Finding joy in the everyday

“In today's media-saturated culture, families are surrounded by accounts of shootings, bombings and other mass killings. Our kids won't fully understand these stories, but they'll be frightened just the same. As parents, we need to help them have the necessary facts to process these tragic events and a larger understanding to ease their fears.” ( LINK : Focus on the Family) I am not one that believes in keeping children hidden from world events. I think they do need to know (and understand) what is happening around them (in an age appropriate way) so once older, it doesn’t all comes as a shock and they are unable to cope with what is happening around them. Children pick up bits and pieces from the news (TV, radio and newspaper), other sources on the internet and via listening into adult conversation, so adults do need to help their children make sense of what is happening rather than them trying to find it out on their own.  We cannot shield our children from ...

Recently I watched the movie“Sully” about the Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger who successfully landed his plane on the Hudson River, saving the lives of 155 people. When the crash investigators examined the crash, they strongly believed that Sully could have turned the plane back and safely landed at LeGuardia airport. Sully told the investigation that it would have been impossible. In their attempt to prove him wrong they re-run the crash using computer simulations and sure enough, both the computer simulations and the simulations using pilots all said he could have returned to the airport.  However, when Sully watched the pilots reenacting the accident on the simulation he asked “how many times have they done this”, Sully was told the pilots had practiced 17 times before they did the “real-test” simulation. Sully replies: No one warned us. No one said "You're going to lose both engines at a lower altitude than any jet in history. But, be cool, just ...

Below is part of an  interesting  article from "Focus on Family" by  Joanne  Kraft ( SOURCE ). I have taken the part that looks at all the little things that parents teach their children  i.e.   picking  up toys and why these small steps are so important later in life.  Sometimes being a parent is just so hard — but what you are doing is SO important, perhaps it is hard to see right now, but later on when the fruits of your labour  flourish, it will all make so much more sense.  I hope you enjoy this article.  Small steps, big beginnings One day when my kids were young, I slumped down at my kitchen table and dropped my face into my hands. Tears welled as I prayed silently. Really, Lord, is this my lot in life? Teaching children to put away their toys? Reminding them repeatedly to use kind words and to share with each other? Lord, surely You must have something bigger, more important for my life. After I...

I know this is long, but its so worth reading. It was written in 1913 by J.R. Miller but as you read it, it is more than relevant to 2017.  We spend a great deal of time minimise  our children's suffering, accidents or even fights with their siblings so our children are happy and have an easy life, however what we aren't teaching them is  resiliences , problem solving skills and that they will face  issues  they must deal with and it will be painful. This needs to start early and for the first time we have a generation of children who have been wrapped in cotton wool and will find life much harder to cope with compared to  previous  generations. We also have a generation of children that have wrapped their parents around their fingers and the child's happiness is  paramount regardless of anything else. We no longer let children play games where there are winner and looses so they don't get upset. Even sports have been altered so the...

Fear and faith cannot coexist We cannot confess our love for the Lord Jesus Christ and still be fearful.  But we do. As mothers we fear (and worry) way too much. We are fearful about the world our children are living in, we worry about their health, their education, we fear for their future, we fear for their safety. In fact many mothers will worry about things that doesn't  even exist. We are experts at generating our own fears.  Even though we are told over and over again in the bible to TRUST IN THE LORD , we still worry and remain fearful. Why . . . because for many mothers, it is very difficult to hand over one's problems to the Lord and let go. But this is what we need to do . . .  MUST do. Our children might trip and fall. They might even get sick. They might eat things they shouldn't, they might break an arm, they might do things we don't like. But these are all part of growing up. We cannot wrap our children ...

I love my children and would travel to the moon and back for them — and they know this.  They know my love is endless and that I would drop anything to be at their side. I have done this many times and will do it again until the day I die or incapable of doing so. Working mothers love their children just as much as mothers who stay home. Just because some women work does not reduce their love for their children, it never has and it never will.  Of course there are mothers who struggle with loving their children but this has NOTHING to do with working, they have other much more complex issues going on.  It saddens me greatly that there are Christian women who believe this and spread the message that only women who are at home 24/7 can truely love their children.  Have you ever wondered if mothers of the past were with their children 24/7? The answer is no — rich women had nannies and had far less real contact with their children than modern mothers....

To smack or not to smack? A question many parent asked. . .  What are your views on this topic?  I have read a number of blogs that support smacking plus the comments left by readers — it is certainly a topic that can polarise a room with very strong views for and against.  It can also divide parents and cause many  arguments. It is one of those topic that should be fully discussed before having children and a decision made whether to smack or not. It saves a lot of pain in the end.  As to my position — I am not a supporter of smacking babies for any reason and would never recommend it. However I know there are many supporters of Michael and Debi Pearl (and their book "To train up a child) who strongly  believe in smacking (switching) babies of only a few months old on their bare skin or pulling hair to cause pain to stop a particular behaviour to obtain complete obedience.  They also have, what I consider, very h...

How would you describe modern children and teen wear? I find much of teen wear unattractive, unfeminine, immodest and often just plain ugly. As for younger children's clothes — well, that is a mixed bag, some are lovely and pretty, others much more questionable, especially when they try to replicate ugly adult wear for younger girls. The changes in children and teen clothing has been quite remarkable over the last 100 years. In this blog post I thought it would be fun (and perhaps some what depressing) to look at the changes that have occurred.  I think the two pictures above says it all - things have changed and perhaps not for the best!! Dainty is not a word one would use for 2015 as they did in 1920! The 1920s Indulging our children: There was a time when mum went shopping and bought clothes for her children, clothing was practical and mother only bought what she could afford.  Most mothers these days buy what their children want (even if they can't affor...

Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Is like a city broken down, without walls. Proverbs 25:28 As a child, every Sunday my family and I went to our uncle's home for Sunday morning meeting. When my grandfather was alive, we would gather at his home. We didn't attend a main stream church, rather our family gathered together for hymns, bible reading and pray.  Between hymns there were periods of silent which, for any child, felt like forever. It was tough going at times. As children we were expected to sit quietly, no talking, no fidgeting, no walking about and we certainly weren't allow to have any toys to play with or books to read. As the youngest I sat next to my parents and if I did anything wrong I was given "that look" which I knew meant trouble.  From memory, I can't remember any of us getting into major trouble, we knew what was expected of us from an early age and we did as we were told - otherwise it meant trouble and perhaps the wood...