I’ve been looking for ways that I fall short in honoring and submitting to my husband. It’s not always easy for me to identify, primarily because Lee and I generally agree on most things, and because we’re both pretty easy going in general. However, I realized recently that I’ve not been careful regarding the red [...]
One of the long-term goals we have in teaching our children is helping them to govern their own behavior. Taking initiative is not something we associate with very small children; it is a quality cultivated over time. A child who does not have control over his spirit is like a city whose protective walls of [...]
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
We picked out another Helen Lester book at the library the other day, called Me First. I thought it would be a good conversation starter, and although it has been, I realized that the moral of the story is actually selfishly polite. Why should we share? Because sometimes being first isn’t desirable for my pleasure [...]
Filed under: Getting Along, Manners
This post is a result of a discussion about destructiveness. I made the statement that young children do not by and large understand the value of property. This statement was challenged, so I’ve been reevaluating what I think. I still stand by my statement, with a qualifier that perhaps my own children uniquely do not [...]
Filed under: Manners
My two children were happily eating a midmorning apple at the table, while I sat and tried to concentrate on writing the next Pulitzer quality blog post. After awhile, I became aware of a curious noise of something small hitting the kitchen floor. A child must have found some dried piece of food on the [...]
Filed under: Manners, Uncategorized
I spent some time with my Nave’s Topical Bible looking at thankfulness verses. Nave’s is a cool book that organizes Bible verses by topic. You can find it online, but I like the paper version better. Guess I need to spend more time reading, because while I read a lot about thankfulness to God (Psalm [...]
Filed under: Manners
David was given a belated birthday gift. It was a good gift, one that I was sure he would enjoy, but he refused to say thank you for it. When I was growing up, this was not an option. If you didn’t say thank you, you didn’t get the gift. But when I informed David [...]
Filed under: Manners
The probing question in chapter one of my mom’s book, Parenting with Wisdom (formerly titled Teaching Children Precept upon Precept), is “What distinguishes a godly Christian parent any other parent?” It’s a good question. I’ve known a number of excellent mothers who were unsaved. Their children were respectful, obedient, modestly dressed. It isn’t spanking, going [...]
Filed under: Manners
When do you say “thank-you” to your children? Â When they do something kind unexpectedly, without prompting. When they respond to a polite request, like “Please pass the broccoli” or “Please bring me a diaper for baby.” When they do something they are supposed to be doing: “Thank you for playing so unselfishly with your sister” [...]
