Inspiring – Page 5 – Home's Cool!

Blessings of Habit, Inspiring, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

The Blessings of Habit—Requiring

Posted on January 9, 2015April 14, 2018 by Katharine

This is the hardest part.

If a child continuously needs reminders, “forgets” on purpose, he needs more than another reminder.

He needs requirements.

Children do not automatically walk in goodness, contrary to popular opinion.

Some want to stay in bed in the morning.

Some want to skip brushing their teeth.

Some want to play during chore time.

Dogs eat a lot of homework. We know it is better for them if they have good sleep, cleanliness, and work habits. Our good plans for them cross their wills. That is why God put them in homes with parents.

Parents can place requirements on children for their own good. This is common knowledge in all cultures, except the permissive. People who follow the original ways of requiring children to act sensibly, have produced sensible offspring.

Stating the obvious is necessary, these days. I believe my children will always practice brushing their teeth daily, because they are accustomed to having white, clean-feeling teeth, so brown, fuzzy teeth bother them. The same is true for bathing, eating healthful foods, and Bible reading. Oh, they may experiment with departure from the absolute best, but they also will sense a difference, a loss, and choose the right way.

They are not born this way. We require it of them.

The child who habitually eats cake and cola will not sense the ill feeling from it in adulthood. The child who habitually reads anything but the Word will not miss the Word as an adult. The difference between those generalities is most usually the differing requirements they faced as children.

Who wants to raise a loud, interrupting, unhealthy, illiterate adult with crumbling teeth and no knowledge of the sacred? Draw your lines and require your children to heed them. Help them have the excellent gift of good habits.

___________________

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Blessings of Habit, Inspiring, Wisdom

The Blessings of Habit—Constant Reminding

Posted on January 8, 2015April 14, 2018 by Katharine

To make them think . . .

During the learning phase of acquiring new habits, reminding can be a good help for your children, or even yourself. Reminding goes beyond repetition. We reserve reminding for when we forget to think and should already know a fact or skill.

Jesus did this from the cross when He called out the first line of Psalm 22, which minutely foretells the Crucifixion. Every Pharisee at the foot of the cross knew He was reminding them to think of the entire Psalm and its implications.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? . . .
But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. . . .
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.From Psalm 22

It had to make them think.

The child, who stops interrupting when Mom slightly raises her hand, is using a reminder. The stopped driver, who hears a slight horn tap and then proceeds at a green light, is using a reminder. The newcomer, who consults a photo-directory to recall a new acquaintance’s name, is using a reminder.

The word, itself, “remind,” means “pay attention, again.” We can cause our children to pay attention more often by the simple service of reminding them. Paying more attention can make the difference between knowing and doing.

During difficult memorized recitations, I have reminded my children with signed alphabet initials of tricky words or phrases.
A childhood playmate received reminders from her mother in the form of having to return to the door, and open and shut it quietly, 20 times, to overcome door slamming.
“Go back and walk,” is a common reminder at our house: Walk, the first time.
Occasionally, even a policeman will give a warning instead of a ticket, if he judges that reminder is enough.

Bible verses posted on the walls of our homes remind our children of heart attitudes. Educational and health charts do the same for their earthly needs.

Reminders should be gentle because we realize anyone can forget something.

We can make reminders exciting to our children, rather than dreaded, if we are willing to take the trouble to make them exciting. Our children are worth that trouble.

Silly faces on a small poster, can give as much reminder as a cross voice, but with more effect. A bright yellow sticky note hangs on a sharp corner of our cabinets with a drawing of an orange duck on it, to remind passers-by to “duck,” and not hit their heads on that corner.
The tiny poem, “Thank God for Dirty Dishes”, framed and visible near the kitchen sink, caused comfort in a small, reluctant heart at our house for many years.
The doormat with the motto, “Wipe your paws” is a fun way to help them remember.

And I must remind you to remind your children of your love for them with plenty of hugs, kisses, and favors. ❤

More tomorrow!

________________________

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Blessings of Habit, Home School, Inspiring, Wisdom

The Blessings of Habit— Constant Repeating

Posted on January 7, 2015April 14, 2018 by Katharine

Practice makes perfect; you know it’s true.

