Author: Karen Suppes
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Relavant Cultural Issues
A handy reference to intentionally address cultural issues that our children will form opinions about whether from their biblically informed parents or the uninformed world. Find a helpful review here:
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Explaining Sexuality
Here is a series you can look for to have conversations with your child/teen over a span of years to help you navigate this important topic. This series presents godly sexuality through the childhood experience. Gone are the days where one talk “about the birds and the bees” would do it. Healthy, ongoing conversations about…
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“If my child dresses up like another gender, how would you handle that in a play session?“
Know developmental norms. Children between the ages of four and 11 are naturally curious about their bodies, their identity, and who they were made to be. Curiosities and comments about physical anatomy, and normal development, are common and should be welcomed as our children grow to understand their world. Sometimes, adults will attach a sexualized…
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Everyone-every child-has a story…
So often we only consider the outside…and make assumptions. When we consider that our very own child has a story-experiences that make them who they are-we can begin to look beneath the surface of what we tend to call “misbehavior” or “disobedience”. Although not all of our child’s behaviors are acceptable, their feelings and experiences…
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“I can never think of good choices when I need them.”
Giving choices often feels impossible when we expect to do this in real time in conjunction with our child’s behavior. It often seems that our opportunities to give choices often come when either we, our child, or both of us are hungry, tired, or already frustrated. To think of reasonable choices for our child is…
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“When do I set a limit?”
When we feel out of control as we parent our child, it is often tempting to set limits on everything they do. Limit-setting has a framework. It is helpful to have a framework as to when a limit is actually needed. Since we know, children are not robots or going to “act perfectly “all the…
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Choices & Root Behaviors
“What do I do when I give my child two choices, and they comply with the limit I set, but choose their own third option?” Choice giving can get sticky. It’s hard enough to formulate real choices in real time when your child is really upset. We get flustered and pressured in the moment too. …
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Child Behavior Management, who gets the job?
Often parents take on the role of behavioral manager for their child. They come to believe that the child’s behavior can and should be controlled by the parent themselves. The child whines, and the parent gets them what they want. The child complains they are bored, and the parent thinks up what they should do.…
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Parenting gets Personal
“I still feel so much hurt over the disrespect my child has shown me, that I do not want to show them love until they deserve it.“ Being a parent can be so hard. Actually, it is hard most of the time. We can literally feel like punching bags as our children disobey, disrespect, openly…
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“Why is my child acting up?”
It can be helpful as a parent to step back and consider the “why” behind a child’s misbehavior. Just like adults do any number of things to accomplish a goal, children often do this through all of their behavior. It is the “mis”-behavior that we often label as problematic and focus our attention on as…