Things That Are True

Deep roots grow sweet fruit.

Truth for scary nights, big feelings, and brave new days.

Your child is afraid of the dark. Or nervous about the first day of school. Or heartbroken because a friend said, “You can’t play with us.” Or hiding the lamp they broke and hoping no one finds out.

Every parent knows these moments. And every parent has wished for the right words: something simple and true that a child can hold onto when we aren’t standing right beside them.

That’s why Things That Are True exists.

Our vision

Our vision is to see every family in the world catechizing their children, for their good and for God’s glory.

Catechizing is an old word for a simple, time-tested practice: teaching children what is true by asking questions and answering them together, a little at a time, until the answers become their own. Christians have done it for centuries, at kitchen tables and bedsides all over the world. We want to help every family do it, in words their children can understand and carry with them for life. It is good for our children, because God’s truth gives them somewhere to stand. And it brings glory to God, because every true answer points back to Him.

What we believe

Everything we do grows out of what we believe. A child walking into a new classroom, owning up to a broken lamp, or forgiving a brother: each of those moments grows from something deeper. It grows from what that person believes is true about God, about themselves, and about the world.

For most of human history, people understood that belief and life belong together, the way roots belong to a tree. Today we’re often taught to keep them apart. Belief becomes a private opinion, and behavior becomes a matter of technique. Many of us end up living divided lives, believing one thing and doing another, and wondering why it feels so hollow. That divide wears on the soul. It is frustrating, and sometimes painful.

We believe the best place to begin mending it is with our children. Read what we believe.

What we do

We give families short, memorable truths drawn straight from God’s Word, written for the way young children actually think and talk. A parent asks, the child answers, and they say it back and forth at breakfast, in the car, and at bedtime until the words take root. Then, when a child feels afraid, makes a mistake, is tempted to lie, or needs a friend, they already know what is true. They have somewhere to stand.

It works like a tree. In our family we have a saying: “Obedience is the fruit, not the root.” When I ask my kids, “What is the root?” they answer, “Faith!” That’s the heart of Things That Are True. We don’t start by demanding good behavior. We plant deep roots (God made everything. God’s Word is true. God is in control. Jesus saves. The Holy Spirit helps me. God’s love never stops.) and trust God to grow sweet fruit: confidence, thankfulness, courage, honesty, kindness, and peace at home.

Why it’s freeing

Here is the best part: none of this depends on us having it all together. Our help doesn’t come from us. It comes from God’s Word, which stays true and steady even on the days we aren’t. So any parent can do this: tired parents, unsure parents, parents still working out what they believe. You don’t have to be an expert. You only have to open His Word with your child and listen together.

Things That Are True is a place where parents and children can come humbly and say, “We need help,” whether they’ve known Jesus for years or are opening the Bible for the first time. Together we hear God answer, “I will help you.” Then we turn to His Word to find that help.

For grown-ups too

These truths have helped my wife and me as much as our children. We struggle with the same things they do: fear, worry, sin, and feelings that get too big. A child learning to take a breath, pray, and stay calm is learning the very lesson a grown-up needs when a quick temper rises. So every truth is written for little ones, but it’s meant for the whole family, and for anyone who needs to hear what is true.

How it started

I’ve been walking my children through catechisms since they were small enough to chew on the book. Those catechisms were filling their hearts with what is true about God, and I’m deeply thankful for every one of them. Still, the answers were often longer than my little ones could hold, and the pictures didn’t help them see what the words meant.

And I started to wonder: how do I help them carry those same truths into the moments they’re living through right now? A scary night. An unkind friend. A big mistake. Truths about who God is aren’t meant to stay on a page. They’re meant to hold a three-year-old’s hand in the dark.

Then I came across a dad who recorded daily affirmations with his daughter. I loved the warmth of it, and many of their sayings dealt with exactly these struggles. But too often the answer pointed the child back to themselves. I wanted that same warmth with God at the center. I looked everywhere, couldn’t find it, and so I started making it myself, right at our kitchen table.

Built for how little ones grow

Children ages 3 to 7 think in concrete terms, and they learn through rhythm, repetition, and pictures. At this age they also talk themselves through hard moments out loud, so the words we give them become the words they reach for. They grow best through warm back-and-forth with the people who love them most. So every truth is short, spoken back and forth, illustrated, and made to be said every day.

How we approach it

Our approach is shaped by the principles of Biblical counseling. We hold God’s Word as our standard, sufficient for every struggle a child or parent will face. We believe real change begins in the heart, not just in behavior. We point every struggle to Christ and His goodness, not back to ourselves. And we come alongside one another with compassion, humility, and hope, because we need the same help our children do.

Growing together

Things That Are True is meant to keep growing. When parents notice a new struggle in their children’s lives, or in their own, they share it with us. Then we search the Scriptures together and add new truths for everyone. It’s less a product than a community of families learning to parent by God’s Word. Share a struggle or idea.

Where we’re headed

Today it’s a free app for families with children ages 3 to 7, soon to be on the App Store. In time we hope to add a weekly podcast that explores each truth in a way kids love, plus simple, affordable resources like flash cards, coloring books, and eventually books. Everything we make will serve one purpose: helping children know what is true, and live from it.

“These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”Deuteronomy 6:6–7 ESV

We plant and we water, and God gives the growth: one family, one bedtime, one true thing at a time.