We should train our children in every habit of good, such as obedience, quietness, tidiness, and so on. We want to produces good adults. However, how on earth do we instill habits into children?

The three-stage process begins with repetition.

I can type a list of all the countries in Southeast Asia, from memory:

Malaysia, Laos, Burma, Kampuchea, Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines.

I can type a list of all the English auxiliary verbs from memory:

is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been, shall, will, should, would, may, might, must, can, could, do, does, did, have, has, had.

Formulas for geometry, rules of the road, conjugations of foreign verbs, Bible verses, State capitals, all still reside in my attic, ready for me to climb up there and retrieve them. I learned them through repeating. They may fade as I age, but that will not mean that the repetition I used to learn them was wasted.

asdfjkl; Habit! — sad dad fad fads sass dad lass lass sass…

Repetition has saved me trips to the reference section of the library. It saves me mistakes, it helps me be a better teacher and helpful person, and it is fun. It is especially fun if after 40 years, I hop on a bike or sit at a keyboard, and every skill is still in place. It makes me very glad for asdf jkl; asdf jkl; asdf jkl;

Repetition is a great learning tool, one that we can teach our children to enjoy, if we do not mind making a little effort at helping with it. You know: songs, games, flashcards, etc. Our children’s future successes are worth more than a little effort, on our part, and on theirs.

Repeatedly asking the same question is one effort that works. Every time we went shopping, I would ask my children what was the rule. They knew. “If anyone but Mom touches merchandise, we all have to go back to the car.” I made it stick. They knew that, too. That repetition saved many a gift store.

This policy of repeating was a big part of our learning method throughout life.

What is seven times eight?
When do we feed the animals, and why?
How do we know a tornado may be coming?
What’s the first thing to remember in case of fire?
What are friends for?
Who loves you?
Why do you exist?
How do we spot a manipulator?
What should you do if someone tells you not to tell Mom or Dad?
What does it actually mean to acknowledge Jesus Christ?
What should you look for in a possible future spouse?
Who should you trust if Mom and Dad are not around and you don’t feel safe?

Your children can learn any important thing through repetition. Even in their adulthood, one of our children came straight to us when someone said, “Don’t let your parents know I told you this,” and in a dire situation, when no family was around, one of ours immediately knew whom to trust.

They knew what to do so they wouldn’t get burnt.

We must help our children know these things.

More tomorrow.

Blessings of Habit, Inspiring, Pre-schoolers, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

The Blessings of Habit –- Basic Beginnings

Posted on January 6, 2015April 14, 2018 by Katharine

Stick to basics in the beginning.

Our children can reap what God intended from good habits, if, by the time our babies are crawling, we’ve had the pleasure of instilling good habits into them.

For instance, we know we should keep them out of the cooking area, so we train them to stay out. Sometimes this is the first clash of wills between the darling babe and the soft mom. It can seem like war, if Mom doesn’t know how to:

Train in Good Habits

Habit training

In the beginning, for instance, we must teach a child what “hot” means, to fear when a thing is hot, and to trust our word on the matter. Use a hot light bulb and tell him “NO—HOT!” Act like you’re preventing him, but let him touch it briefly. Ask if he wants to repeat. If you see unwillingness, it’s a sign the child knows what you mean. If he cries, keep telling him it’s hot.
Anger and yelling do not help; they hinder. Anger is for the devil, not for teaching; yelling is for long distance, loud environments, or extreme emergencies, not for teaching.
Consistent firmness is the key. If you do not have time to be consistent, use a playpen or high chair to confine and thereby protect the child, or enlist a helper. “No” must mean “no”. If you are too lazy to be consistent, thinking about burn scars on your baby should help you feel stronger.
You must not cave in to crying. Crying sometimes is a good way for a baby to communicate. Crying to get one’s way is bad. Do not teach the child that crying to get his way is good.
Draw the line where you want, and make it stick. In our kitchen, one cabinet was permissible, but the rest of the kitchen was off-limits, during cooking. At crawling age, a child can grasp this.

