Raising Brave Kids in a Fear-Filled World
Have you ever watched your child walk through a challenge you desperately wished you could take away?
A friendship that hurt. A struggle at school. A heartbreak that left them reeling.
Moments like these stir something deep in us. They reveal a sacred tension at the heart of motherhood—the space between protecting and preparing. It’s natural to want to shield our children from pain. But deep down, we know our greater calling: to prepare them for a world we won’t always be able to navigate for them.
I've been sitting with this since our Raising Brave gathering last weekend. So many of us shared the same fears:
What if I can’t protect them?
What if they make choices that hurt them?
What if the world is just… too much for their hearts?
But here’s what God keeps whispering to me: Brave mothers don’t just raise safe children. They raise brave ones.
And brave children? They’re not shaped by perfect protection. They’re formed through loving guidance—through experiences that teach them how to trust God for themselves.
Think about it…
Every milestone in your child’s life has required some form of letting go:
Their first steps, when you stop holding their hands
Their first day of school, when you entrust them to someone else
Their first heartbreak, when you can comfort—but not fix
Each moment is both an ending and a beginning. The end of one kind of protection, and the start of a deeper kind of love— the kind that equips rather than shields.
This doesn’t mean we stop protecting. It means we start channeling that instinct differently.
We don’t build walls to keep them from difficulty. We build foundations to help them stand strong through it.
We:
Teach them to take their fears to God, not just tell them “there’s nothing to fear”
Help them process rejection, not just avoid it
Show them how to seek God’s wisdom, not just give them answers
Brave motherhood isn’t fearlessness. It’s faithful presence.
It’s staying emotionally available while letting God grow our children in ways we can’t always control.
It’s trusting that the Holy Spirit is a far better guide than we could ever be.
Where might God be inviting you to shift—from protection to preparation? Where does your child need just enough space to take a step forward in their own faith journey?
It’s not easy. But it may be one of the most powerful ways you ever love them—into their strength, into their purpose, into the person God created them to be.