Tag Archives: compassion

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 →

Mercy Me – Margaret A. Graham

“Mercy Me” is a down-to-earth Christian novel about a woman named Esmeralda and her best friend Beatrice. Beatrice has moved to another town and misses all her old friends, but Esmeralda keeps her up-to-date on everything that’s going on in town, and throws in some life advice as well. She feels responsible for making sure Beatrice is happy – after all, Beatrice did have cancer a few years back and lives in fear that it will return. As Esmeralda moves quietly through her life, doing all that needs doing, she uses her God-given stubbornness and common sense to solve problems … Continue reading →

Do Something Just for Yourself

In the Parenting Blog yesterday, I wrote a fun little piece about surviving as a parent by taking a break from being a parent for a short time—just pretending for an hour or two that you are not a mom or a dad and getting out of that identity. For single parents, I KNOW this can be especially hard. After all, we don’t normally have any back-up and we cannot just turn things off and head out the door on a whim. What I do think we can do, however, is train ourselves to do something occasionally just for us… … Continue reading →

Practice, Not Perfection

We ARE moving forward, we are making progress, improvements, life changes, etc. We may not be exactly where we want to go yet, and some days it may seem pretty sloggy going, but overall we are making headway. I think it is important for us single parents to remember that while we might have a long-term goal or we might be working hard to get our lives back on track, it is about practice and baby steps–not immediate perfection. For me, it helps to think of it as “practice”–I am working on things; trying to make improvements; change my way … Continue reading →

Christmas Angels Drive Comcast Trucks

Saturday was crazy at our house, as I’m sure it was at yours, too. We had a few last minute things to pick up and so we headed out to the store. Up against the north side of the building, the ice and snow had built up into a skating rink, and we decided to park on the east side instead. I ran in with two of our children, leaving the two youngest in the car with my husband, one of them being in time out. On the way out of the store, we passed the slick patch of ice, … Continue reading →

Compassion

When I was writing about appreciation earlier, I realized that the sister to appreciation, and something equally important in the life of a single parent is compassion–compassion towards ourselves, our children, our exes, even those people who are seemingly out to make our lives even more difficult. Nurturing and fostering compassion can make a huge difference in the life of a single parent. I thought of compassion, I think because this was a real big stumbling block for me back in the early years after my separation and divorce and when I was working to rebuild my life. The person … Continue reading →

My Louisiana Sky – Kimberly Willis Holt

Tiger Ann Parker is a twelve-year-old girl with an unusual name living an unusual life. Her mother and father are both mentally slow, and they live with Granny, who oversees the household and basically is the only adult. Tiger’s parents love her deeply, but aren’t capable of giving her the care she needs, and Tiger spends much of her time caring for her mother instead, who is mentally six years old. Tiger’s father has a job at a nearby nursery and is a real whiz with the plants, but he can’t read or write at all. When Tiger was younger, … Continue reading →

I’m Involved…But I Can’t Do It For You

As a mom, I would definitely love to be able to kiss away all the pain, eliminate all my kids’ troubles, and run interference for them with the world for the rest of my time here on earth. But, I can’t. I can stand by, I can lend support, but there are so many things that I just can’t do for them—even if both of us would much rather have it that way! My kids are not me, and no matter how much experience and wisdom I think I’ve earned, I cannot live through their bumps and bruised and hard … Continue reading →

Why Risk Yourself on A Relationship?

I was raised by my mother and my grandmother. My grandfather died the year before I was born and my mother was never in any long term relationships when I was growing up. I knew she dated one man heavily and they lived together for a brief period. She married briefly when I was ten, but I don’t think that lasted the entirety of my fifth grade year at school. It wasn’t until I was 19 that she met a man that she would then live with for the next decade and a half. They would still be together, but … Continue reading →

Emotional Mirroring

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Children often have a hard time understanding what they are feeling. Parents can help by using a technique called emotional mirroring. When we look in a mirror, we see our reflection staring back at us, exactly as it is without any added flattery or faults, according to Dr. Haim Ginott. We don’t expect our mirror to start talking to us (unless you’re living in a fairytale), commenting on how bad we look. We may not like what we see but we want to make the decisions about changing the way we look. When it comes to our kids emotions, they … Continue reading →