Parenting Like Hannah

Helping Children When Bad Things Happen

As I am writing this, the news is focused on yet another horrific tragedy. When horrible events happen in our world, it is easy to become glued to the television to try and somehow wrap our brains around the terrible thing that has happened. I believe it is especially hard for those who love God to see the results of hate and evil played out in such dramatic and life changing ways. It may even shake our faith on some level.

The hardest part is helping our children deal with the harsh realities of a fallen world. Especially, when at times, we feel like we are barely hanging on ourselves. I think that if we combine the advice often given by psychologists, with scripture and a little common sense, we can follow a few tips to help us and our children process traumatic world events with a godly perspective.

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The Parenting Secret No One Will Tell You

The next time our world has a problem that needs a creative solution, I suggest we turn to the authors of diet books. They are some of the most creative people around. Diet books have to convince the reader there is a new, exciting, fun way for you to lose weight. The only problem is there really is only one healthy way to lose weight – burn more calories than you consume.

Eating less and exercising more sounds dreadfully boring, perhaps even painful. Quite frankly, I feel a little faint even thinking about the few calories I will get to eat. However, if you package it in some pretty or glamorous sounding package, I am all in. In fact, people spend millions of dollars every year on various diet books and cookbooks. In spite of all of this creativity, most people still fail in their attempts to diet. The reason most diets don’t work is that there is no magic involved. No matter how pretty the package, the bottom line is you will be eating less and moving more if you really want the pounds to disappear.

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Resources to Teach Children Public Speaking

Sharing our faith should be a major focus in the daily life of every Christian. Yet many of us feel a wave of something akin to terror when we even think about sharing our faith, especially with strangers. Part of our fear is caused by our insecurity about our own Bible knowledge and whether or not we can answer questions. I think the other part of our reluctance is a fear of appearing foolish. Not because we believe in God, but because we actually have an unresolved fear of public speaking.

If we want to train our children to share their faith in God with others, we need to provide them with opportunities to develop a level of comfort. Part of that reassurance is teaching them the important role of the Holy Spirit when we make the attempt to share our faith with others. Allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us though requires us to open our mouths and start talking to people about God. For many, this means having to overcome their fear of speaking in public.

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Christian Kids and Public Speaking

Christian Kids and Public Speaking - Parenting Like Hannah Our church has a play every year featuring our children. Almost as soon as they can walk, the youngest ones become barn animals at the birth of Jesus. Our daughter is a natural introvert, so our first experience was somewhat traumatic. Stomach aches and tears peppered the couple of days before the performance. Her first thirty seconds on a stage took as much parenting energy as teaching her to drive.

Fast forward almost fifteen years. Our introvert is getting ready to compete nationally in a public speaking event after placing first in our state. Although she will probably always be a little more nervous than an extrovert would before speaking, she now hops up on the stage and can speak comfortably with audiences of various sizes.

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Mentoring Groups for Moms

Did you know God wanted moms to have some earthly backup? I think that is one of the reasons Paul told the older women to teach the younger women. (Titus 2:3-4) God knows being a mother is one of the greatest blessings on earth. He also knows it is one of the greatest responsibilities.

I don’t know about you, but when I am responsible for something incredibly important, I tend to get a little stressed. Add the love a mother has for her children and the pressure can be overwhelming at times. I remember when my daughter was an infant, there was a part of me that may just have thought it was important to make sure she breathed regularly. After a few days of motherhood, I finally realized she probably didn’t need me to watch her breathe every breath just in case she forgot one!

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