Note: This post was originally published in 2018 but has been updated. Are you an emotional eater? Do you have a love/hate relationship with food? Do you eat when you aren’t hungry? Are you obsessed with food? Maybe you’re discouraged because you’re just not managing to control your eating and your scale is telling you so. What is emotional eating? A simple definition of emotional eating is eating when you don’t need to or are not hungry. You eat when you are angry, upset, lonely, or stressed. Why do you eat for emotional reasons? Because…
Note: This post first appeared in 2017 but has had a major overhaul. 🙂 Is your marriage stalled? Lifeless? Do you fear it’s even dying or dead? How can you rekindle your marriage? Before you try and figure out what to do about your dull marriage, let’s look at the signs of a failing marriage. What are the signs of a failing marriage? Related: 14 Signs your marriage may be in trouble What causes a marriage to die? There are many things that could cause a marriage to fizzle out: While infidelity can kill a marriage swiftly…
Note: This post first appeared in 2017 but has been overhauled. 🙂 Rebellion in kids often takes parents by surprise, but the reality is that rebellion begins in the heart way before it’s expressed verbally or behaviourally. There are always early telltale signs of rebellion long before it manifests itself. Rebellion is not something any parent enjoys, but many tolerate it because they think it’s part of normal development. But rebellion is not ok. It is not “normal”. In fact, the Bible reveals how serious a sin it is – Deuteronomy 21:18-21 tells how…
Note: This post first appeared in 2017 but has been overhauled. 🙂 Over the years I’ve learned to recognize rebellion in children. I’ve seen it in the eyes of an 18 month old boy, in the lack of obedience in a 6 year old child, in the back chat and facial expression of a 13 year old, and in the quiet resistance to be told how to do something in a 19 year old. Rebellion, plainly put, is resistance to authority. A rebellious child will resist his parent’s efforts to direct his life and assert his will against…
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…
A few months ago a friend and I had a conversation about how to overcome distraction and stay focused on a task. She really wanted to start doing better at it. Do you have things you’d like to change about yourself, things you’d like to learn, and areas you need to grow in? If you do, that’s a good thing because the Bible encourages growth. 2 Peter 1:5-8 makes God’s intention for us clear: grow so you can be fruitful. “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and…
No one purposely takes poison – even in small amounts. We know it’s stupid. But we often stay stuck in toxic relationships that make us mentally and emotionally sick and sometimes even destroy us. Toxic relationships can happen anywhere relationships occur – with a child or parent, in dating or marriage, with a friend or in a work environment, and yes, even in church. Recognising a toxic relationship can be difficult because we may be so used to mistreatment that it feels normal. The toxic person can make us feel like we are the problem. And naming the toxicity can…