Yesterday, when Laurel was whining about something, it occurred to me that her God-given strength– her ability to articulate anything and everything– was going unused as long as she was whining and crying. I stopped my short, irritated lecture, and pulled her on my lap. “Did you know that God gave you a love for [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning
(Or simply, Spiritual Instruction Outside of the Box) An excellent missions blog I read on occasion has a link to a website that I found fascinating, not merely for its implications in missions, but also for its implications on teaching non-standard learners. Our American churches emphasize the written word heavily, and well they should. God’s [...]
Tags: learning disability
Filed under: Child Development, Communication and Meaning
Today, I want to think about the relationship between physical and spiritual development. Several years ago, my father-in-law agreed to repost an article on a forum that I wrote for. I thought it was interesting, but my oldest child was two, and I didn’t understand the article as well as I do now. [P]hysical maturity is [...]
Filed under: Child Development
I’ve been thinking about my desire to be more patient with my children. I’ve been praying about it, but then I started thinking more deeply (forgive me– I think more at certain times of the month!) Is prayer the only thing I can do to be more patient? We talked a little bit about teamwork, [...]
Filed under: Emotions, Getting Along
Our children asked us the other day if we were going trick or treating this year. Once again, they have polled all the church kids and figured out that some of their friends go trick or treating, and some don’t. Again, I told them that Halloween is mostly about darkness and evil things. Now, my [...]
Had a good actual discussion with one of my children about salvation. I mentioned that the Bible talks about a number of people who were reluctant to be saved or repent, and that we can see several reasons for not doing so. We chatted about a few. The pharisees were more concerned about what people [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning, Fear, Salvation
One of my dear ones wrestles with attention. From the time she’s been little, getting her to pay attention has been a challenge. She has a delightful personality that isn’t bothered by pesky details. She is happy, has a tender conscience, and cares about people (much of the time). In general, sustaining attention is not [...]
Filed under: Attention
Metacognition is thinking about thinking. I wrote a bit about answering the question “How did they behave?” I’d like to follow up with a few more thoughts about the thinking behind and around the question itself. The occasion of the post was a genuinely profitable and enjoyable spiritual conversation at the playground with a child [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning
I want to be a gospel-centered parent. I mean, being gospel centered is good. Essential. Biblical. Colossians 1:18 says And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. If you grew up without the foundation of [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning
Awhile back, I talked about how a child who (for whatever reason) doesn’t read often or well can be encouraged to grow spiritually. It’s taken a long time, but I finally got the whole Bible (free from Faith Comes by Hearing) on David’s old iPod that Lee connected to an old stereo in his room. [...]
Filed under: Bedtime, Child Development
