Tag Archives: parent

Resolve to Read Together

My husband often tells the story which occurred while he was a teenager before he obeyed the gospel and became a Christian. He was over at a friend’s home, I suppose just hanging out as teens do, when he and his friend were required to sit in on a family Bible study. This family had set aside a time to read the Bible. That time was not changed just because their son had a friend over. My husband was not a part of the congregation where this family met, yet they still took the time to read together while he … Continue reading →

An Example to Your Children

Posted on by

Most of us know or have been told that, as parents, our best teaching tool is our example. I, personally, grew up in a household where the mantra was ‘do as I say, not as I do’. My mom usually said this in a joking tone of voice, but she did sincerely mean it. I, myself, have caught myself in typical parenting blunders – my favorite was when I lightly swatted one of my toddlers’ bottoms while saying “We don’t hit!” That one caused an entire shift in parenting technique. A close second occurs on long car trips, when I … Continue reading →

Adoptive Parents Need Rest

Posted on by

The adoption community uses a term that describes a brief rest from duty for adoptive parents. Respite is defined as a short time of relief from a difficult assignment. It is absolutely necessary for adoptive parents to occasionally be able to take it easy for a while. Our first respite weekend came as a surprise. As a Christmas present, our grown children arranged for us to have a Saturday night at the finest hotel in Galveston. They stayed with our crew and paid for a meal at a fine restaurant. It’s about a two hour drive down there from our … Continue reading →

Gospel Doctrine in Review: Babylon’s Stripling Warriors

My new ward seems to be running a bit behind, but I’d like to post a review of last Sunday’s lesson and some more insights I gleaned. After reading through the lesson on Daniel and Esther, I found the battle over the children particularly thought-provoking. Although they wore no armor and slew no enemies, Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abed-nego were stripling warriors in their own right. When king Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem, he took with him the city’s greatest treasure – their children. The prince of the eunuchs selected the best of the youth, “children in whom was no blemish, but … Continue reading →

Why it can be hard to lose a parent you dislike (2)

It’s never easy to lose a parent, but as we discussed in Why it can be hard to lose a parent you dislike (1), the death of a less-than-loved parent can often be much more difficult to deal with than that of a loved parent with whom you shared a close and special bond. Adult children can dislike a parent for as many reasons as there are parents. The relationship may have broken down to the point of constant bickering and fighting, or the adult child may be completely estranged from their parent, perhaps not even having seen them for … Continue reading →

Why it can be hard to lose a parent you dislike (1)

Some of us are really lucky and have parents that we love pretty much equally. They may have vastly different personal qualities, but overall, we would be hard pressed to say which one we prefer. Alternatively, we may have one parent who we dearly love, and the other one is disliked for a number of reasons. So when it comes to losing one of these parents in death, we would assume that it would be far harder to lose the parent we adore. After all, hasn’t the other one been a thorn in our side for as long as we … Continue reading →

The experience of losing a parent

Unless we die early in life, we all go through the process of losing a parent or parent substitute. When our mother or father dies, it is a truly unique experience because, unlike with other people, in most cases we have literally known our parents all our lives. We know of no existence without our parents being there. And that is why losing a parent can be such a traumatic ordeal for many people. Whether we lose a parent when we are young or our parent reaches a great age and we are almost elderly ourselves, the death of a … Continue reading →

An Introduction Into This Single Parent’s Life

I am very pleased to be a part of the Families.com blogging team. I am excited about working with Fran and the other bloggers and hope that my posts here in the Single Parent Blog will add value to this treasure trove of information. I have been a single parent for eight years and have two wonderful boys ages 11 and 8. The children’s father and I separated when my youngest was only six months old and we have been divorced for 3 1/2 years. As with most people it was not my goal to venture into this parenting thing … Continue reading →