This question came in response to my advice about handling tantrums— Q: I have a 3 year old daughter, who I think should just be re-named “stubborn”. I know I am going to have to put my foot down and insist, always, that what I say is followed through with. When my daughter is raging, and…
Search Results for: sleep
“My Kids Don’t Listen To Me”
Is this you? Many moms land here from search engine queries that boil down to one thing: their kids don’t listen to them. This mom is weary of fighting what feels like an uphill battle for respect and well-disciplined children, and she’s looking for answers. She has a niggling feeling that things don’t have to be…
Making Family Decisions Amidst Ever-Diminishing Privacy
It was 2006 when I knowingly traded in my perceived freedom of privacy. We were three flights into our four-flight journey. Our two wiggly boys, then 3 and 18 months, rode atop the heap of duffels piled on a baggage cart as I –with half-grown pregnant belly– waddled past the eyes of the watching customs guard. We…
20 Ways to “Push the Reset Button” With Kids
No matter who we are, who our kids are, or how long we’ve been a mom, the tough days come. Bad attitudes come. Rough nights of sleep come. With tough days comes an uphill fight to have a contented attitude. I see it in my life– don’t you?– and so of course it occasionally comes…
4 Helps for Hard Times
“O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; My soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” ~ Psalm 63:1 ~ In our 6 years overseas, we experienced a number of challenges: my husband inexplicably collapsed (all but unconscious) for 5 days,…
September 2015 Mailbag: Preschoolers, Porn, & Fighting a Critical Spirit
#1– WHAT TO DO WITH THE PRESCHOOLER WHILE HOMESCHOOLING? Q: I feel at a loss with what to do with my 2-1/2-year-old daughter while we’re homeschooling, or even just throughout the day as I’m trying to get things done. What do you do with your 2-1/2-year-old? A: Well, Theo’s my current 2-year-old, and he’s a…
How To Avoid New Baby “Jealousy”
Each pregnancy, it happens at least once. A grocery store clerk, relative, older woman, a waiter– someone– says to my youngest child: “Are you gonna be jealous of the new baby?” Here’s what I want to say in response to that: “Be quiet!” (Of course I don’t say that.) What I actually say is, “Oh, no, (s)he is…
Eustace & My Hard, Dragon Heart
One of my favorite passages in C.S. Lewis’ fiction is from his book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. For background, Eustace is a wretched, spoiled boy who constantly complains and makes life miserable for himself and everyone else. He’s unexpectedly come to Narnia with his cousins Edmund and Lucy. The ship they’re on visits several islands, and…
How Ya Doin, Mama? (Really?)
Hey there, mom in the thick of raising your kids, or mom of 3 little ones, or newly postpartum mom, or homeschooling mom, or tired mom who has been dealing with a sick little person for far too long, or mom helping your aging parent, or single mom carrying the whole load yourself, or nomadic…
Reclaiming JOY in My Personal Bible Study
For the past few years, I’ve been dissatisfied with my personal study of the Bible, and I’m trying to hash out why. My goal is to reclaim joy in my studies of God’s Word. Here are some things I’m thinking through as I try to discover an approach to God’s Word that rightly honors Him as the truth-teller and…