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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Virtue Board.
I remember having this conversation with my daughter as her dad arrived home from work one evening.Read More »
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.