Adelle witnesses. It would bring back memories of my own experience of having a working mother and being still sleepy and rushed into the car in the cold morning, driven to the place, and then feeling suddenly alone in the midst of much chaos. Although the world touts preschool as better than being home, I hope you will think again if you have a child in there or if you are contemplating putting one in.

Except in cases where a home is dangerous, I strongly believe God wants the children with the parents Yet I realize some reading this long to be home with their child, but are forced by an extreme situation to separate from them. But if you can stay home, making cookies, making play dough, making happy memories with you is what a child considers most precious (and if you are worried about the socialization thing, why not get involved in some Considering Homeschooling activities that put you in contact with other like-minded parents and their children?) There is nothing a preschool provides that a loving, Christian parent can’t provide... and way better.

Introduce families to life-changing books, like "Created to Be His Help Meet" by Debi Pearl:

Somewhere over the passing years and changing culture, women have lost their way. This book is written to lead them back home. Regardless of how you began your marriage or how dark and lonely the path that has brought you to where you are now, I want you to know that it is possible today to have a marriage so good and so fulfilling that it can only be explained as a miracle.

It took four years, thousands of hours, many tears, revisions and distractions, but I finally finished my book. I had no idea God had so much to say to us ladies until I began going through God's Word verse by verse, writing the different sections of Created to be His Help Meet. Many times as I read a passage, I would say to my husband, "I'm not going to include those verses in my book because if I do the ladies (of any religious group you can think of including my own) will not like my book or promote it." My dear husband would say to me, "If God thought it was important enough to inspire it as part of his Word to us, then you should include it." And so I would cringe and add one more controversial subject after another.

So in obedience with Titus 2, where God commands the aged women to teach the younger women, I have obeyed and given you the very best I can do -- 27 chapters, 304 pages, including letters from my readers, recounting couseling sessions, wisdom gleaned from my daughters, my own very personal stories, and, of course, the Word of God. It includes subjects as varied as planning meals to answering extremely intimate questions.