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My husband and I are not screamers.  We might raise our voices from time to time, but we aren’t ones to yell at each other or our kids.

Now I am not saying we are perfect parents.  Not a chance.  You see, we have our own parenting areas that need attention.  Yelling, however, just isn’t one of them.

When my kids were much younger, I remember one time in particular when I did scream at them.  It wasn’t a little scream.  I didn’t just merely raise my voice.

I… screamed.

Believe me, it wasn’t my finest mommy moment. Read the rest of this entry »

Identify the highest and best use of your time. If you’re in direct sales, the highest and best use of your time is probably when you are setting appointments or actually selling. If you’re a tutor, you make money tutoring. If you teach piano lessons, your teaching time is most profitable. Identifying the highest and best use of your time is essential so that you know which actions create income for you—and which actions don’t. This is essential for profiting from the next tip.

Hire help when possible. Early in my work-at-home career, I asked a successful Realtor® this question, “If you had one piece of advice to give someone who works for herself, what would it be? She was so certain of her answer she didn’t even pause to think. “Never do yourself what you can pay someone else to do,” she responded.

I asked her to explain. “I’m a Realtor®,” she said. “And the best use of my time is listing and selling houses. I hire someone to do everything else I need done.” A graphic designer creates all her mailings for her, and a mailing house applies the postage and sorts the brochures according to postal regulations. An assistant sets up showings and confirms appointments. She focuses on securing listings, working with buyers, and selling properties. And that’s how she has become successful. Read the rest of this entry »

Spiritual disciplines, such as prayer, confession, or meditation, go beyond teaching biblical truths, but impart godly habits to such a measure that God’s Word becomes part of our character. Disciplining our children’s lives takes hard work, however practicing the spiritual disciplines lead to inner righteousness and a longing for God.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.  -Hebrews 12:11

Like many parents, especially as a busy CWAHM, I struggled to practice the spiritual disciplines in my own life and found it overwhelming at times to instill such habits in my children’s daily lives. But now that my three sons and numerous foster children are grown, I can see the harvest of righteousness that such training produces. It began with a determination to make Deuteronomy 6:5 my guiding scripture in their lives.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

In my upcoming blogs we will look at how to teach our kids to practice different spiritual disciplines, such as study, solitude, confession, fasting starting this week with prayer.

Prayer

Prayer is the starting point for all spiritual disciplines. The disciples, seeing the power in Jesus’ prayer life asked, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). We forget that prayer must be taught and doesn’t just happen for our children.

Here are a few things to think about when you teach your kids to pray.

• Pray beyond the usual times of meals and bedtime. This will teach your children they can communicate with God throughout their day.
• Pray with your children often. My children often tease that someday I will cause a wreck with my spontaneous praying out loud while driving. They learned, however, that they could pray anywhere, anytime. Don’t worry when your toddler or preschooler mimics your words. He will soon find his own expressions toward God.
• Make prayer posters of pictures of people and situations to pray for. Allowing your children to choose what they want to pray about connects them to God in a real way.
• Demonstrate, coax, and encourage, but never force older children to pray. Encourage your child to journal prayers or list the things he wants to talk to God about in his quiet times. My husband left notes, especially for our older children, on the bathroom mirrors encouraging them to pray each morning.
• Ask your children to pray for you in specific ways—situations in your career or a personal struggle, such as anger or impatience. This will help your child feel that his prayers are valued.
• Rejoice and acknowledge when prayers are answered. Keep a family prayer journal, recording your prayers and making note of how God answers—including when he answers in ways we didn’t expect or desire.

Share ways you teach your kids to pray.

About the Author:
Carla Williams, writer, speaker, and mentor has writing credits in curriculum, devotions, articles, and books. She and her husband have been in ministry for over thirty years. Carla now enjoys working closely with her family in the Christian publishing industry. Her website can be found at www.thespiritualmom.com.