I am that child
I just can’t imagine God saying, “Sit down and shut up!” Can you?Or, “Children should be seen and not heard.”Or even, “Sit still and mind your manners.” Yes, we are children, daughters and sons of the Most High. But, “sit up and eat your peas,” just isn’t the conversation I expect to have at the […]
How Long Does it Take to Grow Up?
Mommy, when you are a hundred, will you be as tall as the clouds? This, my little daughter asks me from her seat on the swing in our backyard. Her sweet up-turned face looks past me to the billowing clouds overhead. To her, growing up means growing taller so she can reach the monkey bars […]
re: What Do We Tell the Children?
What an important question posed by the Ali Michael, author of an online post entitled What Do we Tell the Children? Its advice lingers in my mind. Here are her talking points: Tell them we will protect them. Tell them that we have democratic processes in the U.S. that make it impossible for one mean person to […]
Hi Daddy! Hi Daddy!
Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. ~ Proverbs 22:6 I’m sorry, but yes they will. Some will step off accidentally and stumble right back on. Some will wander off, oblivious to your calls and whistles. Some will investigate that very […]
When Hide and Seek Becomes Here I am
Ready or not, here I come!” I always loved hearing those words because that’s when the fun really began. I knew all the best hiding places around our house. In the stairwell, behind the bushes, between the pine trees, by the swing set… What made them good was this: you could see the seeker, but […]
Every last little one
The little ones who cling and cooperate who listen to instructions who raise their hands and smile to answer questions… They fill you up and keep you coming back. They’ll do fine. The ones who resist and refuse who defy you to “make them” who turn a cold shoulder or don’t turn at all and […]
Use Your Words
Two kids play in the sandbox until one wants the toy the other has and helps himself. Dispossessed kid shoves the other to reclaim the toy. “Use your words, child!” Happy family out to dinner and the time is getting late. Junior fidgets, whines then tantrums. “Use your words, child!” Children changing classes through crowded halls. One […]
Thank you tosses and goes, Gratitude stays and helps
“I can say what I want. It’s a free country!” the kid said, shoving his friend a little harder than a friend shoves a friend. The rest of us standing in line to board the flight pretended not to notice these boys ‘doing what boys do’. That kid is feeling pretty free. I’m thinking he probably has […]
If we let them
When they’re young, children need to learn how. How to tie a shoe. How to make their letters. How to ride the bus. How to strike the ball. How to throw the pass. How to swing the bat. How to greet a friend. How to get themselves to sleep. How to decline politely. These, they […]
Winter, We Need You!
Nature is a tease this year. Look at those chutes, Yawning and stretching. Time to wake already? Seems like I just went to sleep. Look at those buds, Plumping on each branch. Well, if he is, I guess I’d better. The unfurling must be soon, Baby, it’s warm in here. Spring must be coming, Warm, […]
