Shutting Off the Screens: Raising Families for God, Family, and Country

It’s a Saturday night or Sunday afternoon. The TV is on. Sports fill the screen, the living room hums with noise, and somewhere in the next room your kids are glued to their own screens. Hours pass. The game ends. Everyone goes to bed. What was built? What was gained?

This is normal. It’s what most men in our culture call rest, relaxation, or “family time.” But let’s be honest—this isn’t family, and it’s not time well spent. It’s distraction. It’s the slow drip of wasted opportunity.

Here’s the question: what if we turned it all off? What if we shut down the screens, stopped obsessing over sports leagues, and decided to give our families something more? Something eternal. Something useful. Something worth passing down.

The Screens That Steal

Screens steal more than time. They steal our focus, our attention, and our calling. They create consumers instead of producers. They raise children who know how to scroll but not how to solve.

Think about it. We’re watching other people live their lives—athletes chasing trophies, influencers chasing followers—while our kids sit by learning that this is what matters. They learn to cheer, but not to do. They learn to observe, but not to build.

The Bible warns us about wasting life on vanity: “Therefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” (Ephesians 5:14).

Screens lull us to sleep. Christ calls us to wake up.

The Old Paths

Jeremiah 6:16 says, “Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”

The old paths were different. Fathers passed down skills to sons. Mothers taught daughters how to serve, create, and provide. Families worked together, ate together, built together. Children were equipped to step into adulthood with more than a diploma—they had wisdom, resilience, and the confidence to face a hard world.

Today? We’ve traded those old paths for the easy path: screens, leagues, and endless distraction. But the good way has never changed. It’s still there if we’d have the courage to walk in it again.

Skills That Shape

So what if, instead of handing a child a phone at seven years old, we handed them a fishing pole? What if, instead of chasing every sports league under the sun, we taught them skills that will matter for a lifetime?

• Hunting & Foraging – Patience, stewardship, providing for others.

• Cooking & Sewing – Serving, creating, caring for family.

• Tracking & Field Dressing – Attention to detail, respect for creation.

• Ammo Reloading & Planning – Preparation, foresight, discipline.

• Camping & Survival – Problem-solving, critical thinking, resilience.

These aren’t just hobbies. They’re tools. They teach responsibility, initiative, and strength. They forge character. They create men and women who can solve problems rather than look for someone else to fix them.

The Proverbs 31 woman didn’t scroll. She worked willingly with her hands. Esau didn’t order takeout. He hunted. Paul made tents when he wasn’t preaching. These people lived equipped lives. Shouldn’t we want the same for our children?

Shaking the System

Take a look at the numbers. How many college graduates actually work in their degree field? How many carry debt for years but never find a fulfilling career? Contrast that with skilled trades—electricians, welders, mechanics, chefs, farmers. These are people who keep society running.

And look at the school curriculum. How much of it do you use in your daily life? Geometry proofs? History dates you memorized for a test? Most of it never shows up again. But how often do you cook, budget, plan, problem-solve, and work with your hands?

What if we stopped outsourcing everything to schools and screens? What if we raised sons and daughters to be competent, skilled, society-contributing adults who didn’t just fill seats but carried responsibility?

The system is broken. So shake it. Teach your kids something better.

God. Family. Country.

This is about more than skills. It’s about priorities.

God first. “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”(Deuteronomy 6:5). If we don’t teach our kids to know Him, to fear Him, and to follow Him, every other skill will fall flat.

Family second. Fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers—it’s our job to lead our homes. Not ESPN. Not TikTok. Not the school district. Us.

Country third. If we raise men and women who love God and love family, then we raise citizens who contribute, who build, who defend, and who carry responsibility. That’s how you build a strong nation—one household at a time.

The Call to Fathers

Deuteronomy 6:7 says, “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

That’s not a suggestion. That’s a charge.

So here’s a challenge:

• One night a week, turn off the screens.

• Each season, teach your kids one new skill.

• Once a year, take them on a family adventure that pushes them outside comfort zones.

You don’t need to do it all at once. But you need to start.

Because here’s the truth—our kids will inherit one of two things: a love for distraction, or a love for discipline. One builds a wasted life. The other builds a legacy.

The Shake-Up

We don’t need more kids who can hit a ball or level up on a video game. We need men and women who can lead, work, build, protect, and endure.

So turn off the screens. Remember the old paths. Teach your kids life-enabling skills. Hand them a Bible, a tool, or a fishing pole instead of another distraction.

Because the world doesn’t need more spectators. The world needs builders, warriors, and worshipers.

God. Family. Country. That’s the way forward.

Prepared in Spirit. Ready in Strength.