literature

Families and literature go hand in hand; fictional families to entertain, reflect and inspire.

Why Good Intentions Make a Bad Legal Standard
Why Law Reaches for Intent in the First Place Legal systems lean toward intent because it feels humane. Motive appears to reveal character, and character feels like a stable guide for judgment. In emotionally charged domains like parenting and custody, intent offers something comforting: the belief that outcomes can be understood, and even forgiven, by examining what someone meant to do. Courts frequently ask whether a parent acted out of love, fear, confusion, or malice, as though the answer to that question can reliably predict what the child will experience over time.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcastabout 16 hours ago in Families
The Boat filled with Lavender Blooms
A pleasant evening fell upon the countryside as Lucie watered the plants in their farmhouse garden. It was serene and peaceful, just the gentle breeze blowing away the warm spring's heat and refreshing the atmosphere...
By Sephirotha day ago in Families
Your Child Won't Read if You Don't
It can’t be easy being a good parent. It requires patience, time management skills, emotional and physical endurance, and the capacity to love someone more than yourself.
By Kera Hollow19 days ago in Families
The Soil of Tomorrow
Women are the soil. Before governments draft policies, before culture writes its rules, before the noise of the modern world reaches a newborn child, there is a body quietly listening to the Earth. A woman’s body absorbs signals—stress carried in the air of a tense household, toxins hidden in food and water, inflammation sparked by exhaustion, fear, or chemical exposure.
By Aja Truth27 days ago in Families
When Freedom Meets Force:
A woman in the streets of Tehran adjusts her veil, not as a gesture of choice but as a shield against a world that would criminalize her very body. Every act of defiance is a prayer, every whispered word a rebellion.
By Aja Truth28 days ago in Families
Love That Acts, Not Love That Speaks
When Love Became a Language Instead of a Practice In modern parenting culture, love is increasingly defined by what is said rather than what is done. Emotional affirmation, verbal reassurance, and constant validation are treated as the primary evidence of care, while less expressive forms of love are often overlooked or misunderstood. A parent who says “I love you” frequently and validates feelings consistently is assumed to be providing something essential, while a parent who demonstrates care through sacrifice, consistency, and enforcement may be perceived as distant or emotionally limited.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast29 days ago in Families
Scanning the Republic
Somewhere along the line, the public was sold a very simple promise: If you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.
By Aja Truth30 days ago in Families
The Battle of the Idols
We are watching people kill and die over books. Not food. Not shelter. Not survival. Books. Texts that were meant to guide individual souls through this strange thing called life have become weapons, flags, and leashes. And the madness needs to stop.
By Aja Truth30 days ago in Families
The Price of Depredation:
By a Black woman who reads the fine print I. The Myth of the “Value” Price We are told, over and over, that a “low price” is a kindness to the consumer. An act of corporate generosity. In reality, it is an accounting trick. The price tag is not a measure of efficiency; it is a map of who is allowed to be harmed. When a big-box retailer sells something below the cost of sustainable production, the discount does not appear by magic. It is pulled from the bodies of workers in the Global South, from the health of Black and brown communities at home, and from the erosion of wages for everyone else. The world pays the difference—with toxic water, children who grow up too fast, and neighborhoods stripped of local businesses.
By Aja Truthabout a month ago in Families
When Schools Teach Ideology Instead of Readiness
Walk into too many American classrooms today, and you’ll see a confusion of priorities. Educators spend endless hours debating cultural sensitivity protocols, negotiating religious accommodations, or redesigning lessons to meet ideological checklists. Meanwhile, reading scores drop, math proficiency lags, and graduates leave school unable to compose a coherent business email, balance a spreadsheet, or show up to work prepared.
By Aja Truthabout a month ago in Families
The Nana Adventures: Day at the Beach
(The names have been changed for story purposes.) The sun had just begun to stretch golden fingers across the sky when her gray Volkswagen rumbled into the driveway.
By Tabatha Naborsabout a month ago in Families
The Power of Presence
When “Good Parenting” Became a Feeling In modern parenting conversations, “good” has increasingly come to mean emotionally warm, verbally affirming, and immediately comforting. A good parent is expected to soothe distress quickly, validate feelings consistently, and minimize discomfort whenever possible. These traits are treated as obvious indicators of healthy parenting, reinforced by cultural messaging, therapeutic language, and social reward structures. When a child feels better in the moment, the parenting decision is assumed to have been correct, and when discomfort persists, the decision is often framed as a failure of care rather than a necessary part of development.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcastabout a month ago in Families