I have saved some links and info to post today, there is something for everyone so scroll down and take in the things that may interest you:
Greg Moffatt sent me his monthly column this week and thought I would share this one with you. He teaches at a christian college in Atlanta, has his own practice and is published in the Peachtree City Citizen. He and I got to know each other due to his excellent presentations on Violence in the Workplace. He is an expert on educating and what is happening in our culture in regards to this. Hope you enjoy his article on parenting.
10 Commandments for ParentsGregory K. Moffatt, Ph.D.
May 2008
A reader suggested that I consider writing a column on “10 Commandments for Parents.” It sounded like a great idea, so here it is.
1. Be consistent. Set boundaries for your children and be dependable. Life has enough surprises. Your children need to know what to expect from you.
2. Remember children are small. Even teens can feel dwarfed by your size, your age, and your power. If you are not careful, you can easily hurt a child’s small bones with your powerful hands. Your size magnifies your anger in a child’s eyes and it makes your voice sound louder than it really is. You can hurt their developing egos with your powerful voice and attitude. Also, remember they are still growing. They are learning to recognize and control their emotions, to control their bodies, and how to relate to others. This takes many years to perfect.
3. Be patient. Children don’t know as much as you do. What seems obvious to you is not obvious to a child. We experience this as adults, too. For example, the computer specialist at my office recently sent out a memo describing the new procedure for logging on to the network from various places on and off campus. I’m sure it seemed very clear to him, but to me he may have well been speaking French. I felt like an idiot asking for clarification. Children experience this every day. As children develop cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally, it will take them less time to understand concepts and less time to perform tasks. Until then be patient.
4. Be respectful. Never say anything to a child that you wouldn’t say to an adult. I understand we might speak slower, use different words, or speak in a different tone when talking to children. But our attitude of respect should be the same regardless of the person to whom we are talking. I often use “ma’am” and “sir” when speaking to children because it models respectful behavior. I try to avoid sarcasm, a condescending tone, and belittling remarks.
5. Let your children make mistakes. Everything doesn’t have to be perfect. Water can get on the floor while your child is learning to wash dishes and he doesn’t have to always color inside the lines. Let your children learn by making mistakes. Good parenting doesn’t mean having children who never make mistakes. Instead, it is knowing when to intervene and prevent a mistake, when to rescue a child from a mistake, and when the child will learn best from making a mistake and suffering the consequences.
6. Be available. Even though it is a cliché, they are only children once. When you’ve heard, “Mommy come play with me” for the tenth time of the afternoon, remember there will soon be a time when they won’t ask anymore. Let the laundry and the dishes wait. Read a story, go for a walk, or snuggle in the bed.
7. Be your child’s teacher and mentor. No teacher, football coach, dance instructor, or youth minister can have a greater impact on your child than you. Take advantage of car rides, trips to soccer practice, and evenings watching TV together to talk about life, the news, books, and most importantly, character.
8. Be a good listener. Listen to your children’s fears, cares, and worries. Share their happiness and their sorrows. Don’t try to fix everything. Just listen. Sometimes being a good listener is the best prescription for healing. There is great comfort in being understood.
9. Find ways to say “yes.” Children hear the word “no” from their earliest days. Do your best to say “yes.” A friend told me many years ago that he looked for reasons to say “yes” to his sons rather than reasons to say “no.” That was great advice.
10. Help your child find his or her talents and develop them. As children grow, they need something external to help them define themselves. Activities can help us feel worthy and competent. Whether it is playing piano, soccer, or baseball, or perhaps it is dance, karate, or scouting. Whatever the activity, help your child find something that works and at which he or she can excel.
If every parent lived by these Ten Commandments, my practice might go out of business. What a joy that would be!
{Some good reflections for all men in that article} Identify one area you are not dealing well in and begin to work on it, learn more about it, pray about it and talk with your wife about how to be a better dad in those areas. After you practice it for awhile you will be better at it.
This article on water woes is interesting. Not just in our area. We have some issues developing in a lot of places:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/water-woes-from-florida-to-spain-to-orbit/index.html?hp
This is an interesting article from The Christian Post about the last church standing in Cyprus:
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080428/32154_The_Last_Church_Standing_in_North_Cyprus.htm
This blog's note made me realize I had better start taking in some Dodger games on XM this summer before Vin Scully does retire. He simply is wonderful to listen to and understands how to paint a game on radio:
http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2008/05/dodgers-annoucner-vin-scully-hints-at.html
I have always loved newspapers. If you have ever seen, "Broadcast News," I was just like Holly Hunter as she would go into work she was buying about six papers a day. There has always been a connection for me and having worked in journalism for several years as a stringer of games, and columnist I am always fascinated with layout/design. We even have a Daily Scoreboard at work we use to communicate with our workforce that the design is around a short page paper for Huddle Group Leaders to work off and communicate things at work around Safety/Service/Quality/Productivity/ and Waste. So, here is an interesting story about how much time people are on the newspaper sites.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003794092
JD Greer has an excellent column about the Southern Baptist Conventions note we placed on here about a week ago, very well thought out:
http://jdgreear.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/05/southern-baptis.html
I received Ron Hutchcraft's guide on Caspian, you can get it for free at his site. It is very well done.
http://www.hutchcraft.com/A-Christian-s-Guide-to-The-Chronicles-of-Narnia-Prince-Caspian
The extent of fatherlessness complete with statistics:
http://www.fathers.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=336
Sports
Too bad about the Jazz last night, I thought they would take it to seven, but they played so poorly in the first half that it compounded the comeback, they even had two shots to tie and missed both though.
Ryan Periouloux from LSU is headed to my alma mater, Jacksonville State, for the fall to play QB. What this means? Second chance for Ryan, and possible OVC championship for the Gamecocks. My manager told her son that Ga. Tech was opening with Ryan at QB against Tech and he said, "They'll shred us!" Talent level is a little different though.
Also I took some grief from my friends in Philly about the two losses. Hope the Braves can sweep the A's this weekend.
Celtics and Cavs game seven. I just don't think the Celtics have realized that they need to play offense and defense all game long. The good thing I saw for the Celtics is that with this game they will make money this year after all the trade money spent.
Hoping for a Celtic win, but realizing that the Lakers offense along with the officials are too much in the end. And Charles Barkley needs to pay that $400,000 gambling debt and do you notice no one is asking him anything more about this?
Last Place:
Mike Huckabee made a mistake yesterday, apologized but why he said what he said I don't understand because it wasn't even funny. Sad moment.
http://www.breitbart.tv/html/97143.html
This week alot of stink at the end of the week over Bush's speech in Israel where he mentioned appeasement of a politician in 1939/Hitler and the Obama campaign used this all day against Bush, even Channel Nine in Chattanooga had a slant. This interview with Newt Gingrich is really good about it but c'mon. 1) Bush didn't mention Obama, or Jimmy Carter or Nancy Peloisi. This is a pretty rational speech to those Israelies sitting there. And when did one person's point of view become a political attack with not mentioning your name? WOW!
This is headed continually downhill. We are getting awful close to just calling us modern day Romans. We need term limits and the Mississippi vote this week for the Democrat showed the GOP, Americans do want change.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zDJmbOUzmY&feature=related
Last but not least we finished a breakfast series on The Power of Prayer this week where we read thru EM Bounds book on Prayer for pastors and prayed for our next senior pastor. It was a wonderful spring on Tuesdays. There were about 12 different men that lead the morning discussions. Truly wonderful. Thank you to Gary Masterson for recording them. They are all on WP's website under BridgeBuilders Audio Resources if you want to listen and review. God's method is men.....he is just looking for better men....
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