Parenting Tips (Page 14)

• • • • • Parenting Tip February 28, 2013  Giving Instructions Clearly  We’ve all found ourselves in situations where adults are supervising children. Some adults have the ability to command attention and get children to listen better than others. All they use is what we call a Firm Instruction, a very important part of the discipline process. A Firm Instruction is quite useful whether you’re working with your own children or someone else’s. Good discipline doesn’t just mean finding…

• • • • • Parenting Tip February 18, 2013  “But My Anger is Justified” Some view their anger as justified because they are right and others are wrong. They believe that being right is the only ticket required to launch into an adult temper tantrum. But saying “He made me angry” implies that external events require emotional intensity. The dad who links the trigger (what “made” him angry) and response (what he does with his anger) too closely ends…

• • • • • Parenting Tip February 13, 2013 Understanding Anger’s Five Causes Some parents have a hard time analyzing their anger to get anything positive out of it. A helpful way to uncover what’s behind your anger is to recognize anger’s five basic causes. These five causes overlap at points and you may find that the situation you’re experiencing fits more than one, but this list is often helpful to bring some rationale to feelings. Use these causes…

Parenting Tip February 9, 2013 Learn to Recognize Emotional Signals The subtle emotional signals you experience many times a day can help you know when and how to discipline your children. This takes some work and you may need to spend time educating yourself on the emotional signals you’re already receiving. Imagine a car’s control panel with many little lights. They flash occasionally, sometimes even intensely. With experience you begin to learn about all those lights and what they mean.…

• • • • • Parenting Tip January 28, 2013   Teaching Honor In The Bathroom  The bathroom is an excellent place to work on honor. In part, honor means that people do more than what’s expected. They look for things that need to be done and do them without being asked. For a while, my (Scott) family had a sign by the light switch in our bathroom that read, “Is the bathroom ready for the next person?” All we…

• • • • • Parenting Tip January 19, 2013    Overcoming Selfishness With Honor   Some parents are frustrated because their children are so self-focused that they can’t seem to grasp the concept of honoring others. How can you help children think about other people instead of always thinking about themselves? One helpful way is to teach kids to recognize emotions in others and then know how to respond accordingly. One dad wanted to work on honor with his…

• • • • • 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…