25March2008

Easter Story Not Understandable

Posted by Michelle under: Communication and Meaning; Discipleship.

Last week one Pastor gave an alert that a curriculum his church uses omits the Easter Story, the crucifixion and the resurrection. The authors gave two reasons; the first was that the Easter story is too violent for preschoolers. We talked about this objection on Friday. The second objection was that preschoolers don’t understand death [...]

Popularity: 42% [?]

21March2008

Easter Story Too Violent

Posted by Michelle under: Communication and Meaning; Salvation.

Authors of a Sunday school curriculum explained recently why they were omitting the Crucifixion and Resurrection from their preschool curriculum. They made this choice for two reasons: first, that the crucifixion is too violent for preschoolers, and second, preschoolers are unable to grasp what it means to die and be raised again.
Apart from the emotional [...]

Popularity: 47% [?]

18March2008

Followup to Fussy Toddler

Posted by Michelle under: Communication and Meaning; Emotions.

Today was one tearful episode after another, even with my full attention.

She wanted to take away the book I was reading to the older two, and instead read the book she had. She did not want to sit in my lap. She then decided that she’d rather have the book that Bethel was holding and [...]

Popularity: 36% [?]

14March2008

Fussy Toddler

Posted by Michelle under: Child Development; Communication and Meaning; Emotions.

My youngest daughter is seventeen months old. She seems like she’s peaked a need for close attention. She is fussy, doesn’t seem to know what she wants (cries if I put her down, cries if I pick her up, really cries if I sit down at the computer), and has been throwing little fits when [...]

Popularity: 36% [?]

4March2008

Doctrinal Music for Children

Posted by Michelle under: Communication and Meaning; Salvation.

When I asked about hymns to teach salvation truths, I had forgotten about a few places who have the same idea I do.
Sovereign Grace produced a children’s CD designed to teach doctrine in simple words. The doctrine is sound, although the poetry is not excellent, and the music style is contemporary. Personally, I believe children’s [...]

Popularity: 31% [?]

3March2008

Honking Horns and Stomping Feet

Posted by Michelle under: Communication and Meaning; Emotions.

The other day while we were driving a car beside us honked his horn in anger at the car who was not moving to turn right, in spite of a clear ability to do so. David asked why the man honked.
I told him that some people honk to communicate and some honk when they are [...]

Popularity: 48% [?]

1March2008

Using Bible Vocabulary

Posted by Michelle under: Communication and Meaning.

In spite of my familiarity with the Bible, I find myself sometimes avoiding Bible words with my young children. I think it’s because I’m trying to be understandable, but I don’t do that with any other vocabulary.
When I use big words, I simply explain them within the sentence. I might say, “I’m having difficulty with [...]

Popularity: 15% [?]

14February2008

Indirect Teaching

Posted by Michelle under: Child Development; Communication and Meaning.

I’ve been thinking about Barbara’s (and others’s) comments here and Jay’s comments here, and then yesterday I found something that woke me up thinking about the possibilities.
This is not an excursis; be patient. At a local thrift store I picked up a copy of Meet the Austins, by Madeleine L’Engle. Now, I collect Newbery Award [...]

Popularity: 17% [?]

5February2008

Teaching Babies– Crying Again

Posted by Michelle under: Communication and Meaning; Emotions; Uncategorized.

Sometimes I think dealing with crying is one of the biggest challenges for a mom of an infant. It takes a good deal of wisdom to know how to respond. What is good advice for a 15 month old isn’t always good advice for a 2 week old. Sometimes it’s appropriate to let a baby [...]

Popularity: 36% [?]

4February2008

What to Do About Crying? Teaching Babies Part 1

Posted by Michelle under: Communication and Meaning.

I don’t have all the answers. That’s why I don’t typically write how-to post titles (and when I do they’re often tongue in cheek). But it’s easy to forget about what I’m doing with Laurel, especially as my middle child grows in her ability to understand and use language (although I still have mindbogglingly [...]

Popularity: 18% [?]