Fun Activity to Teach Preschoolers About Empathy

Fun Activity to Teach Preschoolers About Empathy - Parenting Like HannahEver watched two toddlers play “together”? If you have, you have probably seen a child come and basically grab another child’s toy without asking. What happens next is rarely pretty! The child who took the toy needs to learn more about sharing, but that same child also lacked empathy.

We don’t realize it, but empathy is a skill that must be taught. Your children will eventually pick up some empathy training from watching you (If you are consistently empathetic.). To raise children who are the Christians that defend and serve others while effectively sharing their faith though, they need to be empathetic more than the average person. That amount of skill requires some intentional teaching.

There is a fun game you can play with young children to help develop these skills. All you need are things you may already have around the house. First print or draw simple faces expressing emotions. For young children, you want to stick to the basics – happy, sad, mad, excited, scared, loved and possibly confused.

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Christian Kids and Rewards

Christian Kids and Rewards - Parenting Like HannahWhen I teach kids, I will sometimes challenge them to accomplish something or allow them to compete in some way. Inevitably, one of them will ask “What do we get?”. Parents, schools, even extra-curricular activities give awards for anything and everything. Some even reward children for doing the bare minimum of what used to be considered common good behavior.

While this is not an article on entitlement, too many rewards can create children who expect to be rewarded for everything they do. It can create laziness, because why bother to do your best if you are rewarded for any minimal effort at all. It can create pride and destroy realistic expectations of what one can achieve with one’s current skills and knowledge. They can even create an attitude that doing what is right or expected will only be done when the reward is present – remove the reward and the behavior disappears.

In short, too many rewards cause more problems than they solve. Yet, rewards persist in our society. There are actually some good things that can come from using limited rewards. In fact, whether you realize it or not, the Bible addresses the subject of rewards – especially in the New Testament. What can the Bible teach Christian parents about using rewards in healthy ways?

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Are Your Expectations for Your Kids Too High?

Are Your Expectations for Your Kids Too High? - Parenting Like HannahA few weeks ago, I shared my thoughts on God’s call for perfection and how that should change us and how we raise our children.. There is another side to the story I also mentioned briefly in that post. Parents can not only have unhealthy expectations for their children, but those expectations can also be unrealistic.

I was interested to read of a new book Love That Boy by Ron Fournier. What would a secular journalist have to say on the subject of parental expectations? Would any of it apply to Christian parents? As it turns out, Fournier does have quite a bit of useful information to share.

Woven throughout the book is the story of Fournier and two of his children. Primarily, he focuses on his relationship with his son who is on the autism spectrum. Although he mentions a third child briefly, Fournier also shares quite a bit about his eldest daughter. In spite of her academic and other successes, she struggled with depression and even became suicidal at one point. Obviously, the author had a lot to process regarding his kids and his expectations of them.

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Mother’s Intuition: Fact or Fiction

Mother's Intuition: Fact or Fiction - Parenting Like HannahWhen my daughter was getting ready to enter kindergarten, I asked her doctor if she should get the flu shot. He was an older doctor at a time when flu shots for kids were considered optional. He counseled she should go without, because catching the flu would strengthen her immune system. It felt wrong, but I gave into what I thought was the doctor’s wisdom.

Fast forward a few months, and neither my daughter nor I will forget the week long fever followed by several weeks of iffy health when she of course caught the flu. As I watched helplessly while she suffered, I was angry with myself for ignoring “my gut”. If only I had listened to my mother’s intuition, my child would not have gotten sick.

Was that my mother’s intuition which would have saved the day? Perhaps. But what about the many times I have probably long since forgotten when my mother’s intuition didn’t prove to be quite so accurate? Is a mother’s intuition really always right? Should our parenting decisions always follow our gut?

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Teaching Kids About Vocational Ministry

Teaching Kids About Vocational Ministry - Parenting Like HannahIf you have a child in a Christian college or even a teen, you may have heard him/her mention the concept of vocational ministry. In short, vocational ministry is what was practiced by the Apostle Paul and Priscilla and Aquila. They were tent makers and continued to practice their trade as they were also teaching others about God.

The Bible doesn’t give us a lot of details, but one would imagine they met people through their trade. Those relationships gave them opportunities to demonstrate and share their faith as they worked, as well as teaching in their time outside of the “office”.

I love the concept and think it’s great to teach our kids how they can serve others and share their faith through almost any job (assuming the job doesn’t violate any of God’s commands!) they may have now or in the future. So, I was excited when offered the chance to review the book Every Job a Parable by John Van Sloten.

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