I’ve stepped away from a few opportunities to write about raising teen and young adult daughters because I felt that I wouldn’t be writing from a position of strength and victory. There are the privileged few that have the “insider track” on what goes on behind the scenes. The prayers from faithful friends that are being prayed over our every day life. We deal with heartache, a heart that is still mending, struggles with singleness, anger, indecisiveness, situations that could be life-threatening. This is what I want to show you…the realness of a MOM; a Mentor Mom. You see, it’s …
Messy Business
Being a mom is messy business and I don’t mean in the disorderly home kind. Our children, even before they can walk or talk, have the power to turn our world upside down and our hearts inside out. My husband, Tom, and I were concerned about our two-year-old’s speech and language development. We decided to have her tested. During the evaluation follow-up, the speech clinician declared our daughter to be aphasic. She said, “I expect she will never go to ‘regular school’, read, calculate math, or hold down a job.” This did not fit my neatly packaged idea of my …
I Just Want You! – 5 Tips for Parenting Teens
Being a teen is tough. It’s that limbo place between being a child and being a young adult, and it’s hard to figure out where you belong. You want to be treated as if you’re all grown up, yet you still need a parent’s wisdom. Hormones are changing as quickly as your life and you struggle with finding your way. Being a parent of a teen might just be harder than being a teen. It’s hard for a mom to really know what to do during those pivotal years when they seem so independent but they don’t process life like …
Raising Kids to be Independent Adults: How to LET. THEM. GO. & The M.O.M. Initiative Monday Link Up!
with Karen Ehman My friend Sheila Wray Gregoire asked a great question last week: “When Does Childhood End?” I agree with her premise that one of my duties, as a mom, is to help my kids find their route to independence, maturity, and purpose. So it’s been hard to admit that I was a “smother mother” when my daughter was in high school. I ran interference with my daughter’s teachers so often, she did not learn how to advocate for herself. She didn’t know how to ask, “When can I come make up the quiz I missed yesterday?” or “Why did …
Red Flag
When we see a red flag we know to – BEWARE. We are alerted to a hidden danger near-by. Recently I wanted to wave a red flag in front of a mom at the grocery store. Her child knew the line that would get his mom every time, “Dad lets me.” When he spouted his claim, I could almost see the mother raising her white flag…surrendering to her preschooler’s whims. She had wanted him to walk alongside the grocery cart, holding on to her or the buggy. (Reasonable in my opinion, just saying.) Apparently this was too restrictive for the …
Teen Mom? Here’s a Couple Tips For You
How do you balance tests, friends and a growing belly? With shows like The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and MTV’s Teen Mom, teens are desensitized to the realities of sex. I know I was. It seemed like everyone around me was doing it. And I LOVED my boyfriend, so why not? Nothing prepared me for the realities of motherhood. I would ask my mom questions about the pregnancy and birth but what about afterwards? Most books I’ve seen on the market deal with the emotions and the details during pregnancy. To me the pregnancy was the easiest part, it was after that …
Misunderstood Momma
* A flask of gunpowder and a bag of bullets were absent from this quick-draw-duel with my four-year-old son. One child stood alongside me in the elevator nice and happy. The other stood determined on the outside not about to get in. His glare along with his high-pitched voice screamed his defiance as he stood his ground. He had been testing my authority all morning and saw this as yet another opportunity. Time stopped as the showdown began. Who would win this battle of the wills? As my mouth told him to get in, my brain cried out a prayer that this time he …
Top 10 Things We’ve Done Right as Parents
Subscribe today for your FREE copy of… FACING YOUR FEARS – 31 STORIES FROM M.O.M. Mid-life isn’t treating Daniel kindly. He’s taking every immature choice of our college-aged kids personally, asking, “What did I do wrong?” Last night I told him, “I need a list of ten things we’ve done right as parents.” “10? As in the fingers on both hands?” he asked incredulously. “I married you. That’s my one.” I insisted he wasn’t getting off so easily with a cop-out, no matter how endearing. And after just a few minutes of brainstorming, he was surprised — …
eBabies + iTeens + YouToo: Kids and Cell Phones – the WHEN and HOW
Subscribe today for your FREE copy of… FACING YOUR FEARS – 31 STORIES FROM M.O.M. eBabies + iTeens + YouToo: Kids and Cell Phones – the WHEN and HOW Re-Viewing WHY Before we discuss the WHEN and HOW, though, I want to touch on one WHY that we didn’t discuss last time: emergencies. Many parents give their children cell phones so they can communicate in the event of a crisis. A few examples of how such proactive planning may not always succeed: When we still lived in southern California, we experienced a strong earthquake. …
Fun Teenagers
Subscribe today and receive your FREE copy of… FACING OUR FEARS – 31 STORIES FROM M.O.M. By Guest: Lyn Smith Recently, I made a comment about how fun my older kids are. A friend, with a younger child, asked if I could give her some tips on how that happened. Here is what I shared with her. I pray it encourages and helps you on your parenting journey. 1) Cultivate an atmosphere of joy. Life is funny! We choose to laugh a lot. I have made a conscious effort over the years to smile at my kids. …