When your children are very young, you tend to worry about interesting things. I have seen mothers absolutely obsessed with potty training or taking away a binky from a toddler who is still sucking on it for comfort. Don’t even get me started on night lights, thumb sucking and teddy bears. (Especially since I still own my Super Bear!)
We spend so much time and effort worrying, reading up on how to potty train or wean our child from a comfort item. We fret, talk to other moms and even pray. I will never forget what an older mom once told me. Our daughter had never needed a night light. A death of a favorite aunt in preschool made her suddenly begin to request light in her room at night.
As I fretted over what seemed like a step backward, the more experienced mom looked at me and said “Don’t worry, she will stop when she’s ready. I’ve never seen a kid in college with a night light.” Now granted, I am sure there actually are some kids with night lights in college, but she was right. In our case a little time and distance from the upsetting event and our daughter asked us to remove the light at night.
Continue reading Your Kids Won’t Need a Binky in College, But They Will Need God
Our family was able to enjoy this past weekend in New York City. I loved my years living there and thoroughly enjoy exploring it again with the family I am now blessed to have. New York City can be a very tough, harsh place though. There are noises, dirt, crime and millions of people with stories that would break your heart. Living there has broken many a person, I am sure.
There aren’t many foods that I will go out of my way to find and eat. One of them is the Chick Fil A peach milkshake. It’s creamy goodness is enhanced by huge chunks of fresh peaches. I enjoy them so much I limit myself to only two a season to keep me from living on a diet of peach milkshakes for several weeks each year.
If you want parenting advice, it’s pretty easy to find lots of experts who will help you guide your child away from bad habits. There is also a lot of advice on how to train on practical things like manners. When it comes to heart issues like speech though, it gets much tougher. The Bible tells us what comes out of our mouths reflects what is on our hearts. (Matthew 15:18) How do we mold the hearts of our children so what comes out of their mouths is positive, loving and uplifting?
When our daughter was a baby, she was gifted at removing her socks. And shoes. Actually anything on her feet. Give her two seconds and they were gone. For some reason, this bothered women over the age of sixty. You would have thought a barefoot baby…in a stroller…indoors was the definition of child neglect. The lectures I got were unbelievable. I am sure they meant well, but honestly socks on a baby’s feet (or mine either for that matter) were never a high priority.