Church Blog (Page 11)

A Work in Progress

• • • • • Parenting Tip October 15, 2013 A Work in Progress How you view your children and what you think about correction can help you stay calm when things get tough. Imagine a car dealership where a man named Martin works in the showroom. Martin shows cars to prospective customers. If he sees a car without a door, he’s surprised and upset. He doesn’t expect to see defects. Cars in the showroom are supposed to be finished.…

Monitor Frustration Levels

• • • • • Parenting Tip October 11, 2013 Monitor Frustration Levels When allowing a child to solve a problem, it’s important to monitor the frustration level. A little frustration, overcome by persistence, builds determination and self confidence. Too much frustration causes discouragement. Coaching your child through the problem-solving process requires patience and sensitivity. Here’s where the parent’s role becomes so important. Unfortunately some parents turn into drill sergeants, commanding their children, and telling them exactly how to solve…

Allow Life to Be the Teacher

• • • • • Parenting Tip October 10, 2013 Allow Life to Be the Teacher When children experience problems in life, some whine and complain or have bad attitudes. But problems and decisions make great opportunities to teach children to face life’s challenges. Wanting to spare their children frustration in life, parents sometimes step in unnecessarily, but by rescuing kids they may be robbing them of learning opportunities. Frustration often provides motivation to children, and a parent’s patient coaching…

Desire and Temptation

• • • • • Parenting Tip October 3, 2013 Desire and Temptation We all wish our children would desire the right things in life and avoid tempting situations. Desires reside in the heart and can be good or bad. Psalm 37:4 tells us “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Knowing the difference between a healthy desire and a temptation, however, can be a challenge at times, especially for kids. A…

Addressing Sibling Conflict

• • • • • Parenting Tip September 26, 2013 Addressing Sibling Conflict When kids fight it’s best to work with them separately because each child needs a specific plan for dealing with the other. Furthermore, trying to train them at the same time often results in resistance or even allowing kids to gang up on you, hindering the process. Here are some other ideas for addressing sibling conflict that you might find helpful. Parenting Rules for Addressing Sibling Conflict…

When Giving Instructions, Consider the Timing

• • • • • Parenting Tip September 21, 2013 When Giving Instructions, Consider the Timing An important step in a good instruction routine is to consider timing. Parents who realize that a child needs an instruction must stop and think of the best way to present it. Ask yourself, “How can I communicate this problem to my child in the most effective way?” Pausing for just a moment, or in some cases, waiting a few hours, may prove to…

When Children Resist Instructions

• • • • • Parenting Tip September 17, 2013 When Children Resist Instructions When a child continually demonstrates resistance to instructions, then it’s time to decide whether you need to emphasize relationship more or you need to discipline for a lack of responsiveness. Sometimes we take our children for granted, order them around, and don’t appreciate them enough. The result is children who tend to resist instructions. If that’s the case in your family then it’s time to show…

Teens Need Relationship

• • • • • Parenting Tip September 10, 2013 Teens Need Relationship Getting physically close to your child is important when giving instructions, especially with teenagers. Teens need relationship whether they’ll admit it or not. In fact, the stronger the relationship, the less likely you’ll get resistance. Sometimes young people resent having to share in the workload of running a household. You might hear them say something like, “My parents are always ordering me around. It’s like I’m their…

iHATE

I hate my toe! It’s purple and swollen and bloody. I think it’s broken but I’ve never seen a toe cast so I’m not going to bother having it examined, it throbs enough already. The pain is creating a limp in my walk and putting on socks takes forever. I’ll probably lose the toenail. Feet are disgusting enough already, who needs toes anyway? I hate tent stakes! I jumped out of my hammock and ran to my backpack, tripping over…

Giving Instructions

• • • • • Parenting Tip August 29, 2013 Giving Instructions The word “instruction” comes from the words “in” and “structure” and basically means “to put structure into.” When someone comes on the scene and gives instructions, that person brings structure to the situation and helps people know what to do. Dad or Mom sees the need to clean up around the house or get ready to go out and begins giving instructions to move the family in a…