Anyone who has more than one child realizes that God created every child to be a unique individual. It has always amazed me that children raised in the same family, by the same parents, in the same environment, can all be so different from each other. While family unity is vital for our children’s growth…
Mommy Guilt. Is there a mother on the planet who doesn’t have it?? Here is a very partial list of my Mommy Guilt: Starting a strict schedule with my particular baby who needed to be held and cuddled the most. Making a child finish his dinner when his tonsils were so swollen they were touching…
As of May 15 of this year, I have been raising children for twenty-three years, so while I feel somewhat qualified to share parenting advice, I am fairly new at this mother-in-law thing. 🙂 My oldest son, Joshua, and his wife Alissa, have only been married for two years. I am sure many of you…
You will notice that some of these posts overlap. This one is very similar to #5, but I’m coming from a different angle. Our children are a blessing, and we are thankful to have them. It is a really good thing to do special things for them, and allow them to do special things. It…
If we are going to have any kind of influence over our children, having a relationship with them is vital. This is true at any age. We need to invest in them. We need to spend time with them. We need to listen to them. We need have them work along side of us. We…
We need to prepare our children to stay strong in an ungodly world, and to possibly even face persecution. It saddens me to even have to put this among the list of parenting advice/suggestions. Five years ago, I never would have thought that there would be a need to write something like this. But sadly,…
Some (perhaps most) of these posts stem from various regrets, things I would tweak (or totally change) if I were just starting out as a parent, and things I wish I had learned earlier. However, this is one thing that I would do exactly the same way if I were to do it over again….
I have hesitated to post this one because I have several dear friends who are single moms, and one single dad that I know of, and not by their own choice. God has given them extra strength and grace to raise their children as a single parent, and they are each doing amazingly well under…
I have found this particular tip, by far, to be the hardest one to try to put into words, but I’ll do my best. I also know that this one may be rather controversial. As with everything I am posting, please make your parenting decisions in light of Scripture. What’s wrong with self-righteous attitudes? The…
This one is short (surprise!!) and simple. A lot of things can be really cute at age three, or even up to about age eight or ten, but they are downright annoying and disrespectful at age twelve, twenty, or forty. Just to be clear, I am NOT talking about normal childish behavior in areas where…
We want to instill in our children a desire to be grateful for the many blessings that God has given them. Not only will they have a more joyful life, but contentment pleases God. God hates complaining. To know how much He hates it, all we have to do is observe how God responded to…
Pray for your children, and pray for them often. Not only do Jeff and I pray for our children during our personal devotion time, but also as the Lord brings them to mind, throughout the day. When I catch myself worrying about one of my children, I try (key word) to pray about the specific thing…
It is important to help and encourage our children to become each other’s best friends. Next to their future spouse, ideally their siblings will always be their best friends. When your children get into an argument or fight, help them work through their disagreements. Ask them questions like: “How could you have responded in…
Parenting Tip Number Six Guard your children’s friendships carefully. If you see that every time they spend time with a certain friend they are disrespectful to you, mean to their siblings, more prone to gossip, and are drawing away from the Lord instead of closer to Him, perhaps it is time to end that friendship….
Parenting Tip Number Four As parents, we will sometimes make mistakes (gasp!!). In fact there will be times when we outright sin against our child. We can lose our tempers, be impatient, say hurtful things and sin against our children in various ways. (Ephesians 6:4 – And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath:…
Parenting Tip Number Three We need to really, truly listen to our children and teenagers. Obviously, they should speak respectfully, but our children, of any age, should feel free to come to us and share anything that is on their heart. They should be able to share any doubts, any fears, any worries, any joys…
I hope you were able to read Tip Number One from yesterday. It lays the foundation for this tip. Parenting Tip Number Two Make the Bible the center of your family’s life. Simple ways to incorporate it: Read the Bible and pray every day together as a family. As soon as your children can read,…
Introduction Hi, I’m Kim. I’ve been married to my best friend, Jeff, since 1987. We have five children, Joshua (1992) who has been married to Alissa since 2013, Joseph (1995), Josiah (1997), Jessica (1998), and Jennifer (2001). I’m a full time stay at home, homeschooling mom. I need to preface these parenting tips I’m posting…
