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Recent Posts Tagged With 'a mother's reflections'
How do you handle the stress of Christmas?
The New York Times article points out an interesting observation. While spanking is now socially unacceptable, shouting has become the new spanking for some parents. I posted a series on Controlling Our Anger because I know this is a big issue for us...
Veteran’s Day
For those of us in the U.S., no school today! It’s Veteran’s Day. If you or someone in your family serves or served in the armed forces, I want to say THANK YOU to you for all you do for our country. While we enjoy our day off, please als...
10 things I learned this week
As a parent, we are continually learning along with our children. Here are 10 things I learned this week. 1. The privacy and a captive audience in a car is a good place to talk to your kids about life. 2. When your kids are upset, it’s best to ...
Why we don’t spend more time with our children
I am a substitute teacher, and I think teachers have the hardest job in the world! To be surrounded by 20-30 little kids all day and trying to keep them on task is stressful to say the least. I substitute occasionally, and that’s about all I ca...
Don’t miss out on spending time with your kids
I had lunch with my 85-year-old dad today. It’s a treat for him to get the $5 Subway deal because he would not normally go there by himself. We split a chicken breast footlong on honey oat whole wheat. It came out to $4.99 with the “youn...
The best advice for parents I’ve heard
My son is now 21 and pretty much on his own. He rents his own apartment half an hour away from us, and he supports himself financially. I am thankful that he does come home weekly to attend our home church that he grew up in, and he [usually] stays t...
Is there more to parenting than providing for our children?
Did you ever notice that people never say the present generation of kids are morally better than the previous generation? You never hear anyone say, “Kids today are much better behaved than when we were kids. Kids now are more respectful and ...
Balloon boy Falcon Heene and lessons for parents
What do you make of what happened with Balloon Boy Falcon Heene? Six-year-old Falcon Heene was thought to have drifted up in a helium balloon on Thursday. The authorities were in a frantic rescue operation that involved military helicopters and bri...
Making sense of hard times
Are you familiar with the life of Joni Earekson Tada? A swimming excursion with friends ended up in tragedy for Joni when she was only a teenager. She dove into a lake not knowing how shallow it was. She hit bottom, and broke her neck, paralyzing h...
How do we pray for our children?
A missionary friend in Japan recently sent me this update about her son: [My son] has gone on a Wilderness Camp with his 11th grade class…They hike and camp out in the open, in groups of 10, taking turns leading the group (with adult advisors)....
Children grow through hard times
I was talking to a friend today who recently found out that her independent 14-year-old daughter used to cry at school in the first and second grade. “I thought she was perfectly happy! I didn’t even know she was going through a hard time...
Getting control of our anger
Yelling and screaming is not the kind of mom I wanted to be. But somewhere along the way, I’ve turned from sweet mild Katy to Angry Mom. Every night I would apologize to my kids. “I didn’t mean to yell at you. I am just tired.”...
What parenting is all about
When parents ask me for advice for problems they are facing, they are hoping for the cure-all, a guarantee, a silver bullet that would make them the perfect parent with perfect kids in 3 easy steps. Of course we know there is no such thing, but we ke...
9/11 in Remembrance
It’s one of those traumatic moments that you can remember exactly where you were and what you were doing at the time the tragedy struck. On 9/11, I was dropping off my daughter at school, standing in front of the kindergarten playground when I ...
There is hope for THAT child
I just finished helping out with a week of Vacation Bible School at my church. It was tiring but fun. Our VBS attracts a large number of kids from the community who do not normally come to our church. Guess which kids are the ones that everyone gets ...
Good parents start with a good marriage
(Disclaimer for this post: This is addressed to married couples, not for single parents. If you are a single parent, I want you to know this is not meant to make you feel guilty. It’s written to encourage couples to build a good marriage.) I ad...
How can anyone afford to have kids?
While chatting with my mechanic, he mentioned being married for just a couple of years. “Any kids?” I asked. “No, we can’t afford them,” he replied. Do kids costs that much? In an affluent and commercialized society, we ...
Are you a Frazzled Female?
Any time you get women together, there is always great food and heart-to-heart talking. This summer, my friends and I have been getting together to go through the book The Frazzled Female, by Cindi Wood. Aside from the delectable food (despite the ...
Failed, again
I had the perfect opportunity to lift up my daughter’s spirit and send her off to school with a positive attitude. But instead, a few words from me ruined her day. My daughter just began high school this summer, taking biology in summer school ...
Michael Jackson was just a little kid
I grew up listening to Michael Jackson. I’ll Be There, Ben, ABC, those oldies were my favorites. Having grown up listening to him as part of the Jackson 5 before the days of MTV and his biggest hit Thriller, I always pictured Michael Jackson ...
What to do when your kids are bored
A reader asks, “What do I do with my kids when they complain that they’re bored?” Does it irk you when kids say, “I’m bored!”? While substituting a 4th grade class, a girl came up to me during recess and said, R...
Getting ready for high school
What are your biggest concerns for your children in high school? My daughter is looking forward to starting high school in September. Since our local high school is rather large with almost 3,000 students, she is concern with being able to find her c...
Graduation celebrations
With my oldest son, everything was a first - first to check out a preschool, if it’s good, the sisters will follow along later. First to enter kindergarten, first to go to one week of 6th grade science camp, first to go through the complicated ...
What’s a REAL mother?
MOTHERS Real Mothers don’t eat quiche; They don’t have time to make it. Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils Are probably in the sandbox. Real Mothers often have sticky floors, Filthy ovens and happy kids. Real Mothers know that ...
What do kids really need from us?
I love to read. I just finished reading a book that my sister recommended, Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah, a true story of her life. Adeline was born in the 30’s and grew up in an affluent family in China. As the youngest of five, their mo...
Letting go of failures
Family Life Today is one of my favorite radio programs. (You can listen to it online, or download the podcast to listen to it any time.) On the program few days ago on “Launching Your Teen into Life”, Dennis Rainey, the host, said somethi...
Be a vigilant parent
In the past, the society generally reinforced the values we parents try to teach to our children at home. Not so in today’s culture. We teach our children modesty, the malls are selling tight sweaters and ultra low rise pants. We teach our chil...
The job description of a parent
“The whole idea of caring for children was to keep them from doing stupid, dangerous, wicked things that could not be undone, until they learned enough self-control and good judgment that they could be expected to make their own decisions.̶...
Does TV make smart babies?
Parents want the best for their babies. Does that mean having to spend a lot of money on “educational” material such as “Baby Einstein” and “BabyGenius”? CNN reported a study that shows TV viewing of educational DV...
Parenting is an instinct and other myths
Myths often have a bit of truth about them, and that’s why we often buy into them. The problem with living with myths is that we end up frustrated with expectations that do not become reality. We beat ourselves up for not having a Martha Stewar...
