Enriching the Soil of Your Life
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Raising children in the modern world of overabundance is becoming more and more challenging. Occupational Therapist Victoria Prooday’s strong belief is that the first step towards helping children begins through helping parents. Through her work she proves again and again that the brain is like a muscle that if it is properly exercised and provided with a nurturing and balanced environment it will reach tremendous growth and change….
I see it all around me. Kids and young adults struggling – stressing – with social, emotional and responsibility adjustment.
Article after article I’ve read lately worry that we are causing out kids to be super stressed out and are trying to figure out life for them to make it less stressful. But let’s look at it another way. Maybe we aren’t stressing our children enough the right way and causing them the actual problems we are hoping to avoid.
There are huge societal and cultural changes within families leading to this crisis. Not only are most children today under-invested in the family household structure or economy where they have responsibilities, but childhood interactions with one another have radically changed. Most importantly, we have all but stopped the normal, healthful stressing of kids that has happened for the previous generations. Does that sound too tough?
Let me explain…then give some applications.
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“Read me Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Momma!”
These days a parent could offer their young child storytime with a picture book, they could play an audio book, start the animated video or even ask Alexa! In a single generation, the explosion of screen-based media has transformed the experience of childhood, from TV and videos, to an unlimited range of technology available at any time via portable devices.
I ran across this brand new published study that opens up the hidden world of a child’s mind in each of those situations. The purpose was to explore the differences between story format (illustrated vs audio vs animated) and how they each affect the integration and growth of functional brain networks that support learning in preschool-age kids, including language development and visual imagery (imagination)….
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
By Rick Thomas.
While summer is an appreciated and welcomed relief from the blustery cold of winter, it does bring a different kind of difficulty. The summer months draw attention to our universal struggle with biblical sexuality, and the modesty debates take a prominent role in our conversations.
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Netflix will be launching an LGBTQ-themed superhero show featuring cross-dressers titled “Super Drags” later this year.
The popular streaming platform shared a preview trailer of the new cartoon series on Twitter Thursday writing: “They’re here, they’re queer, and they’re going to save the world. Super Drags, a new animated series coming soon.”…
Photo by Thiago Cerqueira on Unsplash
Questions can be perfect conversations starters, but thinking of really good ones that are suited to your child’s age and personality can take time.
I started out asking questions of our children when they were really young – wanting to make it fun to talk with me – and it has made a lot of difference. Some I asked when we weren’t doing homeschool, and others I’d save for tucking-in-time at night before we’d pray….
