Give Your Child Hope

We live in a fast-paced world and we have access to so much information about what is going on all over the world. Our children see images of war, genocide, global warming and hear dire messages on a daily basis. They cannot help but be a generation who is skeptical and wary to say the very least. As parents, it is up to us to combat all of those negative messages and to try to give our children some hope that they can carry with them into the future. I truly do believe that our children need some strong doses … 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

The Parents’ Role

I was reading in Mosiah, chapter four, recently and came upon this verse: 15. But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another. This is the Lord’s command to us as parents. Of all the things we do, of all the time we spend signing them up for soccer teams and dance classes and making sure their shoes fit and that they have clean underwear, these charges are the most important we can fulfill. We are to: Teach them to walk in … 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