Articles (Page 15)

• • • • • Parenting Tip January 15, 2013    What is Your Action Point?   Why is it that Dad can get the kids in bed faster than Mom? Or, Why do children respond differently in the classroom, on the playground, and in the home? The answer to these questions has to do with a number of factors but one piece of the puzzle is what we call an action point. An action point reveals the cues that…

• • • • • Parenting Tip January 12, 2013 Compliance versus Obedience Some parents say, “I can usually get my children to do what I say eventually.” Parents sometimes think that obedience is the same as compliance. When you say to your son, “Please leave the computer and help me bring the groceries in from the car,” and he says, “As soon as I get to the next level,” that’s not obedience. Now, we don’t believe that a child…

• • • • • Parenting Tip January 4, 2013  Understanding Obedience  We live in a society where an emphasis on teaching obedience sounds to some like heavy-handed authoritarianism. Parents don’t want to be dictators so they sometimes move far away from anything that looks like being controlling. This is unfortunate since God is the one who gave the instructions for children to learn obedience. Hidden within this quality are the principles that will make children successful as they get…

• • • • • Parenting Tip December 29, 2012   The Stop Rule   Teasing and playing around can be amusing, but usually one person wants to stop before the other. Angry words and tears often bring an end to what started out as fun. Incorporating a “Stop Rule” in your family will help children, and parents too for that matter, know when to quit. The Stop Rule is simply this: When a child wants to be done with…

• • • • • Parenting Tip December 22, 2012 A Time to Practice Saying Thank You Gratefulness is an important life quality because it helps us to be thankful for what we have instead of complaining about what we don’t have. Gratefulness is a lifestyle but it starts by saying “Thank you” to others who bless us. Begin now to prepare your children for receiving gifts. Talk about the importance of the giver, not just the gift. Teach children…

Parenting Tip December 15, 2012   Being a Servant at Christmas Sometimes children believe that the whole world revolves around them. Parents, because they enjoy caring for their kids, may at times contribute to a child-centered mentality and further reinforce this misconception. Children can get the impression that parents, siblings, and even the family pets are there simply to make them happy. The result is demandingness and an unpleasant attitude. One of the ways to counteract this tendency is to…

• • • • • Parenting Tip November 24, 2012     The Heart is a Wrestling Place   The heart is where we wrestling with things. When experience, teaching, and values need to be integrated into life, it happens in the workshop of the heart. Information comes into our heads on a regular basis but much of it just stays there. Only when it moves down to our hearts does it become part of our lives. When eight-year-old, Jordan,…