I’m often tempted to discipline my children with the goal of gaining immediate results. While this might get me what I want in the moment, it often leads to greater frustration later because I didn’t really teach the value behind…
We recently got the following email from a loving, caring parent. We believe others among you might have similar questions, so we thought we’d share! Hope this conversation answers questions you might have and sparks a few new ones: Dear…
Sometimes parents get too angry. Other times they don’t get angry enough – or at least they don’t stand firm to keep kids growing in responsibility for their own lives. In the name of keeping the peace parents sometimes keep…
We parents sometimes get it backwards. Our kid acts up and we get angry. We then tend to justify our anger saying, “I wouldn’t be angry if you didn’t act up.” This means that we’ve let our child be in…
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. James 1:19, 20 Primitive emotions are…
The memory is vivid. Our eldest son Daniel was quick with his tongue when unhappy. Quick and usually ugly. One day I was sternly (…OK harshly) disciplining my daughter for laziness, and she burst into tears. Daniel emerged from his…
I was fixing the toilet. Two-year-old Bethany was playing in a room down the hall. I was doing final repairs needed before we closed on the sale of our house. I just needed to get my little wrench down in…
“Where sin abounds, Grace abounds more” When a child really “loses it” – the freakin’ out, screaming and kicking kind of lose it – parents have a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate either grace or “ungrace.” Having done the “ungrace” response…
Teen Tantrums Teen Tantrums are not all that different than two-year-old tantrums. So read the tip below and apply those principles. But there are some distinctions, too. Because teen tantrums are usually verbal, the teens frequently say things that…
A Thoughtful Approach to Whining “Whining” is a common problem whether children are toddlers, or teens demanding to get what they want. When parents try to make the whining or demanding stop, it usually backfires. Consider this story from a…