Christian Parenting Today articles from January 2002

Christian Parenting Today archives from January 2002

The Parenting Highway. (Parent to Parent).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... You may not know this, but parenting is a lot like driving through Wisconsin. With my parents in one part of the country and my husband's parents in another, my family spends a lot of time on the open road. Naturally, my mind often wanders...

Letters from Home.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... A Christ-Centered Resource I just finished reading the November/ December issue of CHRISTIAN PARENTING TODAY and, once again, I'm convinced that it's the only magazine I need! Since becoming a mom, I've received free issues of several...

Creating Your Family's Spiritual Scrapbook. (Home Pages).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... You probaby have photo albums (or at least photo piles) to commemorate the special occasions in your family's life. As you organize these images into an album, consider creating a spiritual scrapbook. In Joshua 4, after God performed the...

Cold Relief. (Ideas That Work).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Now that the cold and flu season is here, it's a great idea to keep frozen popsicles made from 100% fruit juice on hand for when you suddenly have sick kids. Eating popsicles will help increase fluid intake and prevent dehydration. --...

Prayer Reminders. (Ideas That Work).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2002... To help my family remember to pray for our missionaries, I make placemats with the missionaries' prayer cards. Cut a piece of cardboard to the size of a traditional placemat and secure the prayer cards with glue or tape. If the front of a...

Mail Call. (Ideas That Work).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Everyone loves to receive a greeting card-especially if it's handmade. I keep paper, crayons, markers, and rubber stamps on hand for my children to use when they need a card for any occasion. Our family has expanded this idea to serve as a...

Dollar Date. (Couple Time).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... * Walk to the park and feed the ducks * Buy sodas and go for a drive * Play Frisbee in the park, then take a short walk * Split a sweet treat at the mall, then window shop * Play a video game at an arcade ($1 limit each) *...

Is Your Teen Tired of Church?(Christian life)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... If your young teenager is starting to wonder why she has to go to church, she's not alone. According to a recent survey of Christian teens, conducted by our sister publication Campus Life magazine, 55 percent of the teens surveyed don't believe...

Fast Talk. (Life in Our House).(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2002... While I was driving with my 7-year-old daughter, Katie, she kept encouraging me to go faster. I explained to her that I was already going the speed limit and could not legally drive any faster. Not satisfied with my reasoning, Katie replied,...

Family Resemblance. (Mom's Moment).(Christian life)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... When our children do something I'm not very pleased with, I sometimes look at my husband and say "John, do you think the behavior we just witnessed came from your mother's side of the family or your father's?" Certainly, our children didn't...

Beat Bullying. (Home Pages).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Bullying behavior affects all children in one way or another. Teacher Carol Gray of Jenison Public Schools in Michigan and other researchers have found that: * By age 24, 60 percent of identified people who bully have a criminal...

A Moment in Time. (Ideas That Work).(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2002... Parents love to take pictures of their kids, but it can be hard to remember the exact age and event pictured once you finally get the film developed. I keep a piece of paper and pen with my camera, so I can jot down the frame number and any...

The Parent's Prayer.(Christian life)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... O Master, make me a better parent. Teach me to understand my children, to listen patiently to what they say, and to answer all their questions kindly. Keep me from interrupting them, talking back to them, and contradicting them. Make me as...

Positive Movie Magic.
January 1, 2002... THE LORD OF THE RINGS (PG-13) One of the most highly anticipated movie releases this holiday season is this lavish version of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The pressing question for many families is whether Hollywood can be...

Too Soon for Solids? (Baby).(Christian life)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Your 3-month-old won't sleep through the night. You and your husband have tried everything except what your mom suggested: adding a little baby cereal to his bottle. Should you try it? Dr. Robert Andersen, a pediatrician with Elmhurst...

Praying for Pooh. (Toddler).(Christian life)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... "God bless Mommy, Daddy, Grandma. Bless Larry Boy. (giggle) Bless Pooh and Tigger." The prayers of a toddler typically include some strange requests. But experts say that these prayers for inanimate objects are a healthy part of your child's...

