Why Try Gratitude?
Gratitude is defined in Websterâs dictionary as âthe state of being gratefulâ. When Websterâs shows examples it says, âLet me express my sincere gratitude for all of your helpâ and âWe remember with gratitude those who died defending our country.â When you look at synonyms you will find words such as appreciation and thankfulness. Related words are gratification, indebtedness, satisfaction and acknowledgement.
So what are we grateful for? Are we grateful for our kids, our job, for forgiveness, or our second-chance we received? We think itâs different for each one of us depending on the day and time.
The opposite of gratitude is thanklessness or being ungrateful. We really think itâs being unsatisfied. Itâs not being fulfilled by what we have done, what we are doing, and where we are going. Itâs not being satisfied with everything we have received from the clothes on our back, to our spiritual forgiveness.
Gratitude is something that doesnât always come easy. For most of us, it r
...Co-Parenting
Sleep is sometimes overrated. Iâve been up since the middle of the night because my two year old daughter decided it was time to come and cuddle with her daddy in bed. I remember doing the same thing as a child with my parents. I would always go to my momâs side of the bed because I knew that I had a better chance of being able to stay. With my wife and I, our daughter has a better chance with me.
In parenting, especially âco-parentingâ, itâs an important thing for parents to realize who is better at what and in what situations each parent should take the lead with their child. When parents can be more aware of their strengths and weaknesses as leaders to their children, they have a better chance of establishing rapport, respect, and good teachable moments with their kids.
For example, when it comes to patience, I wouldnât win any awards and probably never will. I try to be patient, but as much progress as I make, Iâll never be as patient as my wife when it comes to our kids. She
...A Month of Gratitude
With Halloween in the rearview mirror and Thanksgiving on the horizon, itâs time to start thinking about gratitude as we enter into the holiday season. Candy consumption can be an overwhelming experience for our little tikes with beginning to understand limits and being thankful for what we receive. So with that in mind we have an easy challenge for parents and their kids to help facilitate the conversation surrounding what they are grateful for.
First Step:
Share the Thanksgiving story with your kids.
Here are three links about the history of Thanksgiving. Provided are two articles (one for kids and one for parents) to refreshen our minds on the history of Thanksgiving and how it came to be. We also have found a short cartoon about the Thanksgiving story.
Here are the links:
Story of Thanksgiving for Kids
History of Thanksgiving For Parents
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Second Step â For Your Kids
Starting this week before putting your kiddos to bed tell them that you are...
Getting Shots
If there are ever bad memories in the life of a parent and their child, one of those memories has to revolve around getting shots. What a pain â literally! This week, our whole family is getting a variety of shots that we wish we could skip. Oliver just got his 2 month shots; Claire, her 3 year shots; and Manny, along with both of us, have to get our flu shots. Although, maybe we can opt for the nasal spray this year if weâre lucky.
Growing up is tough work, and along with it comes some growing pains â not only what we have to do to stay healthy (like getting shots), but also some experiences that tend to be curve-balls thrown at us that teach us how to be resilient.
The hardest part of this week is when we take Claire to the doctor. Sheâs well aware of the things that happen in doctorâs offices, and she wants nothing to do with any of it.
Some of the things we try to do for our kids when they have to do something they donât want to do are: prepare them the best that we can, and lea...
Negotiating With God
As parents, we want to allow our children to have a voice, to feel heard, and to always feel free to express themselves â while being respectful. Our 2 ½ year old has taken this to heart, and lately we have daily negotiation sessions with her. When an option is presented, she has an innocent way of manipulating the situation to end in her favor. For example, we live next to a park in Stillwater, and every morning (around 7am) when she gets up she says, âI think we should go to my park right now.â As to which we reply, âHow about in a little bitâ and then she says, âHow about right nowâ.  This dialogue can go on for fifteen minutes with her going back and forth, coming up with creative ways to get to her beloved landmark. When we say creative, we mean it. Last week, she offered to rub her daddyâs back if in turn we would go to the park. You can guess where we ended up. Sometimes her negotiating skills work and sometimes they donât. Either way, during the middle of all of it, we either w...
