with Karen Ehman My friend Sheila Wray Gregoire asked a great question last week: “When Does Childhood End?” I agree with her premise that one of my duties, as a mom, is to help my kids find their route to independence, maturity, and purpose. So it’s been hard to admit that I was a “smother mother” when my daughter was in high school. I ran interference with my daughter’s teachers so often, she did not learn how to advocate for herself. She didn’t know how to ask, “When can I come make up the quiz I missed yesterday?” or “Why did …
Part 3: Kids & Cell Phones – the WHAT and WHERE
Part 1: Kids & Cell Phones – the WHY Part 2: Kids & Cell Phones – the WHEN and HOW Part 3: Kids & Cell Phones – the WHAT and WHERE Several years ago, during a Faculty-Student Home Worship, I realized that our ten student advisees were not particularly engaged in the discussion my husband was leading. At first, I thought perhaps they were a bit shy, as it was early in the school year and we were all starting to get to know each other. But I found out later where their attention had been: texting their friends …
Our Family Creed
Subscribe today for your FREE copy of… FACING YOUR FEARS – 31 STORIES FROM M.O.M. Several years ago, one of the pastors at our church spoke about the importance of creating a sense of team and vision within your own family. One of the ways he’d done this in his family was by creating a Family Creed – a list of principals to live by, sort of a mission statement to help define what your family is all about. As he shared his Family Creed, I feverishly took notes. Our daughter was about six at the time, our son was …
eBabies + iTeens + YouToo: Kids and Cell Phones – the WHEN and HOW
Subscribe today for your FREE copy of… FACING YOUR FEARS – 31 STORIES FROM M.O.M. eBabies + iTeens + YouToo: Kids and Cell Phones – the WHEN and HOW Re-Viewing WHY Before we discuss the WHEN and HOW, though, I want to touch on one WHY that we didn’t discuss last time: emergencies. Many parents give their children cell phones so they can communicate in the event of a crisis. A few examples of how such proactive planning may not always succeed: When we still lived in southern California, we experienced a strong earthquake. …
eBabies + iTeens + YouToo: Kids and Cell Phones – the WHY
Subscribe today for your FREE copy of… FACING YOUR FEARS – 31 STORIES FROM M.O.M. eBabies + iTeens + YouToo: Kids and Cell Phones – the WHY I couldn’t wait to see Annemarie’s face as she opened her final 8th grade graduation gift. The video camera was rolling and my husband was strategically positioned to catch close up photos. “You have to guess what it is before you can open it!” I said, handing Annemarie a simple gift bag. When the bag began ringing and vibrating, she almost dropped it in surprise. Shock and comprehension …
eBabies + iTeens + YouToo: See Mommy Text & Day 6 Giveaways
Today’s Great Giveaways! 3 CD Set, Let’s Get PURSE-onal!, Personality Puzzle for Parents of Preschoolers, and Raising a Reader By: Cheri Gregory In these 3 power-packed CDs, Cheri not only helps moms be better moms by understanding themselves but she also shares the primary goal and two major needs of each Personality type so moms can understand and relate to their children better. She also presents 2 parenting DOs and 2 parenting DON’Ts for each one personality type. And in Raising a Reader, Cheri helps moms develop a love for reading in their children. Just Enough Light for the Step I’m …
eBabies + iTeens + YouToo: Questions About Kids and Technology
I first heard the term “Generation M” while reading the 2006 Time magazine article “The Multitasking Generation.” The explosion in technology, I soon discovered, brought with it dozens–even hundreds!–of new questions I needed to be asking as a parent. It’s easy to mistake kids’ technological sophistication for maturity. Parents and teachers often back way off because they feel like kids are so far ahead of them. But kids have no idea the kind of firepower they’re playing around with. Adult guidance and wisdom are not obsolete. Kids need us now more than ever. As part of an ongoing series called “eBabies …
Glorify the Giver (NOT the Gifted)
Intelligence Blake was by far the most intelligent student I’ve ever taught. His reading speed was dazzling. His memory was photographic. His grasp of concepts was both deep and divergent. Not surprisingly, he scored 5s on all his AP exams and was a National Merit scholar with a near-perfect SAT score. And yet, he was by far the most miserable student I’ve ever taught. Everything annoyed him. Everybody frustrated him. All class assignments were deemed “stupid.” Other students’ insights were “a waste of my time.” I watched Blake seethe under the loathsome requirement of sitting through my detestable AP English …
Packing a Young Person’s Heart
Last Friday we took our daughter on a college visit. Serene lawns and still hallways echoed the time year: Spring Break. As we toured the campus, thoughts about our sweet girl’s future exploded in my mind like kernels in an air popper. I longed to see some students as evidence that when kids grow up they’re okay. But they were on Spring Break. Inside the dorms, our guide was kind (bold? crazy?) enough to show us several rooms where it looked like the Rapture had taken place. Books, guitars, clothes, pizza pans, and shoes littered the floors and beds. There …
No Rescue Needed: Necessary Pain and Disappointment
“But, Mom, this means I can’t go! It’s impossible!” wails Annemarie, tears coursing down her cheeks. Five minutes ago, she was all smiles as we sat at the kitchen table to “crunch numbers” for the school-sponsored 10-day trip to Italy. As we calculated the number of hours she’d have to work to earn enough money to pay for the trip, though, her face fell, her eyes reddened, and she reached for the Kleenex. Pain and disappointment can be effective teachers, I remind myself. Don’t cave. No matter how badly you want to bail her out–for your sake as well as …