Six words. Only six words, but they flew out of my mouth to the heart of my son before I could capture them and lock them away where the sun doesn’t shine. I was immediately sorry and saw the look of injury on his face. I wanted to take the words back, but they escaped, never to be taken back. Sometimes moms say hurtful things we can’t take back. What’s a mom to do when we regret words we say to our own? If you’re like me, you watch and wait, hoping to see signs your words weren’t really that …
Technology & your child’s brain development
Our kids will never know what it is to live in an unwired world. We’ve moved from the technology of the light bulb to the microwave, to the CD player, to the answering machine, and now to the mobile phone. Just doing homework research opens Pandora ’s Box of distractions like YouTube and Facebook, for starters. Today, moms find it hard to imagine what kind of tech will be commonplace to our kids when they grow up. Some parents feel overwhelmed by the waves of change and try to shut out the digital invasion. When adults check out, kids miss …
A teachable change of seasons
Tomorrow is the first day of Autumn. We’ll watch the leaves dry up in the waning sunlight, just to be pinched off their twig by a gust of chilly wind and tossed to the ground with a crunch. Winter will follow, with life lurking beneath what appears to be dead. This is the perfect time to help our children understand the truth of life out of death. God has shown us His redemptive plan through His own creation and the change of seasons. Are you ready to watch the show of color that comes with Autumn? This year, do more …
Understanding for unfinished plans
It was my great plan that fizzled out. With one summer left to spend before my sweet girl left home, I chose a book about prayer for the two of us to read together. I would make a deposit in her heart that would bring a return long after she carried her crates to the dorm. But then we went on vacation, she got a job, and I got busy, and somehow, before I knew it, we had to take those crates for college. My good intentions failed, and I was left with a barely read book on prayer. Maybe …
Treating the doctor’s office dilemma
Every mom knows the dilemma of being in a quiet waiting room with a not-so-quiet child. While other patients nervously occupy themselves with the latest travel magazines, hoping they’ll be called soon, moms do the doctor’s office dance, trying to get their little ones to act like grown-ups. Waiting rooms host people anxiously anticipating procedures ranging from dental fillings to chemo treatments, immunizations to ultra sounds. What do you do with kiddos when you’re in the doctors’ zone? Don’t despair. This trauma is treatable. There are more ways to entertain a child while you wait than just plugging them …
How to be a Parent Teachers Love
Teachers hope and pray they’ll get at least one of “those” parents in their classroom. A sensitive, enthusiastic, flexible parent has the potential to make all the difference in a teacher’s year and, as a result, in a child’s year too. Prize parents don’t brown nose in hopes of scoring top grades for their child or the lead role in the Thanksgiving play, but they see themselves as an educator’s resource able to lift a teacher’s load and support their school. You may not find “Awesome Parent” on the teacher’s supply list, but every educator longs to receive the gift …
Real moms praying for real teachers
If the sand is running through the hour glass of your summer, it’s likely a teacher is in your future. For children in traditional style classrooms or co-op groups, another adult will direct most of their school days. In the days of the one room schoolhouse, everyone knew the teacher, but in modern times, few parents have a close relationship with the educator who will invest so much in their child’s growth academically and otherwise. Real moms want to know, “Who is this stranger who will imprint herself (or himself) on the life of my child? Does this real person …
Half-time for SUMMER!
How many summers have ended with regrets over what we didn’t do? While we were gorging ourselves on popsicles and spending hours in the pool … summer slipped through our sun-screen covered fingers. Before you know it, you’ll be buying the box of 500 sandwich bags and getting back in the lunch box assembly line with vague memories of these crazy, lazy days of summer. Or maybe you’re in the crazy and longing for the lazy. STOP! It’s half-time! While it’s still hot and hazy, you can take a break and teach your children a valuable lesson at the same …
A Flying Carpet for Two … or More
Last week we heard from awesome dads as we prepared to celebrate Father’s Day. Let’s hear it for the Daddies! Becoming a father brings a pick up truck load of transitions for a man. In about as long as it takes for a season of Duck Dynasty to unfold, a daddy-to-be may watch helplessly as his lover is stolen away by a fuzzy cheeked bundle who melts his own heart and steals that of his bride. What’s a dad to do? One of the best gifts a mother can give her child is to love her little one’s father well. …
Do I have to say goodbye to bubble baths?
Today I’m sharing an excerpt from my eBook EXPECTANT: 40 Devotions for New and Expectant Moms. EXPECTANT helps a mommy-to-be or a new mom grow her own life while growing a baby. Like this excerpt from the chapter about “Strengthening Your Heart,” transparent stories and biblical truth give new mamas a generous helping of hope and wisdom for the transition into motherhood. What girl doesn’t love a long hot bubble bath? It’s right up there with a pedicure, a latte, and reading on the beach. Read a magazine and drink a latte, while getting a pedicure at the beach, and …