By Featured Guest: Teri Lynne Underwood A couple of years ago I pondered the question … “What if submission begins with simply being polite?” I examined that idea in the context of marriage, parenting, and other relationships. As I considered how submission relates to parenting, I developed four principles of polite parenting. Maybe, as this new year begins, you could use some simple encouragement to make this a great year between you and your kids – even if they are all grown up. Principle 1: It’s not about you! We make parenting about us instead of about our kids. It’s the reason …
How to Mother When You Long for More
Sun filtered through the blinds as I blinked my eyes open. A new day loomed before me. Another day I knew I was not pregnant and I likely would never be again. My empty womb seemed to mock me and though it was empty it felt heavy with despair and longing. My soul felt heavy too. Burdened with a longing that would not be met, saddled with questions of why, and the pain of apparent injustice. As I shook my head to clear it, voices began to call to me from down the hall. Although I desperately wanted to stay …
Five Parenting Principles from The Prodigal Story
I’ve always loved reading the story of the Prodigal Son. There are so many lessons to learn from that power-packed passage of Scripture. Today, let’s look at what we can learn from the father : 1. The father loved his children equally. The one who stayed and did all the right things did not become his “favorite”. The prodigal was just as loved by the father as the one who remained by his side. Do you struggle with loving your difficult child as much as your easy child? Do your children know you love them equally? 2. The father met his boys where they …
Five Ways to Love Your Children Well
An excerpt from The Making of a Mom… “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach” These words may have dripped from the pen of Elizabeth Browning’s love sick heart, but counting the ways a mother loves her children is as endless as Elizabeth’s love for her man. Yet how do we love our children? What does that look like when it’s more than words on a page? We say we love our children, but do we understand what it actually means. Love is so much …
Say “Yes” to Pink Hair – Pick Your Battles Wisely
By Featured Guest: Kathy Howard Do you sometimes feel like “no” is the only word in your parenting vocabulary? If you have teens and preteens it certainly might be the word they hear most often. No, you can’t stay out until midnight on a school night. No, you can’t see that “R” rated movie with your friends. No, you can’t skip school to go to the mall for the big sale. No, you can’t jump off the bridge even though all your friends are doing it. Each phase of a child’s growing up presents unique challenges. Because …
Five Ways to Engage Disengaged Kids
By Featured Guest: Mary DeMuth In a world of Halo, iphones, and IM, how do parents strategically engage their tuned-out kids? How can we create the kinds of homes that are irresistible to our children, enticing enough to make them tune out from games, media and texting and tune in to the rhythms of family life? Five ways. One: Offer ‘em Something Better The most enticing thing to a kid is community—real, authentic, God-breathed community. To create this, learn to do the following: Say you’re sorry when you’re wrong and ask forgiveness. Strive to become the person you want your …
“Teacher Trouble: P.T.A. Assignment”
They take backpacks filled with folders, pencils, and hopes for a great year. When conversations begin creating a picture of your child’s school year, you may discover you’re assigned something you didn’t request. You may be scheduled for “teacher trouble.” “How could anyone be unkind to my child?” we wonder. “Why are they so harsh?” we ask. And “That didn’t seem like a professional way to handle that,” we mutter. We try to think positively, be understanding, and let the year get started. But once underway, parents may find they have, indeed, been signed up for “teacher trouble”. How do …
5 Ways to Help Kids Set & Fulfill Goals
As we enter a new year we find ourselves reflecting on where we’ve been and looking forward to where we hope to go. We make plans, develop lists and chart a course for the coming year. But what about our kids? Do you help your children set goals and then help them fulfill them? Do you help your children set goals and then help them fulfill them? Click To Tweet I remember when I was teaching my son to read more proficiently and I gave him his first real book. It was My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. It wasn’t really …
5 Things Successful Moms Do Right
Over the years I have observed and interviewed numerous moms whose children have grown into godly adults, all of who serve the Lord, whether as a stay-at-home mom, in full time ministry or in a secular vocation. While this is not a scientifically based observation, I was able to narrow their success down to twenty common traits. Here are the first five of those twenty. #1 She gets into her child’s WORLD “You will always be your child’s favorite toy.” — Vicki Lansky One of the greatest gifts you can give your child is your time. For your little ones, …
Seven Insider Tips for Pioneer Parents
By Featured Guest: Mary E. DeMuth Adapted from Building the Christian Family You Never Had (WaterBrook, 2006) Some of us grew up in stable, Christ-loving homes. Others did not. What happens when people from difficult upbringings want to raise their children in a Christian home? How do we pioneer a new path for our children? Pioneer Parents are parents who don’t want to duplicate the homes they were raised in. They share many common traits, the most common being fear. They ask themselves questions like: Will the hurtful words my parents said to me fly out of my mouth in …