by Connie Albers | Feb 24, 2014
In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and a new year, it is easy to get caught up in the stress and anxiety of creating those perfect memories for your family. Kids are overtired, everyone is home together more often, extended family sometimes comes to stay, schedules are different, and the stress of it all sometimes has mom exhausted!
If there’s one key idea I’ve learned during my parenting journey, it’s that we should not react in anger to situations that come up with our children. Too often we do react in anger, and we hurt our children with our words. The best advice I can give is to s-l-o-w- down and take some time to really listen to your children. God’s word clearly says to be quick to hear and slow to speak (James 1:19). So make sure you take the time to truly hear what your children are saying. This must be done intentionally. That’s right – you must put the iPhone down, disconnect from that tablet, look up from your stack of post-holiday bills and really focus on your child, face-to-face. (more…)
by Connie Albers | Jan 30, 2014
In a world full of devices and non-stop connecting…They still call Mom.
One day you are wrapping your arms around your child to comfort them for a skinned elbow, or making them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or putting on a colorful Band-Aid that fixes anything. Now, you are receiving late night texts from your young adult child asking for prayer about a heart-breaking relationship. It appears our older, wiser mentors were right when they said, “Challenges of parenting do not go away when the kids get older; they just get more complex.”
This is what I was told many times.
Now that my children are older I find myself echoing similar statements.
In my early years of parenting, when I passed up opportunities to be more involved outside the home, I questioned my decisions.
Invitations to sit on boards in the community or serve on committees at church were carefully considered so that I could have the time, and energy to avail myself to training the hearts of my children and cultivating our relationships. The early morning time readings, conversations and prayers, the talk-time in the cars on the way to co-ops and sporting events, the hanging out on the couch in the very late evenings because that’s when they liked to open up and share their deepest thoughts—all these cumulative moments and hours helped cultivate a heart in my children to maintain a relationship with me even now.
When they were younger, the focus was on teaching worldviews, Biblical truths, and basic life disciplines. That focus continues but now with more emphasis on listening, encouraging and supporting. It is a rich blessing, a high calling and a beautiful ministry.
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