Author: Thereasa Winnett

Thereasa Winnett is the founder of Teach One Reach One and blogger at Parenting Like Hannah. She holds a BA in education from the College of William and Mary. She has served in all areas of ministry to children and teens for more than thirty years and regularly leads workshops for ministries and churches. She has conducted numerous workshops, including sessions at Points of Light’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service, the National Urban Ministry Conference, Pepperdine Bible Lectures, and Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration. Thereasa lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband Greg, where she enjoys reading, knitting, traveling and cooking.

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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Kids and Apathy

Most non-profits will tell you one of their biggest battles is convincing people to no longer be apathetic about the social problem their group is trying to address. Many spend countless hours and dollars developing ways to help people understand the urgency of the problem. Groups like charity: water and Toms have actually done a great job of informing and engaging people about their mission with creativity and style.

We know our world is filled with more problems than we can count. We know God commands us to serve others and teach them about God. The pure enormity of the problem is overwhelming. So overwhelming, most people become apathetic. It is easier to block out all of the problems and opportunities and focus on our little world, where we feel like we have more control. The problem is, not only are we not in control of anything, the problems of the greater world can become so large they begin to invade our personal worlds. I think everyone learned that lesson in very real and horrible ways during World War II.

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Teaching Children to Help the Hurting

If you are following our 12 month plan to teach your children to live more like Jesus, we have already covered Bible reading, prayer and Christian relationships. April is the month to add “training your child to help the hurting with love”. Sounds easy, but it is actually more complex than most people realize.

This is going to sound a little strange, but a lot of times people help those who are hurting with the things that they would want and not necessarily what the other person actually wants or needs to feel better. I think we get tangled up in the whole empathy thing and think it means what we would want done in any given situation is what everyone would want or need.

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Kids, Kidding, and God

“April Fools!” One of the fun parts of childhood is playing practical jokes on your parents on April Fools Day. Kids love “knock knock” jokes and enjoy learning jokes that were already old when their oldest relatives learned them as children.

Sometimes though, kidding around starts to take an ugly turn. Often society accepts downright meanness as “humor”. I even hear adults defend mean humor, teasing and hurtful kidding as a necessary part of toughening up children for the real world.

What really is appropriate for kids to do in the name of humor? What about parents? Are adults allowed to be mean in their humor when directing it towards other adults?

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Christian Conversation Starters

One of the most effective ways to teach your children God’s principles and concepts is through casual, but planned conversations. Some parents call them teachable moments. A teachable moment is when another child almost darts into the street and then a car whizzes by. The parent uses what just happened to reinforce or introduce the concept of “that is why you don’t run into the street without looking, because he could have been killed!”

Teachable moments are different than lectures. There is almost a “we are in this together” tone to the conversation. The conversation mentions the rule or the principle but focuses more on the natural consequences of not obeying the rule or principle. (As opposed to the more lecture oriented “If I ever catch you, I will ____” consequence!)

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