Parenting Is a Team Sport: Who's on Your Team? | Parenting Is Hard Wk 5

Who is on your parenting team? Pastor Tony Miltenberger asked his own family what the hardest part of having him as a dad is, and they did not hold back: "You're gone a lot." "You're a lot." "You're a little bit of a bully." His response: all of it is true, and it doesn't make him a good parent or a bad parent. It makes him human. Parenting is hard because people are hard, and we were never meant to raise children alone. In Week 5 of Parenting Is Hard, Tony introduces the Teamwork Principle: great teams raise great teammates. Starting in Deuteronomy 6, he shows that God's instructions for raising kids were given to a whole community, not to isolated households. From there it gets practical and honest: why the more complicated your feelings are about your child, the more people you need on your team; the golf-course conversation where he told his son about generations of addiction in their family; why your marriage has to come before your kids; "covenant, calling, assignment"; what to do about the people on your team you didn't choose; the five-adults-per-child ratio; and the Emotional Intensity Scale, a simple tool for knowing when the problem is you and not your kid. Whether you're in the thick of the parenting years, launched your kids long ago, don't have kids yet, or are a student yourself, this message is for you. Somebody's kids need you on their team, and God wants to lead yours. Parenting is hard, and unfortunately, none of us gets it right all the time. But God has given us wisdom for the journey. Parenting Is Hard is for parents, grandparents, future parents, and anyone helping shape the next generation as we learn to build strong relationships, lead with purpose, and point the children in our lives toward their Heavenly Father. Message 5 in the series "Parenting Is Hard" Pastor Tony Miltenberger | Centerville Grace Church | Oct. 11, 2026