On the way home from church the other night, on a whim, I asked the children, “What verse would you think about if you were having a hard time being kind to your sister or brother?” The children were all stymied. “Children obey your parents”? We talked about some better possibilities. Then I asked, “Can [...]

Filed under: In the Car and on the Go, Scripture Memory, Using Questions

Happy Day, but lots to do. Lee’s grandma passed away a little more than a week ago, so we flew to Oregon for the funeral and to spend time with our extended family. It was a good trip. As usual, I notice more clearly my own parenting faults when my children are in public more [...]

Filed under: In the Car and on the Go, Uncategorized

Christmas is a great time to teach children about giving and receiving gifts, about selfishness and loving others. Some years I do better at making worthwhile gifts with the children to give to others. Other years, I feel like all my good intentions simmered in a pot but never left it (say, “child under 18 [...]

Tags: Christmas
Filed under: In the Car and on the Go, Manners

I noticed a week or so ago a new pattern of behavior in the car. David and Bethel sit together in the back. By and large, they get along well, and they tend to resolve their conflict when they are irritated with each other. Lately, though, they’ve developed this entertainment that is basically poking each [...]

Filed under: In the Car and on the Go

I’m rethinking our tradition of allowing jumping on the beds in hotels. Awhile back, I heard of someone doing that, and I thought it was a fun way of discouraging jumping on the bed at home (which to be honest, has never been a large problem). We don’t let them jump on the bed for [...]

Tags: stewardship
Filed under: In the Car and on the Go

I found an excellent article on family vacations. It was written to fathers and husbands, but I found it quite challenging for myself. We spend much time preparing for a vacation: oil changed, laundry, house cleaned, finding ways to keep the children happy on a road trip. How about spending time preparing spiritually for the [...]

Filed under: In the Car and on the Go

Once again we drove home from California on a Sunday. I lost my purse, and we spent Saturday trying to find it with no success. So we packed up and left extra early Sunday morning, just in time to get to church in Phoenix suburbs. Last time we did this and found that it gave [...]

Filed under: In the Car and on the Go

Yesterday I noticed Bethel was getting clingy and irritable, and today I figured out why. David is her best friend, and the past week, he’s not played with her at all. Even though the cousins do play with her some, most of their games don’t interest her or make sense to her. I think she [...]

Filed under: Emotions, In the Car and on the Go

One of the things that Lee and I talked briefly about is the difference between parenting at home, and parenting at Grandma’s house with cousins all around. For one, our children watch more TV, play on the computer more, and play video games. They’ve done more of these activities in a week than they normally [...]

Filed under: In the Car and on the Go

One of the great opportunities of travel is that you get a good idea of your strengths and weaknesses in how you are parenting. You see where you need more work, and where your instruction is paying off. Sometimes it is humiliating. Sometimes it is a time for giving thanks. Today I took the children [...]

Filed under: In the Car and on the Go