Let’s talk boundaries with kids. As the parent, you are responsible to help your child learn healthy boundaries with themselves and the people around them. “Children are not born with boundaries. They internalise boundaries from external relationships and discipline. In order for children to learn who they are and what they are responsible for, their parents have to have clear boundaries with them and relate to them in ways that help them learn their own boundaries.” Boundaries with Kids, 18 Cloud & Townsend The basics of boundaries is to have routines and schedule. A morning routine, a daytime routine…
Don’t we all want our babies to just sleep without us having to rock/bounce/shush/sing/breastfeed for an hour (sometimes hours!)? Well, that’s how I felt, anyway. I had one easy baby, one very colicky baby and another fussy baby. I never knew anything about sleep training back when my kids were born, but as I look back I realise I actually did sleep train. When our daughter was born we lived with Richard’s parents and did not have a room for the baby. In my ignorance I rocked her to sleep every…
Should you allow your kids to sleep in your bed with you? Recent studies indicate that a near epidemic proportion of children are co-sleeping with parents today. Around 45% of moms let their 8- to 12-year-olds sleep with them from time to time, and 13% permit it every night. One of the reasons parent’s allow co-sleeping is because children today have higher levels of anxiety than previous generations – higher divorce rates, frequent transitions, over-scheduling, more academic pressure, and constant media connection (no time to be “off-line”). So, because so many parents are allowing…
Who am I to try and do this anyway? No one will pay attention to what I say. It’s not going to work, so don’t even try. It’s probably going to fail. Do you relate to any of these self-sabotaging thoughts and feelings? What is self-sabotage? Self-sabotaging behaviour is the intentional action (or inaction) that undermines your progress and prevents you from accomplishing your goals. It can impact everything from career to relationships to personal growth. 3 Types of self-sabotaging behaviour Before we look at how to overcome self-sabotage, let’s talk…
No matter how conscientious we are as parents, we all make blunders from time to time – like giving consequences for something our child didn’t do. (Yup, got that T-shirt.) We may feel awful about occasional slip-ups like this, but they are less serious than the mistakes we repeat consistently. 8 Parenting mistakes to stop doing Here are some parenting mistakes you may be making without realising it: 1. Repeating instructions and making threats Do your kids only obey once your voice raises a notch, your eyes narrow, and you use their full name? If so, you’re…
Do you have a sense of purpose for your life? Do you know what God designed you to be and do with your life? This can be a hard thing to figure out, and we often have to wade through a lot of junk such as expectations of family or society, false ideas about success, and false beliefs about ourselves, in order to find our true purpose. Why do we need purpose in life? God created us to need purpose, meaning, a reason to get out of bed in the morning. A 2010 study published in Applied Psychology found that…
Let’s face it, motherhood is challenging and exhausting. It can feel overwhelming at times – like everything is spiralling out of control. You may feel like a failure because you yell at your kids, or don’t give them enough attention. God’s word has some encouragement for you, mama! He sees you. He understands your challenges and struggles. He has a special place in His heart for you. Let’s take a look at some verses designed especially to give you – tired, weary mom – hope and courage. 22 Encouraging Bible verses #1 Matthew 11:28-30 “Come…
Note: This post first appeared in 2019 but has been updated. Everyone has a morning routine. The question is, is yours helping you get a good start or is it hijacking your day? In the words of Tim Ferris, “If you win the morning, you win the day.” A good morning routine will increase your energy, mood, performance and productivity, giving you a sense of control over your life. Because life is so demanding, it’s tempting to forgo the seemingly unimportant stuff, and get going with the “real” stuff – like work and all that the day throws…
Note: This post first appeared in 2019 but has been updated. Do you have an endless to-do list that never gets done? Maybe you don’t have that many things to do, but they still don’t get done. Are you a procrastinator, forever transferring things from today’s to-do list to tomorrow’s? How you can overcome procrastination and turn your ‘undone’ list into a ‘done’ one? Before we answer that question, here are some things people procrastinate about the most: The role of dopamine in getting things done Before we get into how to help yourself…