Resource for Moms of Tween Girls

Resource for Moms of Tween Girls - Parenting Like HannahYou may not be aware of this, but moms can roll their eyes at their kids just as well as their kids do at them. The mom eye roll seems to peak somewhere in the middle school years. Personally, this is one of my favorite age groups. They are “grown” enough to begin thinking independently, but still innocent enough to get excited about things. Many parents and teachers would disagree with me, however!

As a result, I am always looking for a great resource to suggest to parents of tween girls. (For some reason, the boys at this age don’t seem to bother parents and teachers as much.). I recently had a chance to look at a new book She’s Almost a Teenager: Essential Conversations to Have Now by Peter and Heather Larson and David and Claudia Arp.

The authors take time to discuss the eight conversations they believe parents should have with girls before they enter the teen years. They cover all of the basics from friends to physical changes to faith to boys and more. Each chapter breaks the topic down into the concerns you as a parent may have as well as the position or ideas your child may have. They do a good job of walking through the things that should be included in each conversation and end each chapter with several broad discussion questions to ask your child.

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Christian Moms Taming the To-Do List

Christian Moms Taming the To-Do List - Parenting Like HannahThe average mom’s to-do list would rival that of any top corporate executive. Most moms are juggling multiple activities for multiple people (most of whom can’t drive) and handle a variety of chores, errands, holiday preparations and more. It’s easy to see why many crucial things like God get lost in the crush of the immediate urgent things needing to be done.

I was interested when given the opportunity to review the book Taming the To-Do List: How to Choose Your Best Work Every Day by Glynnis Whitwer. Whitwer is the executive director for Proverbs 31 Ministries. She does a great job of taking the time to break down the problem of procrastination – putting off the crucial things in life – like spending the time necessary to really disciple our kids towards God.

Many time management books tend to jump right into the solutions they are promoting. I appreciate Whitwer for taking the time to help every reader really think about why they are making the choices on how to spend their time the way they do. I think this is so crucial. All of the time management tools in the world won’t help for very long if you don’t understand your motivation for procrastinating and work on it.

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Teaching Kids About God’s Seasons

Teaching Kids About God's Seasons - Parenting Like HannahKids get a lot of exposure when they are young to God’s seasons of summer, spring, fall and winter. Yet, we rarely teach kids about the other seasons God sometimes gives us and always guides us through. Now if you are like me, the first time I heard about these other seasons, I was a bit puzzled.

I was in a Bible study and a friend shared about the season she was in and how she would be thankful when the next season arrived. She went on to explain that just like the stages children go through as they grow, God either provides and/or guides us through the various seasons of our lives.

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Preparing Christian Kids for Dating

Preparing Christian Kids for Dating - Parenting Like HannahIf you aren’t there in your parenting journey yet, you need to be prepared for the dating years of your kids. By the time they are ready to date, you have seen and heard every possible horror story imaginable. You hit your knees a lot praying your children have wisdom and God guides them in their choices. The decisions they make while dating can impact the rest of their lives. Yet most Christian parents have done little if anything to prepare their kids for dating.

Oh, most have the “date a Christian” and “wait until you are married” chats, but few if any parents give real life helpful advice. No wonder so many kids flounder and make really bad choices. That’s why I was interested in the new book The Chase: Trusting God with Your Happily Ever After by Kyle and Kelsey Kupecky.

The Kupecky’s are a young married couple who want to share with young people what they learned about godly dating and marriage. They have a bit of the cool factor as he is a Christian musician and she’s an actress with a couple of movie credits. The book has a very comfortable style as they ping pong back and forth telling about their dating lives before they met and once they met. They share the mistakes they made (nothing horrible really) and the lessons they learned along the way.

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Teaching Kids to Spread Hope and Joy

Teaching Kids to Spread Hope and Joy - Parenting Like HannahHope and joy are a huge part of Christianity. The hope of an eternity spent in Heaven can give Christians joy even in this fallen world. Others are often drawn to God when they see the hope and joy in our lives. Your children can learn to spread hope and joy as they go through life. They don’t have to be fake or even have a naturally bubbly personality to do so.

One of the best ways to raise children who spread hope and joy is to teach them to be encouragers. This is more than just a cheerleader. An encourager celebrates the good times with people, helps them pick themselves up after the bad times and helps them find the path God has for them.

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