By Susan G Mathis, guest blogger Three months before I was born, my father died, leaving my mother to raise two children under two—alone. But when I was four months old, my mother, widowed grandma, and bachelor uncle bought a house together. Moreover, they rented out a room to an “old-maid” nurse. Lucky us—my brother and I had not two but four adults telling us what to do! Mom still quips that with all those different and very diverse role... Read more
We all make mistakes as parents, but when we do, we’re often harder on ourselves than we are on others who might do the same thing. We’re not perfect, we don’t always pick the “right” answer, and we often flub up when it comes to raising our kids. In this week’s video blog, I share a few of my own less-than-stellar moments as a mom. I also talk about how we need to give ourselves the same grace we give... Read more
By Julie Polanco, guest blogger When we chose to homeschool our children, I knew our journey would be different. But I didn’t know how different. I understood school as children sitting at desks doing what the teacher told them to. I figured that homeschooling would be like that, only in my home. Those assumptions proved to be wrong as well. In fact, homeschooling my four children—now age 19, 17, 13 and 11—taught me a lot about God, learning and parenting.... Read more
Do you attend church with your kids? By that I mean, do you sit together during the worship service or are you in the sanctuary and your kids in children’s church? While there’s nothing overtly wrong with children’s church, in this week’s video, I make the case for attending church in its entirety as a family on Sunday mornings. I also address the four most common reasons why parents shuffle their children off to children’s church rather than sit in... Read more
Whether you homeschool or send your kids to private or public school, the re-entry back into the school year doesn’t have to be rough. Here are some tips for helping your kids prepare for school that will make the transition easier on everyone. It’s August, which means the school year for thousands of kids will soon begin. After a summer of fun, sun, and fewer rules, most kids aren’t ready to focus on reading, writing or arithmetic. I’ve asked other... Read more
A few weeks ago, my husband, myself and our four children (who range in age from 10 to 15) visited Colonial Williamsburg for the day. My two teenagers expressed their disinterest in going, but beyond that, resigned themselves to the trip. One of my tweens was very verbal about his dissatisfaction with our visit, complaining about waiting for our tickets, having to go to begin with, etc. Generally behaving like a brat. Being an old hand at this parenting thing,... Read more
By Julie B Cosgrove, guest blogger When I was a young parent-to-be, I asked my mother what made her such a good one. She winked at me. “I was there when you needed me, even when you didn’t want me there. Still am.” How true. I recall as a teen I didn’t particularly want her around, but I wanted to know she’d be around when I wanted her. She represented my refuge. And I knew, without a doubt, that even... Read more
We all wrestle with fears about our children, but keeping a healthy balance is key to not letting anxiety run away with us. In this week’s video blog, I discuss how anxiety about our children and their futures can color our parenting—and why that’s not a good thing. I also give three easy tips on how to not be anxious. To connect with me and read more about raising kids, visit www.sarahhamaker.com. Read more
By Glenn Haggerty, guest blogger One of the things parents struggle with is how to help their children find friends. Fiction can be a great way to introduce children and teens to the concepts like what being a friend means and how to go about finding friends. Guest blogger Glenn Haggerty provides some insights from his tween fiction book, Run. In Run, 13-year-old Tyler demonstrated two friendship blockers. First, he thought he was so cool he could only hang out... Read more
A mom asks how to figure out what is an appropriate amount of time to spend with her four children…and how to fit that into her busy day. In this week’s video blog, I provide a framework for thinking about how much attention children really need—and how to devise a schedule that allows for all the necessary work related to the care and feeding of young children, time for mom and dad, and solidifies the parent/child connection. For example, being... Read more
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