Consistency in Parenting

I’ve been struggling with consistency in my parenting days with Abigail. It’s been not so easy to be consistent all the time. It’s not easy for me because I didn’t grow up with that. But, as I went through my emails today, I came across this email and read this verse from NLT Marriage & Family Devotional (from 05/14) really change my mind and heart. God’s word says,

My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart. (Proverbs 3:1)

It is important for parents to be consistent with what they say and do to our children, especially in the area of discipline (which I struggle the most since the beginning of being a mom). Every time I discipline my little girl, my heart hurt and sad. My old memories come back in my mind when my dad used to discipline us and how I hated him for that. That’s the one I do not want happen to us, as parents, Abigail will hate us because we discipline her. But also God’s word teaches us that,

Don’t fail to discipline your children. They won’t die if you spank them. Physical discipline may well save them from death. (Proverbs 23:13-14)

What I learn from this verses that our discipline is out of love for her, not out of anger. We want Abigail to be wise so she will be a girl what God wants her to be, for her to have a teachable heart and respect us as her parents. We want Abigail to see that she can make a right choice or the wrong with which always comes with consequences.

In my struggle with consistency as parents and discipline, I pray for God’s word to light up our path as parents. I pray and need the Holy Spirit to help us, to guide us, and to teach us to be the parents God wants us to be for our children. I need wisdom from God to understand how to handle and solve the problems with our children and how to guide their hearts to God.

All we need is God. It’s only through Christ Jesus we can do the right parenting, we cannot achieve anything when we are out of Jesus.

How’s your parenting and consistency as parents when you teach your children?

The Servant King

We love the Jesus Storybook Bible. It is a very good Bible story for children, it also has pretty & colorful illustrations. Today, I found this video on Vimeo. And my girl loves it! She said, “Mama, wanna watch Jesus movie.” It is simple video but has the most wonderful story, about Jesus! It is higly recommended by me 🙂

Family Tradition #1: Christmas Tree

Passing down family tradition to our next generation is the best way to teach them their family culture and also give them the special moment to remember. One of our family traditions that we would like to pass it down to our daughter, Abigail, is the moment of joy when we all get together and decorate the Christmas Tree.

This is so priceless and unforgettable moment ever for Christmas time this year. It was Abigail’s first time helping us decorating the tree at her great-grandmother’s house. She was TOO EXCITED to help and every ornaments that she liked she put them on the tree (and the rest of them she played with them on the floor).

This one is a keepsake for sure! I took the picture with my iPhone 3GS, use the Best Camera App (you can find the app at Apple Apps Store) and edited it. Then the scrapbook layout, I made with My Memories Suite v.3. All the paper, elements, journaling tag, and frame are from My Memories Collections. The font I used for the journaling is Adler, you can download it here for FREE.

What is your family tradition?

Godly Words

be the guide that our children need through our words everyday

But even as he spoke, a bright cloud came over them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.”

Matthew 17:5 

In his book Raising a Modern-Day Knight (Tyndale House), author Robert Lewis points out that parents can gain some priceless direction from the way God the Father treated God the Son. These insights are particularly powerful in a father’s relationship with his son. Lewis uses as his starting point the several occasions in which God the Father made public pronouncements about his Son. Those statements include three ideas children need to hear from their parents: 1) I love you (“my dearly loved Son”); 2) I’m proud of you (“who brings me great joy”); and 3) you have skills (“listen to him.”) The third one requires extra thought because it is specific to each child, highlighting his or her skills. Read through each of these again and ask yourself when was the last time each of your children heard any or all of these from you.

Some people say, “Do not over praise your kids” but saying these 3 things to our kids are not gonna be an over-praise in their life. They need to know that God loves them much more that we do. They need to know that every single thing in their life is matter to us, even more to God.

Source: NLT Marriage and Family Devotional, A Parenting Devotional

Why is it so hard to find a good time to read a book?

reading is fun

Lately, it is so hard for me and my husband to find a good time to read books. Later in the evening after doing our every day tasks, we feel so exhausted and are ready to go to bed. In the morning, we wake up just in time for my husband to go to work, but it is not enough time for me enjoying a good time to read because my girl is a morning person. So, we have been thinking what we should do to change this habit or why we cannot find a good quality time to read.

We think reading is also a good habit to develop in our girl’s life and we want her to know that reading is fun and a good way to enrich her knowledge, gain wisdom and a window to see the world. But we have to do that first to show her, then she will find out by seeing what we do, then she will do it. Kids are a the best imitator. They will do whatever they see what we do, instead of what we tell them what to do.

Michael Hyatt, a writer, posted this post 5 Ways To Make More Time To Read. In this post, he gives these suggestions that I think might help you and maybe you, too, in improving our reading time. Here’s what he says,

Life is hectic around our house. But I’ve somehow managed to make time to read in the middle of all that. And I say that not to pat myself on the back but to show that, even with a busy life, it is possible (and important) to make time for hobbies you’re passionate about.

Here are a few tips that have helped me:

  1. Sacrifice something. You’ve got 24 hours in a day. You spend 8–10 hours (hopefully not much more) working. You spend 6–8 hours sleeping. You’ve got family and friends to spend time with every day. All of this doesn’t leave much time for other interests, like reading. So your golf game, like mine, might take a hit. You might have to turn off the television after 9:00 p.m. But, if reading is a priority, you’ll make time for it. As Jon Acuff puts it: “Be selfish at 5 a.m.”
  2. Make a routine. If I say I’m just going to “find time to read,” then it will never happen. I have to make time to read. So here’s what I do: I read during my lunch break, and I read at night, beginning around 8:45, after family time, after the wife and little guy are in bed.
  3. Set a goal. You’ve heard this so much that it’s clichéd. But it works. My goal is to read 101 novels. Usually, I would’ve given myself a deadline, but I didn’t want to speed read through the books, so I just chose to read them as they come. At my current pace, I’ll reach my goal in three more years. Maybe you should set a goal to read one book a month. If that seems unlikely, then make it one book every two months. And take it a step further—tell someone about your goal. Or, if you’re crazy like me, start a blog about it. There’s nothing like that extra accountability to keep you moving.
  4. Have fun. You don’t have to read a book simply because a friend suggested it, you know? Think about your hobbies, interests, and passions—then go and read about those subjects. I once spent five months reading nothing but casual, behind-the-scenes books about restaurants and chefs. I’m a chef groupie, I guess. Once you’ve read a few “fun” books, then dabble into the more serious, thought-provoking stuff.
  5. Mix it up. Once you get into the flow of reading, branch out of your comfort zone. If all you’ve read is nonfiction business books, then relax a little and pick up a novel. If you’ve plowed through Stephen King’s entire catalog in a few years, maybe it’s time to give a leadership or inspirational book a try. The point is: If you read the same style of book over and over, you’ll eventually get burned out and go back to watching two hours of Brady Bunch reruns every day…unless you’re reading 101 books for some crazy blog, of course.
The more we read, the more knowledge we gain, the wiser we become.