Fostering Faith
One of the greatest gifts you can give to your children is for both you and your partner (when possible) to equally participate in the teaching of your childrenâs faith. This has two effects on your children:
- Â It demonstrates to your children that your faith is important to both of you. It also shows your children that you both support one another in the growth of your faith.
- It creates an opportunity for some family time â even if itâs only for 10 minutes a night.
Our kids love doing prayers at night. While the meaning behind praying is still a mystery to them at a young age, they feel the connection we have as a family. And as they grow older (like our 14 year old), they also b
...Wealth Building: Planning the End-Game
Are you frugal? Are you a super-saver?
Or are you the opposite? Are the luxuries of life too good to pass up because tomorrow that thing could be gone?
Whoever you are, you fall somewhere in the financial spectrum of haveâs or have notâs. Have notâs are individuals or couples who have no financial plan, goals, and spend their incomes with no clear foresight of how their spending is impacting their future.
The Haveâs are individuals or couples who have worked a simple plan over and over again, working towards their financial goals for the future and have achieved their goal. They are what I would consider, financial masters. You donât have to be rich or wealthy to be a financial master. You could simply be well-off. It really depends on the person(s) plan and what they want. A financial master is someone who has taken control of their financial future by mastering their emotions, delaying gratification, and understanding that building wealth and achieving dreams isnât typically done ...
Holiday Traditions
Can you hear all of the Christmas songs in the air? What about the smell of fresh baked goodies?
For a lot of us, Christmas is one of our favorite times of year because it creates a festive atmosphere of fun, family time and eating WAY to much â not to mention giving and receiving presents!
Family traditions surrounding Christmas are both new and old. Some of us have family traditions that are almost as sacred as the day itself and if you tried to change them, grandma or grandpa might decide that youâre not their favorite anymore. There are other family traditions weâve started ourselves.
As children, the days leading up to Christmas were almost as good as the day itself. Every year at the start of December my mom would get out a blanket calendar that she would hang on the door. With this soft calendar came a little soft bear that you could move from day to day and I couldnât wait to move the bear each morning because it meant it was one day closer to the best night of the yea
...Cabin Fever?
Itâs about time for the snow to melt and spring to make its way onto our front doorstep. How do we know this? Because our kids are telling us. They are more rambunctious, more energetic, and  sometimes appear to be wild monkeys.
We like wild monkeysâŚwe just like them outside. Unfortunately, with the weather being so cold lately itâs been a challenge to let them loose in the great outdoors.
So, how do we pass the time together during the remaining cold days and avoid going crazy?
1. Make a fort
Who doesnât have magical memories of building imaginary castles and deep dark tunnels with every blanket in the house? Even the big kids can get involved in this one! (FYI: Everyone is required to help with clean-up!)
2. Plan your family summer vacation
There is no better way to escape the cold by dreaming and planning for your getaway this summer!
3. Dress-up day
Itâs time to get in character. Will you be dressing up as Cinderella, Prince Charming, Elsa? You get the idea, but your kids g...
Do You Hate Listening?
Have you ever been accused of such a thing?
To think that you â yes, you are capable of not being a good listener?
For some of us listening comes rather naturally and is therefore easier for us to accomplish in our relationships. But, for some of us, we lack the attention, focus, and understanding of why listening is so important to our partner.
Have you ever heard the phrase, âGod gave us two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speakâ?
Listening is one of those things that we can all struggle with periodically. Itâs also something that a lot of us struggle with on a daily basis.
You may have been accused of âselective listeningâ or that âit goes in one ear and out the other with youâ.
Steven Covey said it best when he explained that âMost people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.â
That is so true.
Most of us get too wrapped up in our own agenda and meeting our personal needs first, that we forget to liste...