UFI Blog

April 1, 2015

“Sexual rights” trump even a child’s right to life and society doesn’t seem to mind. By Diane Robertson A couple of weeks ago in Colorado, Michelle Wilkins answered a Craigslist ad for baby clothes. Once she arrived at the seller’s home, Dynel Lane, attacked her, cut her...

March 31, 2015

Nathalie Bowman I glanced at my mail and read the headline of a local advertising magazine: “7 Reasons why high quality preschool matters for your child.” Among the 7 things were “Get Ahead”, “Success”, and “Test Scores”. Why would I be worried about my 3 year old “getting ahead”?...

March 30, 2015

Caitlin Woolbert Families are becoming busier and busier in their schedules and are involved in more activities outside of the home. Researchers have studied children of all ages and looked at whether age influences the amount of time a child is willing to spend participating in...

March 27, 2015

You're being manipulated and you may not even recognize it. Erika Walker I don’t watch much television, truth be told, we don’t even own a television anymore, but my husband and I used to enjoy sitting down and watching a show together in the evenings. On one...

March 26, 2015

Erika Walker As the saying goes, “you never know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone”. This is especially true of freedoms. It isn’t until a right is threatened or taken away altogether that you truly appreciate its significance. For instance, the American flag. Most of us...

March 25, 2015

Chuck Malone Time is Limited! As co-parents of 5 active children, my wife and I determined early on that we would only have a limited time to create lasting and hopefully character building experiences as a family. We watched older children of other family’s, age and leave...

March 24, 2015

What happened at the UN last week? The annual UN Commission on the Status of women is winding to a close and we wish you’d been there with us to experience some of the high moments and some outrageous and unnerving, yet revealing moments.   Close to...

March 24, 2015

Elise Ellsworth In recent years it seems that the news media has all but succeeded in making pornography appear harmless. An article published early in 2014 claimed that there is “no such thing as porn addiction” and that there were positive benefits to children and adults...

March 23, 2015

Kristen Jan Cannon An important parenting lesson that many parents often fail to learn is helping children understand the major difference between shame and guilt. Unfortunately, adults often don’t understand this concept themselves, and mixing these two very different emotions up can be detrimental to one’s...

March 20, 2015

Gary Boyd Seth Freed Wessler, writing for nbcnews.com, charges the economy with the low percentages of married young people and the rapidly diminishing institution of the American middle-class family. As industrial and professional jobs for men that paid a living wage 50 years ago have dried...

March 19, 2015

Erika Walker I recently became reminded of a television show that I watched occasionally in high school. The program centered around a close-knit mother-daughter duo who reside in a small town. Throughout the show, the closeness of their relationship is attributed to the fact that the...

March 18, 2015

Diane Robertson Sometimes I think our world has turned upside down. We neither respect life nor the means by which life is created. In some instances, we have changed the words murder and killing to softer words like abortion, euthanasia, mercy killing, and death with dignity. Since...

March 17, 2015

Nathalie Bowman The concerns: “Leave me Alone!” your 7 year old shouts at you as he runs to his bedroom and slams the door, angry that you’re not giving him what he wants even though he knows he has to do his chores first. You turn around and...

March 15, 2015

Kelsi Shipley Recently I had a conversation with an adorable five-year-old boy. At one point he confided in me that he thinks his mom is a negative person. Knowing this boy's mother, I was surprised by the accusation, and assured him she wasn’t. We talked...

March 13, 2015

Gary Boyd Proponents of same-sex marriage have won ground over their opposition during the last two decades. In a rather scary, yet perfectly logical article, Joseph Farah gives us an idea of what may be coming next. This past Valentine’s Day, Thailand saw a three-way same-sex marriage...

March 12, 2015

Erika Walker A person’s conscience is often referred to as their moral compass. In a song from the animated Disney classic Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket instructs Pinocchio to “always let [his] conscience be [his] guide”. Initially this seems like a safe way to keep ourselves from straying...

March 11, 2015

Mekelle Tenney Freedom can only be maintained within a society that also maintains morality. When Alexis De Tocqueville visited America and analyzed her political system he posed the question, “How could society fail to perish if, while the political bond is relaxed, the moral bond were...

March 10, 2015

Tashica Jacobson My Nutrition and Foods teacher, in high school, was a fun talkative lady. She cared about each of her students and had unique way of getting us to look at the world. One day she told us that both of her parents were only...

March 9, 2015

Kristina Eberle “Death with dignity” has become a topic of controversy within the last year, gaining attention from the media and now—state lawmakers. Last year, Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old from San Francisco, California became the face of the “right-to-die” movement, when she moved to Oregon after...

March 6, 2015

Erika Walker In the realm of family studies the role of mothers is often researched and discussed. After all, between the two parents mothers typically spend the most time with their children, and are therefore responsible for the majority of the teaching, comforting, disciplining, and nurturing. So...

March 5, 2015

Gary Boyd As a blogger for UFI, I scan the news each week for stimulating news to write about and comment on. Sometimes, I struggle, taking a while to find anything that I can say anything meaningful about. This week, however, I went almost immediately to...

March 4, 2015

Diane Robertson Tyranny is defined as cruel and oppressive government or rule, or cruel, unreasonable, or arbitrary use of power or control. Countries that embrace religious freedom are typically free from tyranny, while those nations who insist on certain beliefs lean toward tyranny. Nations with a state...

March 3, 2015

Nathalie Bowman The Quest for Perfection is all consuming. Many women have an ideal of the perfect life, and beat themselves up for not being able to attain it, or they put on a mask and pretend they’re perfect even though they know they’re not. Neither...

March 2, 2015

 Rebecca Mallory        No doubt you have witnessed in the past few weeks, months, or years, people from different groups wielding signs declaring their RIGHTS! They have a right to a living wage, they have a right to a job, they have a right to marry...