Talking to Kids About Hard Things: Honest Conversations When Life Gets Complicated

“Don’t let the words ‘kids’ and ‘conversations’ fool you. This is not only a parenting book. In this concise and remarkably practical guide, Michael Keller and Rebekah Hannah provide a simple, honest, and effective approach to discussing difficult topics without losing the people you’re trying to reach. In the end, this isn’t just a book about talking with children—it’s a book every adult should read to learn how to navigate hard conversations with wisdom and care.”
Jonathan D. Holmes, Executive Director, CCEF; author of Grounded in Grace

“As a counselor and a parent, I’m overjoyed to see a book like this. Time and time again, I have helped parents establish, maintain, and repair good communication, because it is the skill that will carry their family through many hard seasons. But what really excites me is that this book lays the essential foundation of the gospel. It reminds us as parents to trust the Lord, listen well, go deep, and prioritize the Lord’s ways over our own. These are tough but necessary words. I highly recommend this book to parents and counselors!”
Kristin L. Kellen, Director of EdD Studies and Associate Professor of Biblical Counseling, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“There is an important idea embedded in each page of this book for wisely loving your child or someone else’s. And for those kids who leave you feeling like you can never say the right thing? Thanks to this great book, you have ways to love them that, I think, will leave them surprised and perhaps wanting more.”
Edward T. Welch, CCEF Faculty; bestselling author

“I inhaled this book in a single sitting and exhaled with relief when I finished. As a parent, I’m often just as afraid of not knowing the answer to my children’s hard questions as I am of knowing the right answer and handling it poorly. Beneath both fears lies a deeper one: that their spiritual future hinges on my response. Rather than offering a formula that feeds that fear, Michael and Rebekah relieve it, providing a gracious, gospel-centered framework that helps parents listen well, respond wisely, and trust God with what only he can do. This book won’t give you all the answers, but it will hold out the grace you need to become the kind of parent who can sit with hard questions, rest confidently in Christ when you don’t know what to say, and entrust your children to Jesus. It’s a book I’ll return to again and again as my children’s questions grow and change alongside them.”
Abbey Wedgeworth, Author of Help! I’m Ruining My Kids

“Rebekah Hannah and Michael Keller are not ‘parenting experts’ with bullet-proof theories or seven steps for perfectly navigating hard things. What they offer is refreshing honesty, gospel clarity and relational wisdom from many years of raising kids in NYC, where their response to difficult issues is pressure-tested every day. This book is not a collection of quick answers but the wise insights of two faithful friends walking alongside you as you navigate parenting in a broken and complex world.”
Brian Walker, Director of Operations, Anchored Virtual