Developing a Child’s Gifts – Page 13

What a Lemonade Stand Can Teach Your Kids About God

What a Lemonade Stand Can Teach Your Kids About God - Parenting Like Hannah Every summer, the lemonade stands start popping up in our neighborhood. Youngsters set up their wares on the side of our streets. They enthusiastically wave to cars passing by and talk with those out for walks and runs. Most of them usually hang in there for a couple of hours before something else seems more fun.

Did you realize the humble lemonade stand can teach your child about God and His commands and principles? Adding a few twists to the experience can teach your child more than just how to make lemonade and count change.

Here are a few ideas you might want to try the next time your kids want a lemonade stand.

Continue reading What a Lemonade Stand Can Teach Your Kids About God

Should Christian Kids Be Average?

Should Christian Kids Be Average - Parenting Like Hannah Education and psychology love to declare new rules on a regular basis. For a time, self-esteem was king. Your kids were to be told on a daily basis how awesome and special they were. “Losing” became a dirty word. Honor rolls, competitions – even correction and consequences – were rejected as damaging to the fragile self-esteem of children and teens.

Then it came out the entire movement was based on a faulty study, which some claim had been purposely misrepresented. Yet after years of being pushed hard by educators, psychologists, parenting experts and writers, the idea it was important for kids to have a strong self-esteem was firmly entrenched. In reality, the godly attributes of humility, a strong work ethic, persistence, kindness and more were found to be better predictors of future success. (Ironically, new studies found strong self-esteem often led to many negative behaviors!)

Continue reading Should Christian Kids Be Average?

Gaining Christian Parenting Insight

Gaining Christian Parenting Insight - Parenting Like Hannah Have you ever met the parents of a child everyone considers an absolute terror? And then listened to them for fifteen minutes as they shared the virtues of their wonderful, free-spirited child? Admit it now. Have you caught yourself thinking something along the lines of, “Are you crazy? Your kid is a terror!”

The truth is, most of the people in the world today are walking around with highly inaccurate perceptions of themselves. A lot of these same people also have inaccurate perceptions of others. So how do you know if maybe you aren’t seeing the world quite accurately? What happens when someone’s perception of your parenting skills or your child’s behavior is radically different from yours? Despite past trends that suggested otherwise, you can’t both be right. There is an objective truth and it will help both you and your kids to figure out what that truth really is and make choices based on it.

Continue reading Gaining Christian Parenting Insight

10 Signs Your Child Has a Victim Mindset

In Are You Accidentally Raising a Victim, I shared the negative effects a victim mindset can have on your children and the best way to stop it from developing. Unfortunately, your kids may have already started developing a victim mindset – even if they have never experienced a particularly traumatic event. Our society loves convincing all of us we are victims. It’s a great way for others to gain power and money, by promising to “fix” our victim status.

So what are the signs your kids may already think of themselves as victims? Here are some of the most obvious ones.

Continue reading 10 Signs Your Child Has a Victim Mindset

Are You Accidentally Raising a Victim?

Are You Accidentally Raising Victims? _ Parenting Like Hannah — The society who built these were forced to flee and never returned.

Want to be inspired? Walk the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk. As I walked 60 miles over three days, I met women who had every right to think of themselves as victims. They had survived a horrible disease that had ravaged their bodies. Yet, these were some of the most energized, positive people I had ever met. They refused to think of themselves as victims.

No matter what may happen to your children, the best gift you can give them is to teach them how to avoid thinking of themselves as victims. Victims get stuck. They don’t move forward. They don’t accomplish anything, because they are fixated on their pain. They surely, can’t reach their godly potential or accomplish the plans God has for their lives. They can’t continue to mature spiritually, because growth requires looking forward. Victims are stuck in the past when the hurt occurred.

In our society, people gain power and riches when they convince others they are victims. Then they can swoop in and “save the day” – often by actually victimizing the very people they are claiming to help. It used to be tough to convince people they were victims. Now we have a society full of them.

Continue reading Are You Accidentally Raising a Victim?