Dressing for Success. (Preschool).(Christian life)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Preschoolers are not known for their fashion sense. But child development experts encourage parents to let children pick our and put on their own clothes. Myrna Fisher, M.S., of the Terrace Child Development Centre in Terrace, British Columbia,...

Raise a Creative Thinker. (Early Elementary).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... To tap the creative thinking abilities of elementary school kids, Selma Wasserman, a professor of education at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, asks children tough questions that require imaginative answers. She asked a group of...

Putting Barbie to Work. (Late Elementary).(education)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... When I was a child, I spent hours playing with Barbie dolls. But when I became the mother of a girl, I had a few concerns about the disproportionate blond. Did I really want my daughter to fall prey to the unrealistic body image, the endless...

Why Tweens Get Angry. (Middle School).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Your child's fuse has gotten shorter and the emotional outbursts more frequent. Understanding the emotions underneath her anger can help you navigate this new season of adolescence. Dr. Erik Erikson, the well-known child development expert,...

Sibling Sitters. (Teen).(children's babysitting of younger siblings)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... "You're so lucky to have built-in babysitters," a friend sighed enviously. I agreed, to a point. According to clinical psychologist David Eastin of the Midwest Center for Human Services in Madison, Wisconsin, "When younger children are...

Family Time with God. (From Heritage Builders).(ideas for home-based Christian education of children)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Family devotions don't have to be formal sit-down events. Use these quick ideas to connect with your kids during meals, in the car, or at bedtime. The more involved "Family Night" ideas will help you create memorable evenings (or afternoons)...

Moms vs. movies: Movie Mom Nell Minow helps you weed out the bad and make the most of the good.(Interview)
January 1, 2002... With studios running $50 million advertising campaigns to get you to see their movies, parents need all the help they can get in making wise entertainment choices for their children. And that's where Movie Mom Nell Minow comes in. A lawyer by...

The Power of Consequences: The only discipline tool you'll ever need.(stressing consequences of bad behaviour in discipline of children)
January 1, 2002... My friend Trisha's eyes filled with tears. Over the summer, she had discovered that her 15-year-old son, Skip, was experimenting with alcohol and cigarettes. She had tried talking to him, grounding him, and forbidding him to go out with a...

The Family That Eats Together: The Key to spiritually healthy kids may be as close as your kitchen table.
January 1, 2002... Like many adults raised in the sixties, Mary Jane Dixon of Survey, Canada, has warm memories, of her family gathered around the table for dinner. "Mom cooked great meals: We kids never stopped talking Dad usedto try to trick us into looking out...

The Purity Ring: How a simple gift can change your child's life.(parental encouragement of sexual abstinence in teenagers)
January 1, 2002... It's no secret that a child's teen years are a tumultuous time for both parents and teenagers. The process of letting a child become more independent brings with it a tremendous amount of fear. As parents, we want nothing more than to see our...

Get to Work: 7 Strategies to Build a Strong Work Ethic in Your Kids.
January 1, 2002... Today is my first son's first day at his first job. Josh is rarin' to go, but pauses for a hug and a blessing before he leaves. It's a simple but physically demanding job-unloading boxes from big brown trucks for a well-known delivery service....

Traumatized by News. (On the Family Front).(handling emotional impact on children of terrorist attacks)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Q. On September 11, 2001, my daughter's fifth-grade teacher had the class watch some of the news coverage of the terrorist attacks. Since then, she has been preoccuppied with concerns about safety and wants to watch the news with us every...

Preschooler Anger. (On the Family Front).(managing anger in children)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Q. My 5-year-old started preschool this year, and he has become very aggressive. For example, when he has a time out, he storms out of the room and hits things or screams that he hates everyone. We've tried to ignore it, but that only seems to...

ADHD Discipline. (On the Family Front).(disciplining children who suffer from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Q. My 8-year-old son has ADHD. I'm at a loss about what kinds of discipline to use. What methods work best on ADHD kids? A. The main principle in working with ADHD kids is the break-it-down and follow-it-up techniques. For example, time-out...

