Tag: Parenting

Father Ben Gets Ready for Mass

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This post is sponsored by Katie Warner and Faith First Treasury and contains Amazon affiliate links. I received a free copy of Father Ben Gets Ready for Mass in exchange for an honest review.

Katie Warner has been releasing so many amazing Catholic kids books, I can hardly keep up!

I’m just the biggest fan of everything Katie, does, so when she offered me a copy of Father Ben Gets Ready for Mass, I was all over it.

As soon as it came in the mail, my kids swarmed. We tore the packaging open, and sat down to read it.

Continue reading “Father Ben Gets Ready for Mass” →

Teaching Kids to Pray the Catholic Way

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This post originally appeared as a guest blog I wrote for The Thin Place. You can find the original posts here:

Part 1: Teaching Kids to Pray: A Catholic Perspective.

Part 2: Teaching Kids to Pray: Common Catholic Prayers.

As Christian parents, we long to see our children embrace the faith we hold so dear to our hearts.

We teach them about Jesus and about the Bible. We help them learn about the virtues. We have them memorize daily prayers and, as they grow, study theology.

But most of all, we want them to have something deeper than a collection of facts and information.

We want our kids to love Jesus with all their hearts. To have a meaningful and vibrant relationship with Him.

Continue reading “Teaching Kids to Pray the Catholic Way” →

What To Do When Punishment Doesn’t Cut it

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Four Tips for Discipleship Parenting

“Kids will never learn if you don’t punish them.”

Hold up.

Let’s think about that for a moment.

A while ago, my son had picked up this habit of growling. He growled when he was playing. He growled at his sisters. He growled when I said something he didn’t like.

It drove me absolutely bonkers.

I tried every punishment I could to get him to stop.

I put him in time out. Separated him from the rest of the family. I took away his toys. His screen time. I sent him to his room. I yelled at him. I cut sugar from his diet. I could go on and on.

Nothing worked, of course.

Continue reading “What To Do When Punishment Doesn’t Cut it” →

A Biblical Approach to Sibling Rivalry

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Today’s post on Sibling Rivalry is #MyMassTakeaway for the Mass readings on 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Find the Mass Readings here: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 23, 2018 Continue reading “A Biblical Approach to Sibling Rivalry” →

We don’t have to constantly live on the verge of losing it. It takes dedication, but we can take back our sanity! Use the Healthy Mind Platter and Emotional Thermometer to maintain wellness.

“Before I Lose It” – A Mom’s Guide to Sanity

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This post is not intended to diagnose or treat depression or any other mental or emotional health conditions. I simply wish to share my experience with life-changing strategies I first learned through counseling.

“You guys better clean up before I lose it!”

It’s hard to be around our kids all the time. Their needs and messes and noise are constantly weighing on us. It can be easy to lose ourselves to the demands of motherhood. To let stress take over. To be the yelling, tantruming mom we swore we’d never be.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Continue reading ““Before I Lose It” – A Mom’s Guide to Sanity” →

And it's in here, not out there, that I find myself. Here in being loved by my God, and sharing that love with my family. My heart is in this beautiful, noisy, chaos of love I call my home. My heart is in my vocation. My heart belongs to Christ.

Inspired to be the Heart of the Home

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Lessons from Mary: how I reconciled with “A mother is the heart of the home.” 

My birthday was coming up and I had big plans.

I was going to do all the things I wanted to do for me. It was going to be a whole day of me-ness. I planned to take off first thing in the morning, meet a friend for breakfast, do some shopping by myself, have a nice lunch in a coffee shop, maybe even do some writing, and come home to a quiet dinner with my husband.

I had been feeling overwhelmed with meeting everybody else’s needs, and I was sick of it. For once I wanted to just do what I want. To not have to answer to anyone else. I was becoming more and more short-tempered. Less engaged in effective discipline. More shouty than problem-solvey.

So I was going to escape. For an entire day. Happy birthday to me. Continue reading “Inspired to be the Heart of the Home” →

A shower prayer (just for fun)

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Have you ever heard of the shower prayer?  I pray it every day.  It goes something like this:

Lord, wash my feet that they may follow Your path.  Wash my hands that they may do Your work in this world.  Cleanse my head of all distractions and fill it with thoughts of You –

JUST KIDDING!

I wish I prayed like that in the shower every morning.  I probably should.  But my shower prayer (and I don’t pray it every day, only every-day-I-shower) goes more like this… Continue reading “A shower prayer (just for fun)” →

Rocking Motherhood

Rocking Motherhood

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What makes a good mom?

A little while back, I guest posted on The Koala Mom about what it means to be a Love Rebel Mom.  In short: I’m dedicated to my vocation.  God called me to be a mom, and I’m going to be a darn good one.

So Anni over at Beautiful Camouflaged Mess of a Life challenged me to prove it.  In her rocking motherhood post, she shared what makes her a good mom, and tagged me to do the same with practical examples from my own life.

As I brainstormed my supermom qualities, I realized everything on my list was more about the mom I want to be than the mom I am right now.  And I struggled to identify real life ways I actually rock motherhood every day.

So I asked my kids. Continue reading “Rocking Motherhood” →

A Reflection on the Quiet Years of Jesus’ Life

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The Quiet Years: a guide to embracing the ordinary.

In a world of information and connection, we can be tempted to share every detail of every moment of our children’s lives.

The adorable thing they said.

The Lego they built.

The meal they ate (or refused to eat) for lunch.

Since every moment is precious and important, we feel we must shout it out loud for all the world to know.

The Quiet Years

But Your childhood, Jesus, is in stark contrast to this attitude.  The first 30 years of Your life were the quiet years. Continue reading “A Reflection on the Quiet Years of Jesus’ Life” →

I Have Extra Arms and Extra legs

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For all the babywearing moms.

I strapped my tantruming 2-yo to my back, rolled up my sleeves, and dug into the dishes, hoping the closeness and the movement would help her calm down.

The cries eventually turned to whimpers.  The whimpers to sighs.  The sighs to silence.  She was asleep.

Time to lay her down for a nap.

But first I stepped into the bathroom to scoop up the dirty clothes for the laundry.  I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.  My silhouette was augmented with extra appendages.  Little tiny fingers, toes, arms, and legs, were peeking out from the left and right.

I stopped.

And stared. Continue reading “I Have Extra Arms and Extra legs” →