5 tips that will help you learn how to help a child deal with pet death, plus one helpful children’s book on pet loss. My heart sank when I walked into the room and saw the fish floating at the top of the tank. After rushing the tank out of the room, I gently shook my boys awake. “I have some sad news for you, sweeties. Fishy died last night.” My normally-stoic 7 year old flipped onto his belly and began to bawl. I climbed up into the top bunk and lay beside him, letting his hot tears fall into my hands. He had bought the little beta fish with his own money. His favorite pastime was to watch the colourful little guy swoop and swirl in the water. And now his little friend was floating belly up, eyes glazed over. The death of a pet fish can seem very … Read More
How To Help The World As A Kid
Wondering how to help the world as a kid, or help your justice-minded child help the world while worshipping God? Read on… Of the 9 worship styles for kids, a child that leans toward the activist style is one with a very strong sense of justice. They might become frustrated by unfairness on the playground or at the dinner table. How can you help your justice-minded child to connect with God through standing up for justice? My son came home in a huff one day. According to him, all the other classes at school had the chance to play drums in music class, but his class only got to play the ukulele. He was furious over the injustice of it all. The icing on the cake of frustration came when he told his teacher he was interested in playing drums, and she simply said, “no.” My justice-minded child couldn’t handle … Read More
Surviving Summer Trips Without Screen Time: The Best Audiobooks for Families
Check out this enormous list of the best audiobooks for families! You won’t regret listening to stories instead of vegging with screens. We bought our minivan used, so we didn’t have the option of a built-in DVD player. For our first family vacation with 3 kids, we installed a portable DVD player, proud that we had joined the 21st century with our parenting moves. Only it turned out to be a BAD move. The kids begged for movies from the first moment they stepped in the van, were quiet for a big while the DVD was on, then were SUPER cranky anytime the movies turned off. I hated it. To me, the temporary quiet wasn’t enough to override the awful attitude my kids had before/after watching their movies in the van. Here’s what we did instead So we dumped the DVD player and started making much better use of our … Read More
The Introverted Mom’s Summer Survival Guide
I’m an introverted mom. There, I said it. Maybe you can identify? For us introverts (and probably even a lot of extroverts) sometimes those long days of summer where all the kids are home can seem more like an eternity. The kids chatter in our ears all day, demanding popsicles, books, activities, attention, popsicles, stories, food, drinks, bandaids, popsicles, and peacemaking. Did I mention the popsicles? All that noise truly wears on a introverted mom, and it can feel like all we want to do is: a) hide in the bathroom orb) sign the kids up for summer school. But let’s face it: our kids want our attention in the summer, and that’s a good thing! Instead of just booting them outside every chance we get, let me tell you how I set up my home for a successful summer. On a related note, check out this highly recommended new release … Read More
Gratitude for Kids: Pipe Dream or Possible?
Gratitude for kids can be so hard to achieve, but it is possible! Here are 4 concrete tips that have helped in my family. As you can see, we need to practice it more! It was Mother’s Day, and my kid was CRABBY. Like, Not-Quite-Preteen-Angst-Crabby, the kind that only comes when a privileged child sees someone else having a special day and decides that it has now become The Worst Day Ever because they are not the centre of attention. He didn’t want to bring his scooter to the park, until we got there and he realized he really did want some wheels. Oh, the misery when he realized we would not turn around and go back home to collect his scooter or bike. He didn’t get a special drink at lunch. Apparently he’s over having clean water to drink. That’s so 2018. It was too windy. It was too … Read More
5 Life-Changing Tips to Help Kids Sleep
Help kids sleep (and get more yourself) with these 5 life-changing tips. My son’s little face scrunched as he greedily sucked down his meal. The smell of milk breath and sweet baby skin mingled, but I wasn’t focused on the moment. Instead, the rocker moved quicker and quicker, my feet unable to stop pushing. I had just heard that my friend’s baby, born the same week as mine, was sleeping peacefully for 8 hours at a time. Mine still woke up every hour or two, which, while it was a big improvement from his previous longest sleeps of 40 minutes, was a far cry from 8 hours. Why couldn’t I get my baby to sleep when she obviously could? I was the one who had an older child; I felt like I should be better at this. But the mystery remained. All babies seem to sleep a little different. There … Read More
8 Prayers to Help a Child With Anxiety
8 prayers to help a child with anxiety, based on the Bible. My cell phone chimed just as I sat down to drink my coffee. It was the school. As soon as I picked up, my son’s complaint came through: “Mommy, I’m sick.” The scent of coffee teased me as I closed my eyes and sighed. “What kind of sick?” “My tummy hurts.” The school receptionist came on the line. “Yeah,” she apologized, “there’s something going around. Lots of the kids have been hit with this one.” I nodded, set the warm mug on the desk, and went to get my jacket. So much for my work morning. It was too early to tell, but I wondered if his stomachache had more to do with his thoughts than with germs. HOW TO TELL IF YOUR CHILD HAS ANXIETY Sure enough, he perked up soon after I picked him up. Occasionally … Read More
A Comprehensive Guide For How To Help Kids With Separation Anxiety
How to help kids with separation anxiety succeed in life. My 4-year-old has a surprisingly strong grip when he doesn’t want to go somewhere. For the past few months, dropping him off at his Thursday daytime had become a wrestling match. He wrapped himself around any vulnerable-looking body part…legs, arms, and neck were all fair game. I tried to entice him with games, friends, and the occasional bribe, but he would have none of it. He knew Mommy was leaving so he was going to hold on with the strength of a baby koala. If you have kids, or work with kids, or were recently a kid, you probably can instantly tell that my son was dealing with separation anxiety. SEPARATION ANXIETY IS A GOOD THING As a mom, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that separation anxiety means I’ve done something wrong. On the contrary, a … Read More
6 tools to actually help your kids online (because your internet filter isn’t helping as much as you thought)
A recent study from the Oxford Internet Institute shows that an internet filter is NOT an effective way to protect our children and teenagers from online pornography. In fact, if you look at their data, it almost seems that the reverse is true – that when caregivers have an internet filter, kids are slightly MORE likely to interact with various types of online pornography. Whoa. I can hear you freaking out. I know I did. There’s hope, but first, you need to confront the facts. “A pair of studies reporting on data collected in 2005, before the rise of smartphones and tablets, provides tentative evidence that Internet filtering might reduce the relative risk of young people countering sexual material. A more recent study, analyzing data collected a decade after these papers, provided strong evidence that caregivers’ use of Internet filtering technologies did not reduce children’s exposure to a range of … Read More
The Importance of Forgiveness for Kids
Let’s talk about the Biblical importance of forgiveness for kids! Imagine this very common scene with me: Olivia and Jack are playing together. They squabble, as kids tend to do when doing anything together. During the fight, Jack whacks Olivia on the head and Olivia starts crying. A few minutes later, the fuss has calmed down, and Jack says to Olivia, “I’m sorry for hitting you.” What does Olivia say? 9 times of 10, Olivia says “it’s okay”. Is that really what she should be saying at that moment? “It’s okay that you whacked me on the head? Go ahead, do it again anytime, because hey, it’s okay!” If you’re anything like me, you’ve coached your kid to say this at least once, but really, the words are meaningless, aren’t they? Assuming that “next time, I’m gonna kick your teeth in” isn’t a reasonable alternative, what should be said instead? I Forgive You. … Read More