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Role playing is a great way to help children learn and understand, especially when it comes to learning how to better get along with others at home. Recently my husband Mark and I used role playing at our house with one of our sons. Here’s how it went down…
Read Post →It’s hot! It’s sharp! It’s poisonous! It’s dangerous! It was so easy when they were little. But the older my kids get, dangerous gets a little more ambiguous. Can music be dangerous? Movies? A computer? Yes, yes and yes! It takes a lot of monitoring—and I am just not a detail person. Then I heard this speaker. She was younger than me and didn’t even have kids – but she worked with them. She said, “I talk to a lot of parents that are so worried about what their kids are watching and listening to. They all seem so helpless about what to do about it. This baffles me. You are the parent – turn it off.” It became my motto. When in doubt turn it off! That took a lot of pressure off of me. If I am in a rush and don’t have the time to analyze what’s on an iPod or TV. . . I turn it off. If the kids give me a hard time about turning it off, I just take it away. This , of course, can really frustrate my kids so I have to make time sooner rather than later to analyze the …
Read Post →G raduation means you’re ready and going away. R eally, I would much rather that you choose to stay. A ll eighteen years have skipped by me so fast. D o you remember the times I treasure from the past? U are beautiful, accomplished and amazingly wise… A s you walk, this thought dawned on me with such surprise. T hough you’re clearly equipped, I fear I’m not prepared. I know, from a breaking heart, I will not be spared. O n you march anyway, like your sister before. N ew people, new places… new tears on the floor
Read Post →Cinderella… she was ever hopeful, beautiful, and selfless. She was kind and generous. In stark contrast to Cinderella, her step-sisters were callous, selfish, and lazy. In today’s world, they’d probably have their own credit cards – without a spending limit, use social media as a means for cyber-bullying and believe fame (of any kind) to be the ultimate standard for success. When my daughter was about two years old, she was obsessed with Cinderella and all of the princesses. The Cinderella movie graced our TV practically every evening while I made dinner. It was during one of these nights that I began watching the movie more analytically. I was thinking about what a friend of a friend shared with me. Newly single, she explained how hopeless she felt about dating. “I just wish I could find that prince charming. I’m pretty sure they don’t exist anymore.” My thought is this: Maybe Prince Charming doesn’t exist but neither does sweet kind Cinderella; OR maybe Prince Charming does exist. In which case, he might come to find if you became more like the Cinderella he is searching for. I know it seems like a brutal thought, but I see it everywhere now. …
Read Post →When she has a Fender Bender Last night I answered my phone and heard nothing but sobs – I hate those calls. It was my daughter and after what seemed like minutes (but was really seconds) I heard, “Mom, I just got in an accident.” Here’s the story: My daughter went to the mall and parked in the parking garage. By the time she left, it was night and dark. She was talking on her phone as she slowly exited the last level of the garage.. It was a weekday night so the garage was pretty empty. As she was coming down the ramp, she passed a big pickup truck and BOOM…someone backed into her. He was backing out from the space on the other side of the pickup so he didn’t see her coming. Now, my teenage daughter has never had an accident, so she was very rattled. She jumped out of her car. A gentleman in his 50’s jumped out of his car. She immediately said “I am so sorry!” and he said, “No I am so sorry. Are you ok?” Fortunately, they were both fine. As they started looking at the cars he said, “Well I think …
Read Post →When Someone Asks Her Out on A Date It was Friday night, football game. There was a big game that night. I arrived a little late so my daughter went ahead of me. As I round the corner of the concession stand, a group of my friends animatedly grab me and say, ” Susan, where’s _____ (insert name of any of my daughters because I can’t tell everything!)?” I say, “Well, she’s somewhere here.” They say, “So and so, brought her son to the game and he is asking her to homecoming. Where is she?” Well my first thought was, “Oh my goodness. She is going to die.” My daughter is a cautious type that really does not like to be the center of attention. At this point she was only two months into her freshman year of high school and not at all comfortable with the big new world of high school. While most girls would probably like an audience of thousands when asked to a big dance, my daughter is a little more private. Knowing she would be uncomfortable I immediately texted “where are you??? She was hiding up in the stands and, yes, the young man had …
Read Post →I read this quote, and it was convicting and liberating at the same time… “It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing.” Mother Teresa Convicting – because I don’t know that in my multi-tasking madness I put enough love into what I am doing. Liberating – because I can’t do it all, but if I do what I can with love it will count more. Today I am going to serve dinner with a little more love =)
Read Post →Every child is disrespectful at some point in their life. In our house it happens more than I would like. Mark and I share our thoughts on the best defense for disrespect.
Read Post →My name is Clyde Christensen. I am a husband, a father of three terrific daughters, and I’m an NFL football coach. I don’t know of anyone whose life has been more blessed than mine. I have a great passion and appreciation for the role and benefits which a family (or team of any kind) can have on one’s life. As I look at our own family, and as I look forward and dream of our daughters going on and living fruitful, Godly lives, I see them raising families of their own. But as often as I look forward, I also can’t help but look back and think of how easily my life and thus generations to follow could have been snuffed out before it ever got started. I can’t help but think of a 15-year-old, unwed, pregnant teen who made a courageous decision not to abort her child, but instead gave him a chance at life that over 50 million children since have not had. That child was me. I have never met my birth mother, but I am so grateful for her courage to have her child when it wasn’t and still isn’t to this day the choice of …
Read Post →Social networking is the Internet phenomenon of the decade. It is transforming the way the next generation communicates. Don’t be left behind! It is so important for moms to be in the know before their children begin using new technology or communication tools. Unfortunately, technology is getting away from us – we are too busy to keep up. Several times my children learned how to use a new communication tool before I had even heard of it. They learned it from friends. That puts moms at a distinct disadvantage! It makes it difficult to teach them the correct/responsible/safe way to use something if our kids are already more experienced with it and have already enjoyed using it without parental guidance, and sometimes even consent. Social Networking: why you need to know about it from Family First on Vimeo. Social Networking: what you need to know from Family First on Vimeo.
Read Post →Stay Informed
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