Good manners are hard to find these days, yet they are essential for success in life. Clarence Thomas said, “Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot.” What are good manners? Good manners includes more than eating properly. Emily Post, famous for writing about etiquette, put it this way: “Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.” Manners are an outward expression of an inner feeling toward others. While they shouldn’t be a pretense, practicing them can…
“I don’t like myself!’ Tears flowed down my son’s face. I was astounded to hear such words from an eight year old child and didn’t know what to do. Every parent wants their child to like themselves, to feel good about who they are, and to have self-confidence. What is self-esteem? Simply put, it’s about how happy you are to be you. How valuable you feel and believe you are. A lot of what poses as self-esteem is vanity and pride yet the Bible tells us to love our neighbour as ourselves…
My sobbing three year old son stood by the bed. “You must hug me; I can’t hug myself.” And I was frozen inside. Unable to offer comfort until my husband pushed me towards the little boy and told me to. What made me cold and unfeeling? Why could I not offer comfort? None of us wake up in the morning intending to hurt our children. Yet we do.We neglect needs, say hurtful things, withhold comfort, or laugh when we shouldn’t. The hurts we inflict are often unintentional and our children are wounded…