Prevention The best way to stop a bully is not allowing one to develop; parents have the greatest opportunity to prevent a bully from emerging. Rather than making the assumption a child knows better than to bully another child, … Read More
How long has bullying been around? The act of bullying has been around since the first siblings were on the earth. Cain rose up and bullied Abel to the grave. Joseph was bullied by his brothers to the point … Read More
”Pay attention to everything that goes on around you.” If my children heard this statement once, they’ve heard it a thousand times. This statement was key to my teaching them the virtue of self-control. In a digital age, our … Read More
“Yes, Mom. I’ll obey. Right away. All the way. The happy way.” What would you do if your six-year-old answered your instruction with this little mantra? What if I told you I know children who have done this? Would you … Read More
What does first-time obedience look like in your family today? After teaching GFI parenting classes for over 20 years, this is the question we began asking parents that were part of our Growing Kids God’s Way class. First-time obedience may … Read More
Sometimes parenting can seem like playing a game of Whack-A-Mole. Like those little moles, seemingly unrelated attitudes and misbehaviors in our children can begin to pop up with increasing frequency. We deal with one, only to have another appear in … Read More
A cold look, being ignored or laughed at, or a stuffy “You’re not invited” can be hurtful to anyone. Relationships are complicated. I am a math girl. I think in equations and flowcharts. If you do this, then the result … Read More
When I was a young mom, I think I judged most of my young children’s behaviors and attitudes that were less than the standard as forms of disobedience. I had set an expectation and trained my children to respond, “Yes, … Read More
Many of us have a love-hate relationship with boundaries, but the reality is that boundaries are a part of our adult lives on a daily basis. The speed limit signs dictate how fast we can drive on the highway, on … Read More
As parents we can sometimes unwittingly undermine our own authority. One of the ways we do that is by consistently parenting outside the funnel. Oh, we have boundaries and do our best to maintain them, but there are subtle ways … Read More