When your children are in their teens and twenties, you realize something important. All of those manners you tried to teach them can make the difference in how successful they are in their careers. Most parents don’t think about that as they proclaim “Keep your mouth closed when you chew” for the millionth time. Yet as someone who has participated in hiring decisions, how your children use their manners (or lack thereof) in the interview process can be the very thing which tips the hiring decision.
As a graduate of the “Miss Manners” generation, I was interested to read a “modern manners” book when offered the opportunity to review Modern Manners: Tools to Take You to the Top
Imagine my surprise when the book arrived and I realized it was penned by Liv Tyler and her grandmother. Somehow the daughter of the Aerosmith rocker had become an expert in etiquette. My expectations for the book, admittedly unfairly, sank a bit.
Fortunately, Ms. Tyler’s grandmother did an excellent job training her granddaughter. The book was easy to understand and covered all of the basics. Etiquette books can become overwhelming from the sheer volume of information they feel the need to cover. The authors of this book did a great job in picking the most common situations and mistakes to cover and eliminating some of the more esoteric rules and situations.
A trip to Monticello as a young girl led me to years of fascination with Thomas Jefferson. In the elementary education version of his life, Jefferson was a hero. A man who not only penned the Declaration of Independence, became President of the United States and greatly increased the size of our country, but also was well read, an inventor and travelled to places I dreamed of seeing. I wrote many a paper in my school years about his life.
I am always looking for great resources for parents to use in serving with their children. What appeals to me are resources that encourage parents and children to work together on projects to serve others. Books are great because every time you walk past them, it reminds you of your goal – to serve others as a family and share your faith with those you serve. I don’t always pick the typical “ways to serve with kids” books, but look for books that are so beautiful and interesting they motivate both parents and children.
by Courtney Allison et al. The book was originally designed for a group of four families who wanted to each make a pot of soup and share the results with the other three families in a soup club.
Worrying seems to be a natural part of parenting. Those tiny little bundles of joy appear so fragile. Who wouldn’t worry that something might harm one of the greatest blessings you’ve ever been given?Unfortunately, worrying doesn’t diminish as your child grows older and stronger. There are just different things about which to worry. You name it and I’m sure more than one parent has worried about it at some point.
by Jane Rubietta handled the subject. I expected the normal Christian self-help laundry list of things to do to conquer worry in your life. Instead, the author suggested various tools to use regularly in your life to move you away from living in a state of constant worry.
One of the cornerstones of Christian education should be the teaching of empathy – especially in relation to serving others and sharing our faith. Instead our attempts, if any, seem to be closer to teaching pity. Empathy involves the ability to really and truly understand as much s possible what life is like for another person. Many times empathy is difficult. How can our children care about what happens in a country they may never visit?
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