Ames & Ilg: Your X-Year-Old (series)

OK, well maybe it's not quite the end for this blog... I just had to post a review of these books. :-)

If you ever want reassurance about your child's behaviour at a specific age, or to gain detailed knowledge of what parenting challenges you are likely to face in the future, head to this 1980s Gesell Institute series by Louise Bates Ames and Frances Ilg. 

Beginnings... and Endings

I have spent some time during this Christmas holiday planning for 2012 and beyond, and I am very excited to announce that I will be studying towards a degree in Counselling!  (Here are details of the course if anyone is interested:  www.aifc.com.au).

However, the time commitment required means that I need to end some of my existing commitments, including this blog. 

I plan to leave the blog in place as long as I can, so that we are able to access the archives, and I may occasionally post new entries as I have time, but for now, this is goodbye.

Thank you for journeying with me over the past 9 months.  I will miss you!

The LORD bless you and keep you
the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.
(Numbers 6:24-26)

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas to you and your family!

I will be taking a break from blogging between now and New Year.

Thank you for journeying with me for the past year, and may God bless you abundantly in 2012.

Christmas Invitation

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Every year, the logistics of Christmas celebrations in our family are complicated. Every year, one side of my family is far more organised than the other.  They plan in advance where and when we will celebrate together, and who will do what.  My sibling's relatives by marriage are also planners.

Our side of the family... not so much.

Submission: Letting Go of 'My Rights'

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This Advent, I have been thinking about submission.   

Jesus let go of his right to be considered equal with God. He humbled himself to become a human infant, vulnerable to all the brokenness of our world. He let go of his right to be king, and submitted to death on a cross. 

Philippians 2:5-8 tells us that our heart attitude should be the same:

     Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! 

But the difficult part of submission is letting go of "my rights".

O Night Divine, O Night When Christ Was Born



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Night.

Into Bethlehem's evening came the weary travellers.
In the dark stable Immanuel was born.
Into the quiet starlight came the angel choir.Into the night sky a bright new star was placed.

First dark, then light; first night, then day.

God speaks into darkness, and brings light, hope, joy, and love.  He changes our darkest moments by His presence.

Worship Him.  Immanuel, God With Us.

Word of the Father, Now in Flesh Appearing



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Jesus is the Word of the Father. 

When we humans speak a word, it represents our thought, our feeling, our soul.

Jesus is the Word of the Father, made flesh.

Jesus' intimacy with God is such that his every thought, action, and feeling is the exact representation of the Almighty.  As close as the word is to the thought, is Jesus to his Father.

God the Father cannot lie, or deceive, or fail to fulfill his spoken word.   Jesus does only what he sees his Father doing.

What is God's Word to us this Advent Season?


Jesus.
It's all about him.


 

5 Top Communication Traps



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One of the aspects of being a parent that I find extremely frustrating is communication failure.  It drives me nuts when my child(ren) do not hear, do not acknowledge, or do not respond to my words.  Sometimes the failure is the child's lack of obedience.  However, far more often, the failure occurs on my part.

O Come, O Come Immanuel

Only in the past two years have I really been aware of the season of Advent.  As a child, December was all about finishing the school year (exams, reports, end-of-year excursions), putting up the Christmas tree and Nativity set, sweating in the first few really hot days of summer, and reading lots and lots of books that I had been unable to start during term.

William P Young: The Shack: Thoughts on Marriage

The Shack, by William P Young, is the story of a man's relationship with God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The trigger for the man's dialogue with God is the tragic abduction of his daughter, but don't let the grim opening put you off.  This slim book is packed full of hope, surprising joy, and boundless, heart-changing love, all presented through the man's dialogue with the visible, present, communicative, loving, Tri-une God.

I bought this book some years ago, and have re-read it a few times.  Each time I read it, different thoughts linger in the days that follow:

Walking, Not Soaring

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This week has been different.  Rather than soaring on wings like eagles, I have been walking without growing faint.  Plodding along, maintaining the discipline of early rising and prayer, but without the thrills of the first fortnight.

On the first morning, I wondered if I had done something wrong.

Now, I believe that it is just another cycle of unreliable emotion, influenced by poor eating, late nights, and lots to do. 

This was confirmed today when I had the opportunity to minister in prayer for a dear friend of mine, and sensed Holy Spirit present to meet the need.

