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?
I am always looking for new resources to help children develop empathy. Recently, I was given an opportunity to review a book entitled, In Her Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Grandmas Around the World
Each section features a photo of of a grandmother in her kitchen with the ingredients laid out beautifully. The accompanying photo is of the finished dish. Turn the page and you are treated to a short summary of the grandmother’s life and circumstances. The fourth page in each section has a recipe you can try in your own kitchen.
Continue reading Beautiful Resource for Teaching Kids Empathy (and Missions)
Isn’t it interesting one of, if not the most important job in the world comes with little or no training? For all of the jokes of a “Mom manual”, there really isn’t one official training program to help new moms. So, we take the few classes suggested by our ob/gyn and read one of those “What to Expect” books. Really proactive (or possibly neurotic in my case) parents may even read a book on Christian parenting. Then that precious little one appears on the scene.
by Melinda Means and Kathy Helgemo. The authors do a wonderful job of covering a lot of topics many parenting books skip entirely. Whether it is acknowledging your personality type as a part of parenting , scheduling your dream fulfillment or examining your priorities and your own mother’s parenting, the authors cover a lot of new ground.
A quick glance at the dark content of many books marketed to kids and teens today may drive you to your local Christian bookstore to find a better alternative. Most of us probably assume because a book is sold by a Christian bookstore it is automatically a great book for our kids to read. Unfortunately, bookstores don’t have the staff or time to vet every book they sell. Often they depend upon publishers known to specialize in religious books to do some sort of vetting before agreeing to publish a “Christian” book.
Okay, I’m going to share with you the secret for surviving parenting with your sanity largely intact. Humor. Yep, that’s what every mom needs to survive – a healthy sense of humor. Sometimes, you are in a good frame of mind and the silliness of what is happening immediately strikes you as funny. If you have had several tough mom days in a row though, you may need an outsider to remind you of the humorous aspects of parenting.
, Huckstep addresses some of the things that happened in her home full of children. The stories range from tales of Easter egg hunts gone bad to the days of teen drivers in the house. She even lets her husband pen a couple of chapters which don’t necessarily point out her strengths!
If you have been a Mom for very long at all, you realize your time with children at home is anything but quiet. Most of the time, all of that noise means love, fun and memory creation. Let’s be honest though, sometimes you wish you just had a few quiet minutes so you can complete a thought. The idea of spending a quiet time with God seems like a luxury a Mom can’t afford.