Teaching the Truth. (On the Family Front).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Q. We're having a hard time getting our 4-year-old to tell the truth. We've told her that it's always better to tell the truth, but she still lies. How can we get her to start telling the truth? A. Telling a "white lie" is a common...

Mommy & Me: Fun & Friends; Lullaby & Goodnight; Splish Splash. (Video/DVD series).
January 1, 2002... (Madacy Kids) video $14.98 each, DVD $19.98 each, 40 minutes each When you're at a loss for ways to keep your baby or toddler entertained, these videos can help. An off-shoot of the popular Mommy & Me classes offered across the country, the...

God Loves You. (Book).
January 1, 2002... by Kathleen Long Bostrom; illustrated by Elena Kurcharik (Tyndale Kids) $699, 30 pages The latest from Tyndale's Little Blessings collection, this short devotional book focuses on God's unconditional love. Each page conveys the message...

My World. (Book).
January 1, 2002... by Margaret Wise Brown; illustrated by Clement Hurd (HarperCollins) $15.95, 36 pages Two years after the 1947 release of the children's classic Goodnight Moon, Brown and Hurd teamed up again to create this companion story, which has just...

Let's Start Finger Painting. (Activity).(activity kit)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
January 1, 2002... by Emma Poa; illustrated by Melanie Williams (Silver Dolphins) $12.95 The kit contains everything you need-eight paints in plastic squeezable tubes, an activity pad of paper, extra decorative do-dads to add to the picture, and a...

The Little Big Book of God's Children. (Book).
January 1, 2002... Edited by Lena Tabori and Alice Wong (Welcome Books) $2495, 352 pages Forget having a stack of bedtime books on your child's nightstand. This compact little book is packed with Bible stories, songs, prayers, classic poems, activities, and...

The Monster Who Ate My Peas. (Book).
January 1, 2002... by Danny Schnitzlein, illustrated by Matt Faulkner (Peachtree) $15.95, 32 pages If there's a kid alive who willingly eats pickled beets, I have yet to meet him. But a story this fun could be just the incentive to get your veggie-hater to...

God Made Something Out of Nothing To Do...and So Can You!. (Activity).
January 1, 2002... Written and illustrated by Timothy La Belle (Paulist Press) $9.95, 30 pages Here is the perfect book to read when your child groans, "I'm bored." Told in a rhyme, La Belle uses Creation to motivate kids to look around and make something...

In God We Trust. (Book).
January 1, 2002... by Larry Burkett; illustrated by Keiko Motoyama (Standard) $14.99, 10 pages Once you get past the unintentionally ironic title (we trust God, but let's save our pennies just in case), this book is an effective tool for helping young kids...

Stories for a Teen's Heart Book 2. (Book).
January 1, 2002... Compiled by Alice Gray (Multnomah) $12.99, 322 pages I started to review this book by randomly picking out a story that one teen wrote. The short piece titled, "Hey, Thanks!" was an incredible, heartfelt story about a boy who was bullied...

Family Funstuff Bible Stories. (Book).
January 1, 2002... (Cook) $19.99, 415 pages I've always loved the idea of a Bible that helped parents teach their children the truths of our faith. This one does that very thing in a fun, easy-to-use format. The central stories of the Bible (102 in all) are...

Real Solutions for Abuse-Proofing Your Child. (Book).
January 1, 2002... Dr. Grace Ketterman (Vine) $9.99, 137 pages Discovering that your child has been abused is one of a parent's worst fears. Ketterman's goal is to help parents raise children who are less likely to fall prey to abuse. She focuses on...

Layer Your Nest: Use your past to shape the present. (Mom's Journal).(parenting skills)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Parenting experts say that families should limit their extracurricular activities to one per child per season. Supposedly, this is the key to a stress-free family life. And I'm sure for some families it works like a charm. But I can remember...

The Big Kiss. (E-Fridge).(Valentines Day recipe)(Brief Article)(Recipe)
January 1, 2002... Do you want to make a big deal about Valentines Day? Then cook up this easy-to-make treat from www.kidsdomain.com. Kids can give these "divine kisses" to their friends at school and around the neighborhood. Sweet! Giant Kiss You'll...