Are You Breeding a Frankenkinder?

A Frankenkinder is the 21st century version of a spoilt child – a monster created by the emotional neglect of its own parents. Yet these kids look far from neglected. They are dressed in designer clothes and have all the latest Playstation games and personal electronic gadgetry. They are wise beyond their years and yet are also extremely immature. So how did we end up with a generation of these kids? Looking through a recent catalogue in my mail box gave me some insight. There was bath oil on sale. No problem with that except there was also a special … Continue reading

Setting Healthy Boundaries for Your Children (4)

The process of setting healthy boundaries in your child starts very early in life. By the time a child can say “No” he or she has long grasped the concept of personal boundaries and so it is the responsibility of the parent to let their child know one very important concept: They can’t have everything. It can be hard to say “no” to a pair of beseeching eyes but it is up to you, the parent, to be the strong one in this parent-child relationship into which you have entered. It is so easy to fall into the trap of … Continue reading

Setting Healthy Boundaries for Your Children (3)

In the previous article in this series we looked at the most common violation of childhood boundaries: that of discussing adult issues such as financial difficulties and marital problems with your child. The other common boundary problem involves the physical boundary violation of childhood sexual abuse. So common is this phenomenon that, by the age of 18, over 70% of females report some level of sexual abuse. This issue is covered in several articles which can be found under the category of Sexual Harassment and Abuse. Today’s article focuses on more subtle boundary violations, in particular the inability by some … Continue reading

Setting Healthy Boundaries for Your Children (2)

The most important gift you can give your child is a healthy set of boundaries. It is the ultimate gift of love, even though in setting boundaries, your child will probably tell you that you don’t love them. They may even tell you they hate you. But that is okay. The problem that many parents have in parenting their children is that they try to be friends with their kids. This is not possible. Parents and children are not peers and therefore cannot be true friends. That comes later, when the child matures into an adult and the parent-child relationship … Continue reading

Setting Healthy Boundaries for Your Children (1)

In Are You Breeding a Frankenkinder we looked at the preponderance of overindulged and underdisciplined children in today’s society and how we are actually doing our children a gross disservice to “give them everything.” It’s not easy being a parent today. But it’s never been easy being a parent. Or at least, an effective one. We can blame the media for creating a world where our kids just want more and more, but in doing so, we as parents are just passing the buck and refusing to take responsibility for our own actions. Parents today are time-poor, or so we … Continue reading

Are You Breeding a Frankenkinder?

A Frankenkinder is the 21st century version of a spoilt child – a monster created by the emotional neglect of its own parents. Yet these kids look far from neglected. They are dressed in designer clothes and have all the latest Playstation games and personal electronic gadgetry. They are wise beyond their years and yet are also extremely immature. So how did we end up with a generation of these kids? Looking through a recent catalogue in my mail box gave me some insight. There was bath oil on sale. No problem with that except there was also a special … Continue reading

Don’t Give Your Children Everything

Hands up all those parents who want their children to have a better life than they did? This seems to be one of the most universal desires of parents the world over. It’s natural to want your child to have a better education, better nutrition, indeed better everything. We want to provide the very best start in life for our child. What parent wouldn’t? However, it pays to be very discerning when deciding what exactly you mean by “better.” Today’s children seem to have more toys and more extracurricular choices than we had as children. Our own parents no doubt … Continue reading

Keep On, Keeping On

Years ago in Australia we had ad for some paint and the slogan was, ‘keep on keeping on’ I have to say at this point, advertising fails on me. I remember the slogan but never remember the product. I do know it’s much the same in the Christian life we need to keep on, keeping on. Sometimes people might ask us to pray for them because they don’t think God will listen to them. I had a friend say to me once, ‘I don’t pray. God wouldn’t listen.’ Of course I could have replied ‘How much notice did you ever … Continue reading

Parenting God’s Way

‘I want my children to be happy. You can’t deprive them of everything or they’ll go the other way and rebel.’ Is this what you think? Is it how you deal with your children? This comment came out of an column by Ruth Ostrow. The comment made by a parent of her child’s friend, was used as an excuse for providing an unhealthy food for her child. Ruth Ostrow went onto say that Neer Korn, researcher of social trends, found many parents ‘have a guilt complex.’ The result is they try and make up for it by providing treats like … Continue reading