Want to get a barometer on your spiritual life and how serene you are? Have your child spill their glass at the dinner table? No, don't ask them to, just wait. Eventually, the glass will spill because someone is screwing around or reaches for something or it gets set down on the edge of a … Continue reading The Spilled Milk Test
Let Go & Let Them Forget Their Shoes
Having kids comes with juggling lots of accessories for daily life in school and extracurricular activities. Water-bottles, shoes, backpacks, basketballs, uniforms, library books, and more. Maybe that's easy for some of you, but coming from an adult who has been known to lose his keys multiple times per day, keeping track of other peoples stuff … Continue reading Let Go & Let Them Forget Their Shoes
What Am I Raising Children For?
I recently started the book ”The Gift of Failure,” by Jessica Lahey. She starts her history of parenting during early colonial settlement times, and this perspective had me thinking of raising kids during a subsistence lifestyle. Farming families or hunters and gathers necessitated having kids in order to sustain the pack. Farmers need additional hands … Continue reading What Am I Raising Children For?
We Know About the Coronavirus Already
Hopefully, you have learned to moderate your news consumption during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Three-and-a-half months in I've learned that all I really need is 15 minutes of news, twenty if I want to read an article or two in depth. It's good to keep up on any new developments of how the virus transmits, … Continue reading We Know About the Coronavirus Already
Empty Tomb or Empty Tube: They’re Listening Even When Signs Say They are Not
Easter is today, and it's like an Easter I've never experienced. It's an Easter that everyone alive on this earth has not experienced. Quarentined to stop the spread of COVID-19 has elminated family gatherings, church, Easter egg hunts, and almost everything traditionally associated with Easter as I know it. I did go out and obtain … Continue reading Empty Tomb or Empty Tube: They’re Listening Even When Signs Say They are Not
Physically Apart During a Pandemic but Where are You Emotionally?
My sister flew in to town March 10 from Seattle, WA. At the time her part of the U.S. was experienced the first recorded COVID-19 case in the U.S. She landed in the Minneapolis four days after this first case. Data projections, comparing the U.S. coronovirus outbreak to Italy gives me the chills. Originally, my … Continue reading Physically Apart During a Pandemic but Where are You Emotionally?
How Are You Taking the Test Given by the COVID-19 Pandemic
Today is the beginning of day four since schools have closed in Minnesota since the COVID-19 pandemic has reached middle America. There has been a shift in thinking, in work, in our communities and world as this virus has spread. A week ago, about 10 co-workers and I got together at a local restaurant to … Continue reading How Are You Taking the Test Given by the COVID-19 Pandemic
Rythm, Ruts and Hot Air
Routines develop throughout life. We wake-up, drop the kids off at the prospective camps or schools and we go to work. Tuesday's are spaghetti nights. Movie and pizza nights are Fridays. Routines are good. They're comfortable, efficient, and allow us to build lives. There are rythms to dinner, to our work life, to our relationships. … Continue reading Rythm, Ruts and Hot Air
Dad, What Can I Do?
Here it comes. There are occational moments around my house where my almost seven-year-old son will say, "What can I do? There's nothing to do." I'm a fixer, so I've always been quick to list off a number of things after suggesting he help with cleaning up. But here is why I'm thinking of switching … Continue reading Dad, What Can I Do?
Parents Take Care of Kids by Taking Care of Themselves
According to this blurb, parents who practice self care help their kids by: 1. Lowering stress levels 2. Teaching our children to value their health and wellbeing 3. Being better, healthier, calmer parents That's all great in theory. And it makes perfect sense. When I'm in better health, I'm much more patient with my kids. I … Continue reading Parents Take Care of Kids by Taking Care of Themselves