Articles (Page 12)
Parenting Insight You Can Use Now
Parenting Insight You Can Use Now Developing internal motivation in children is one of the fast tracks to help them toward maturity. Unfortunately, too often parents use external motivators to get their kids to move forward. “If you get your homework done then you can go out and play.” “If you clean your room then you can have some computer time.” This approach basically says, “If you do what I say, I’ll give you what you want.” Children trained this…
Referencing the Normal
“How do you stop a rhinoceros from charging? You take away his credit cards.” It’s a joke, but it only makes sense if you have knowledge of the words being used. If you had no reference to rhino’s or credit cards, the joke would fall flat. Consider repeating the same joke to teenagers of today. Their response? “You unplug it.” For those of us back in the day, that would have fallen flat because our reference to plugs was to…
Muscle and a Shovel
Have you heard of the book, Muscle and a Shovel by Michael shank? That’s a question that was asked at our Houston-area preachers’ luncheon last month by one of our members. Interestingly, not one of the preachers there had heard of the book. The questioner told the story of getting a phone call from a lady who wanted him to baptize her and her husband. When he asked to study with them as a prelude to the baptism, she replied,…
5 Youth Culture Trends
1. Social Media Narcissm 2. Relativism 3. Cohabitation 4. Tolerance 5. Marketing & Consumerism For better understanding of the youth culture, and resources, check CPYU
Be Careful with Triangles
• • • • • Parenting Tip July 25, 2013 Be Careful with Triangles Triangles in relationships happen often in family life. Conflict between two people can become an invitation for another person to join in. If parents aren’t careful, and create triangles inappropriately, people get hurt. But if triangles are used properly, they become great opportunities for healing and learning. Here are some examples to watch out for: • A child who is unhappy with Dad’s discipline may go…
Sad Instead of Mad
• • • • • Parenting Tip July 12, 2013 Sad Instead of Mad Often parents have a poor repertoire of discipline techniques so they do what comes naturally—they use anger as a consequence. Anger becomes the punishment that children learn to fear and the result is distance in relationships. Parents want to express disapproval for misbehavior and anger becomes the vehicle for showing it. Imagine this scenario: You’re making dinner and your six-year-old daughter, Amy, comes into…
“That’s Not Fair!”
• • • • • Parenting Tip July 5, 2013 “That’s Not Fair!” Competition between siblings is often demonstrated by the statement, “That’s not fair” or “What about him?” Competition stems from comparison and often creates conflict in relationships between brothers and sisters. Here’s an idea that will go a long way to reduce the comparison and competition between your children. Treat each child uniquely and don’t try to treat all your kids the same. Intentionally give them different privileges,…
Explain New Rules Before You Start
• • • • • Parenting Tip June 20, 2013 Explain New Rules Before You Start One of the ways to change patterns of behavior in children is what we call a Parent/Child Evaluation Meeting. Parents can call this meeting when they see unwanted patterns and are about to focus on change. The beginning of summer is a great time to clearly lay out some new rules and expectations. It’s important to plan the meeting well and then choose the…
Problem Solving and Decision Making
• • • • • Parenting Tip June 12, 2013 Problem Solving and Decision Making How do your children handle problems and decisions? Some children whine, complain, and have bad attitudes. However, problems and decisions make great opportunities to teach children how to face life’s challenges. Families make decisions and solve problems on a daily basis. Parents must make some decisions, and in those cases children need to learn to follow. At other times parents can involve children and teach…
The Conscience Needs Training
• • • • • Parenting Tip June 6, 2013 The Conscience Needs Training In 1 Corinthians 4:4 Paul says, “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.” The reality is that just because the conscience prompts a person, doesn’t mean that it’s right. Children need to be careful to obey God first in everything they do. The conscience looks for convictions in order to prompt a person to do…