A big reminder for us busy moms

Humble Pie

By Jacy Bowers

It was a Sunday night at dinnertime, and I was exhausted from the weekend. My very active and talkative kids, combined with just getting over the flu, had me hoping for a quiet dinner before putting them down early for bed.

During the meal, I zoned out a little, letting my husband answer my son’s endless stream of questions. “Dad, what does a heart look like inside a person? Does it look like the same ones we draw on paper? Why does an octopus have three hearts?”

Wait, what? That got my attention and I chimed in saying, “Honey, that’s not true.”

"My husband and I were

genuinely impressed at our

first grader’s knowledge."

He assured us it was true. His teacher told him so. Just to appease his curiosity, we promised to look it up on the Internet after dinner, to show him what a real heart looks like and prove that an octopus doesn’t have three hearts.

After dinner, he reminded us to do our Internet check on hearts and guess what? An octopus does have three hearts. My husband and I were genuinely impressed at our first grader’s knowledge. We apologized for doubting him, telling him we learn from him as much as he learns from us. He just smiled. Seems that is something he has known all along.

Dear God, thank you for the unending questions and thoughts my child has! Help me to patiently learn from him just as he learns from me. Amen.



Do you ever get distracted???

A Great, Safe Place to Play

By Rhonda Headley

I’ve recently been babysitting an increasingly mobile seven-month-old who has just mastered sitting up. I thought such a milestone would allow me to snag a minute to myself. With her set up in the middle of the living room, surrounded by her favorite assortment of toys, I’d be free to check out for a few minutes. I carefully placed an array of colorful teething toys, cuddly toys and noise-makers within her arm’s reach for her to explore, make music with or just drool over.

"God gives us

everything we need,

yet we still want

what we shouldn’t."

Great idea right? Wrong! I failed to factor in an infant’s curiosity. It took her no time at all to discover the off-limits zone. She dropped the toys and scooted and rolled her way to the computer desk, the basket of diapers and to the pile of shoes on the floor. While I admired her determination to try out the computer, eat a diaper or gum a boot, I knew I had to redirect her. Calmly, I scooped her up and repositioned her in her circle of toys, praising it as a great, safe place to play for a while. With a grin and a grunt, she was on the move, headed straight for the off-limits zone yet again.

While later telling a friend of the baby’s exploits, she chuckled and remarked, “Well, isn’t that just like human nature? God gives us everything we need, yet we still want what we shouldn’t.” My friend’s observation gave me pause. How often do I get distracted by what’s just beyond my reach? How do I tell the difference between things that are good to strive for and things that will bring me harm? How encouraging to know I’ve got someone looking after me too and gently redirecting me to a great, safe place to play.

Dear God, how often you reveal my own tendencies through the actions of my child! Thank you for your gentle redirection in my life and the great, safe place you’ve prepared for me. Amen.

Another parenting tip

My Child Is Just Going Through The Motions

Sometimes children learn to go through the motions to just get through a discipline experience. They'll parrot the answers that they know you want to hear. You know that helping them change their hearts is the right thing to do, but you don't seem to be getting anywhere. What do you do?

"The answer must be bigger consequences." That tends to be what parents think of first, but the solution is usually more complicated. The key may be adding positive consequences that help children practice a heart change.

One mom said, "My twelve-year-old son was struggling with meanness. I had tried taking away privileges but that didn't seem to work. I decided to try something different. I told him each day to find three kind things he could do for his brother. He would have to report to me before he was free to go out and play. By focusing on the positive we began seeing some significant change."

This is a good idea but sometimes change is slow or doesn't seem to be there at all. In these cases, parents must take a two-pronged approach. First, set up a good routine and enforce it consistently. It's like a Jello mold. You're establishing boundaries for children and requiring right responses even though they don't seem to be able to assimilate change on a deeper level.

Then pray. After all, God is the one who can change a heart. Pray that your children will respond to the discipline and guidelines you set up. Tell your children that you're praying for them. Don't give up and just let them go. Continue to set the patterns and routines to be that container that they need to act rightly. Pray that God will breathe life into the container so that children aren't just acting right, but their hearts are in it too.

Look for small opportunities for dialogue, modeling, and correction that God might use to help them change. Find positive influences for your child. It's amazing how many times a youth leader at church can say the very same thing that you are saying at home but your kids will receive it better from someone else. Hang in there. The job of parenting requires a lot of faith and work. Both are necessary to help children make changes that will last.



***I truly enjoyed reading this one!! I am trying very hard now to use prayer and allow God to handle my very hard to discipline 5 year old!****

MopsInternational Email

Seriously?

By Holly Rowlette

When my daughter was three, I took her with me to a local department store to look for something. My plan was to get in and out like any good mother of a preschooler. So, we walked down the center aisle, the quickest route to our destination in the store. She protested and wanted to walk through the clothing racks. After much pleading on her part, I gave in and through the racks she walked. I was only three feet from her when all of a sudden, a clothing rack began to lean over and quickly created a domino effect. One, then two, then three, then four and five racks full of clothes later, we had destroyed the women’s section of the local Stein Mart.

"We all have those

mommy moments

where we just want to

crawl under a rock"

Seriously? Yes, seriously, my dear Gracie Girl single-handedly toppled five racks of women’s clothing. I was mortified! After quickly assessing that she was fine, I desperately scanned for the quickest escape route. A sales associate came over and said, “Oh, don’t worry about it, these things happen.” Seriously?, I thought. They certainly don’t happen to me! I tried helping the sales lady lift the racks but she insisted I leave them alone. I hastily made my purchase while threatening Gracie with “Don’t touch anything!”

That was a day of ultimate embarrassment. We all have those mommy moments where we just want to crawl under a rock and hope no one saw or heard what our children did. I think those things happen to help us realize we’re not SuperMom. We aren’t always going to have it all together. In fact, when we start to think we do, our kids are quick to humble us and put life back in perspective. I guess there could be worse ways to learn.

Dear God, help me to remember I’m not SuperMom. Instead, lead me to become the mom you’ve created me to be: full of faults, but perfectly equipped to mother my unique child.