How to Raise a Moral Child

All parents hope to raise children that have good moral values. But, how does one do it? The short answer to that question has to do with they way a parent praises a child for doing good things. The words you use make a huge difference! Adam Grant, a professor of management and psychology at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, wrote a very detailed piece for the New York Times called “Raising a Moral Child”. In it, he explains the results of different studies that tried to discern what parents could do to raise a moral child. … Continue reading

12 Suggestions For Raising Godly Children

So you want to bring your children up in God’s ways so that they will follow Him. Here are some suggestions for ways you can help achieve this. 1. Pray for and with your child. Let them see the reality of your faith as you turn to the Lord in prayer when problems or hard times come, or just for God’s help with decisions each day. Encourage them by your example to praise God for the blessings of life every day. 2. As you pray for your children, pray for those they will grow up to marry. From the time … Continue reading

Praise Children for Things They Have Control Over

We know as parents that praise and encouragement are important. In fact, most of us have learned the lessons of building our child’s self-esteem through those positive, encouraging words. What might be a bit confusing, however, is how WHAT we praise can really make a difference in how our children benefit from those words of praise. Praising effort is more encouraging for a child than to praise the outcome. When you encourage a child for working hard, trying, and being persistent—you are encouraging them in the process and not focusing on whether they win, lose, or what the outcome is. … Continue reading

Teaching Your Children Kindness

One of the most important things that we can teach our children is kindness. This is such an important thing for each person to learn. There are times in everyone’s life when a simple act of kindness has made a big difference in how they felt about themselves. Children can learn at a young age to be kind to others. While I know that you can not make people be friends with each other, you can encourage your children to be more accepting of others. One way to teach kindness is to demonstrate it to your children. As you refrain … Continue reading

Ten Ways to Help Your Child with OCD (or Anxiety) Succeed in School

The child with obsessive-compulsive disorder or generalized anxiety can have a difficult time in school. Obsessive thoughts and an intense need to perform rituals can cause a lot of difficulty with learning. Often parents are extremely frustrated just getting their son or daughter to school in the first place, when the child changes her mind ten times about the clothes she wants to wear, or washes his hands eight times before meeting his carpool. Then, at school, the teacher must deal with difficult behaviors while still trying to manage the classroom. These children need a lot of love, patience, and … Continue reading

Disciplining Your Special Needs Child

How do you deal with that temper tantrum your child displays in Wal Mart? Do you want to crawl under the table while your little angel is being obnoxious when the family is dining out? What do you do when he is misbehaving and is oblivious to your threats of punishment? There are tactics you can employ when your child is consistently disobedient. First and foremost, use discipline sensibly. Whatever method of punishment you choose, remember to enforce it firmly and dependably. Consistency is the cornerstone of discipline. Displaying overprotective tendencies by letting bad behavior go unpunished, never helps your … Continue reading

Give Your Kids Reasons

Children by nature are impulsive. They rarely think before acting. They do not understand the cause and effect relationship and as a result are often surprised that their actions may result in discipline. Young children are also extremely self-centered usually not thinking beyond what they want. They do not realize how their actions can affect someone else. So as a parent it is important that you teach your children why things do and do not happen. They also need to know how their actions impact themselves and others. The best way to teach your children about the why’s in life … Continue reading

The WRONG Way to Praise Your Child

Is there ever a wrong way to praise your son or daughter? Every child needs to hear that he or she is loved, appreciated, and good at something. Giving your child positive feedback can build confidence, self-esteem, and create an ongoing desire to keep trying. However, if you’re not careful, your compliments can have the opposite result. Praise requires balance to be effective. Here are three “don’ts” when it comes to praising your child: Don’t use the same phrase over and over again. Saying “Good girl,” repeatedly sounds like training language for a dog. Even “good job,” “awesome,” or “wow” … Continue reading

How Emotional Abuse Leads to Guilt and Shame

The reason given for emotional abuse varies: you are bad, stupid, ugly, or unwanted, or you are the wrong sex, the wrong age, or the wrong whatever. No matter what reason is provided, you are to blame for what is happening to you. You are guilty of causing the abuse. The guilt you are feeling is not true guilt. True guilt is brought on by a realistic understanding of your behavior and its consequences to yourself and others. False guilt is an oppressive burden that is not based on reality but on the warped views, ideas, and attitudes of others. … Continue reading

Are You a Good PR Person for Marriage?

As I was writing the blog for Christian families the other week, I thought that the same thing can be applied to marriage. Whether we like it or not others are watching the way we relate to each other. We may think people don’t take any notice but if we think that, we’d be wrong. Others and particularly our own children are watching closely to see how marriage works or how it doesn’t. What do they see? Do they see a marriage that is harmonious where decisions are made together? Do they see a division of chores and labor, so … Continue reading