I still remember when my eldest daughter was in pre-school and I was looking to ask someone for parenting advice. Who better to ask than someone who’s had extensive experience in handling hundreds of children for the past 30 years?
Category: Growing Girls Tips
The Power of a Father’s Blessing-Growing Girls Tip #10
Have you ever received a blessing from your father? Or thought about speaking a blessing to your child? I want to share with you something I’ve discovered about the power of the long lost gift of A Father’s blessing.
During the Old Testament days, the biblical patriarchs all gave formal blessings to their children. It was considered a manner of inheriting rights. To receive a blessing from your father was considered an honor and losing a father’s blessing was believed to result in a curse.
The most important gift you can give your unborn child-Growing Girls Tip #9
Studies have shown that six months into a pregnancy, the fetus can already see, hear, experience, taste, feel and even learn. Everything the mother experiences, the baby experiences as well. A baby can be directly affected by her mother’s moods and attitude towards pregnancy. How a mother receives and experiences her pregnancy, whether it is with joy or disappointment can also impact the baby physically and emotionally.
If you are expecting, then I’m writing this especially for you, I want you to know that speaking words of blessings to your unborn child is the best gift you can ever give your baby before he or she is born.
Two powerful words that can change your life-Growing Girls Tip#7
Have you ever felt so inspired by someone that after hearing them speak you want to change something about yourself? You go “yeah, I could do that, or I think I want to that starting tomorrow.”
You feel good. You’re motivated. You start on that path. But maybe just like me, you forget, and it falls apart a few weeks later just like a forgotten new year’s resolution, or a diet that you can’t seem to keep to.
What my 6-year old taught me about challenges-Growing Girls Tip#6
I remember overhearing this conversation between Catie and Jianna when they were in 2nd and 1st grade. Catie was 6 years old and Jianna was 5.
Catie : What’s your favorite subject?
Jianna : I like reading and language. It’s easy and fun.
Catie : Easy is boring. I like AP and Math. Hard is fun. You don’t learn anything if it’s easy.
Catie said it like it was the most normal thing any 6-year old would say. As far as I can remember, we have been raising both of them in the same way. We could not have changed anything so quickly with them being only a year and a month apart. So I was surprised to hear Catie speak about challenges the way she did, especially when my thoughts resonated more with Jianna’s.
Your child’s learning style-growing girls tip#5
If you teach your children at home, or tutor them after school, then this might be useful advise for you. I know how frustrating tutoring can be. I’ve exchanged stories with a couple of mom friends who have decided to leave that job to the professional tutors- for fear of straining their relationship with their children.
I’m not proud to say that I’ve turned into monster mom myself while teaching my kids. Learning how to make it easier for both me and my girls has encouraged me to find out more about how people learn.
We all have different learning styles. Learning styles are basically a preferred way of learning. Whether you like to read out loud or sing it out, some learn with pictures and some learn with words. There are different ways each of us receive and remember information.Read More »
A Lesson in Allowing Kids to Make Mistakes- growing girls tip#4
Let them fall.
The other day, my daughter’s caretaker approached me after dropping them off at school. She was visibly upset, to the point that she looked like she was about to cry. She asked me if she could be assigned to do household chores instead of watching over the kids.
After probing, she explained that she missed packing my daughter’s books, and she felt guilty for leaving it behind. She was afraid that the incident would upset me. Personally, I was quite surprised by her willingness to accept responsibility even when she wasn’t to blame.
Helping Kids Understand Virtue- growing girls tip#3
The Virtue Board.
I remember having this conversation with my daughter as her dad arrived home from work one evening.Read More »
How to grow your kid’s love for reading- growing girls tip#2
The Mystery Box
Good readers make good leaders. The first time I heard this was at school orientation during my eldest daughter’s first year in grade school.
When my girls were younger we allowed them to play with an ipad because of interactive learning games. I thought this was ok, because it helped them learn, and honestly, it afforded me some peace and quiet. But as more articles on the internet surfaced discouraging iPad use for children because of lack of focus, overestimation, and worries over emotional development (I’ve read that kids don’t learn to self-regulate their feelings when an ipad is used to pacify them) I also limited their use for it.
Summer goal setting for kids-growing girls tip#1
I’m hoping that this can be the first of a series, because I’d love to share what we’ve done as parents to help our girls grow. I’m not a parenting expert, and everything that I’m posting here is purely based on our personal experiences on what has worked for us.
The Summer Map.
Unlike my girls who are already busy catching up with homework, some kids are still on vacation mode. This is a very late post, as I’m writing about something we did last summer. I do hope that some kids who haven’t started school (because of the K to 12 adjustment) can still benefit from this idea.
Growing with Jenny 