I know that I will again experience the thrill of soaring; but for now, I choose to simply turn up.

Do you go through ups and downs in your prayer life?  What do believe is the main cause for this? How do you handle it?

Skills Training 4: Task Planning and Execution

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One of my children finds it difficult to plan and execute tasks in a timely manner.  In short, this child is easily distracted.  This is a problem both at home, and at school, so we have been working with this child for about two years now on this one issue. 

Because of this, I have become more pro-active in training planning and execution skills with my other children as well.  This is very much a work in progress, as I am continually experimenting and learning strategies for training purposes, but here are some things I have learned along the way:

Skills Training 3: Pre-school and School-Aged Speech and Language

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Continuing my series on Skills Training, this post discusses strategies that you, the parent, can implement to support your preschool and school-aged child's speech and language development. 

This post assumes that your preschooler has achieved age-appropriate speech and language skills.  If not, or if your child stutters, please seek professional help, as delay in treatment makes problems harder to overcome.  You may also wish to read my post on Early Speech and Language Skills Training.

Skills Training 2: Early Speech and Language



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All children learn speech via modelling. Many children do not require any help in addition to this modelling, and will pick up sounds, words, and increasingly complex language without any difficulty. 

However, children who are not progressing, or who are progressing very slowly, do need professional help, and the earlier they get it, the more quickly they will overcome this early hiccup.

Caveat: I want to be very clear here that I am not a qualified teacher or speech therapist, but that I am writing as a mother with experience of speech therapy.  Most therapy sessions that I have attended require language skills to be worked on at home, and most of the tips I offer here have been gleaned from these therapy sessions.  Sally Ward's Baby Talk is an additional resource which has been extremely helpful.
 
The remainder of this post discusses what you, the parent, can do to support your child's early speech and language development.

Skills Training 1: Why?

I am a mother who by nature, leans towards letting children play by themselves, or with other children, and I place a high value on outside play, sibling play, and independent play.  However, I have had to learn how to play with and teach my children, because I am aware of the benefits, and of the possible detriments if I do not.

One of the goals I have in playing with and teaching my children is being intentional about training their skills in a wide range of areas: physical, verbal, social, independent living (see also my series on Chore Training), literacy, numeracy, money... the list is endless.

By planning for time and stategies to teach my children skills, I ensure that they have opportunity to learn and grow.  If I do not plan times and strategies to teach skills, then they may not have opportunity to learn what they need.  A no-brainer, right?!?

This series will focus on when and how I teach various skills to my children, and some difficulties we have along the way.

Soaring on Wings Like Eagles

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This past fortnight, I have had a taste of walking by the Spirit, not by the flesh... and it felt marvellous. Looking back, it seems like I have been flying when I am usually trudging along in the mud with my eyes and head down.  Yes, I have experienced the thrill and the joy of spending the early morning hour with my Lord, and doing his work.

Do you want to know how this has happened? Here is my story.

Defining Self-Control for Children



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Tonight, self-control was our bible teaching topic.  Somehow, when teaching scripture, the Holy Spirit graces me with the ability to simplify and give examples appropriate to the ages of my children (7.5 years, 5 years, and almost 3 years).  I know this is the Holy Spirit's work, because in general I am a really poor teacher, and I have no theology training!!!!

The definition that dropped into my head to teach the children tonight was this:

Sensory Processing: An Introduction

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I have had the opportunity over the past year to be educated in the basics of Sensory Processing. I am not an expert, but I thought it would be helpful to share some of the knowledge I have gained. The following notes are taken from Occupational Therapy workshops that I have attended, and associated handouts.

Communion Sunday November 2011

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We remembered the dead on Remembrance Day.

Today, Jesus, I remember You as I take this bread and cup.

Thank You for taking the punishment meant for me on yourself. Thank you for giving me everything good from God in exchange.

Amen

Know Your Child, Know Yourself

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The part of parenting I love best is discovering everything that makes my child special and unique - their gifts, quirks, temperament, and personality. 

I love comparing my children at specific ages, because it highlights how different they are. I love to stare at their faces when they are sitting or playing together, because I see how similar they are. I love to read about personality, developmental stages, sensory processing, love languages, and the like, because it helps me understand and value how uniquely each child is put together.

The longer I am a parent, the more value I place on knowing my child in order to parent that child well. But I am coming to understand that knowing myself is equally important.