Overcome Picky Eating Habits

We know we don’t want picky eaters and do want well-balanced diets, so we train them to eat. This can be another war, a bigger one, again avoidable, if Mom knows how to begin:

Be sure you do not serve food your husband will not eat when he is present. Save it for when he is gone. Be sure he understands this is a time of training, both in obedience and in habit, and you need his backing.
Make a new rule that every person will take at least a bite of every food on the table and eat that one bite all gone, no exceptions.
Anyone who complains about one bite, gets two bites. This is all done very pleasantly, not in a way that causes mealtime to be a war.
All food must be gone, not just pushed around, before getting any seconds or any dessert, again, all communication is friendly, matter-of-factly.
The only consequence is no other food offered at that meal. Eat one bite (or two for the grumpy) of everything if you want seconds of anything. End of discussion.

You likely are seeking the next step, here, but that is all there is. This process, based upon natural hunger, applied consistently, teaches the child to like all foods and to clean the plate.

All their lives, my children were afraid around off-limits things and unafraid of green things on the plate. It was good.

Blessings of Habit, Home School, Inspiring, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

The Blessings of Habit–Part 1

Posted on January 5, 2015April 14, 2018 by Katharine

Do Your Kids Have Habitual Blessings?

“Hey! Turn that back on!” I heard from the hallway one day.

It had happened again.

We have taught our children, from the time they were young, to turn off lights as they leave a room. Someone had turned out the light while there was someone still in that room.

It was a case of what I like to call “good habit—bad timing”.

It takes 21 days to form a good habit.

How amazing that the brain, once trained, knows what to do on its own! Eventually we no longer have to think about what to do and how to do it.

Imagine if you had to reinvent tying your shoe, each time you did it. We can turn off a light without thinking, even without looking at the switch. We can be thinking about the next task in the next room while we finish the task in the current one.

The mind is wonderful!

During an exercise class, I heard a phrase worth remembering:

“That which is used, develops; that which is not used atrophies.”

At that time, I did not know the meaning of the word “atrophy”, so I guessed it meant the opposite of “develop”. Since our family has a motto of knowing, instead of guessing, it bothered me I didn’t know for sure, so I looked it up.

So many habits go into each action…

Think of all the habits working in this experience:

The phrase, repeated, became a reminder of the good of learning, repetition, and training.
The habitual use of English caused me to guess correctly at the meaning of a word in context.
The habit of exercise, itself, gave me a lifelong urge to keep moving, partly spurred on by thoughts of atrophy.
Our habit of being sure of facts caused me to bother with a dictionary.
A family habit of returning a thing to its place enabled me to find the dictionary.
A habit of working alphabetically caused me to turn to the front of that huge book.

Imagine life without habits!

How difficult it would have been for me to benefit from the experience had I not had all those habits! Oh, the drill, supplied by faithful adults, that formed them in me!

The sad thing is that some children who lack faithful training might be learning to hate exercise instead of fearing atrophy. We have many such children living among us, these days—lacking drill in good habits—and this loss causes many problems. They never reap any benefit from life’s normal experiences. They become abnormal.

And we have to make up for their loss all around us.

Our children do not have to be among them, though. The home is the perfect environment for instilling good habits.

Let’s do it!

_______________

More tomorrow.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Blessings of Habit, Inspiring, Scripture

Resolved:

Posted on December 31, 2014December 30, 2015 by Katharine

I’ve been thinking about New Year resolutions a lot, lately.

Thinking what a sobering thing it would be to ask God what He would like to see me change this year!

I found something that may relate, something to think about:

And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him (Genesis 5:21 KJV).

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:5-6 KJV).

Enoch lived long, long ago, among some of the first people, ever. And he lived one year for each of the three hundred sixty-five days in a year. Does this make me curious?

Yes.

Then there’s another thing: It seems like he simply subsisted before Methuselah’s birth, but walked with God after.

I can relate to that.

Scripture does not mention anyone else “walking with God” in Genesis 5. They all just lived, and bore descendants, is all we are told.

None of the others were taken, either; they all died. Enoch, however, “was not, for God took him.”

We must believe God exists and that He will reward us. I know He does that! But could He want to give me an Enoch-like experience this year? Could I muddle through, listening, for 65 days, and then have direction for walking with Him?

Like Enoch, only smaller?

I want to try this. I want to wait on Him during the first 65 days, to show me the way, His direction, what He wants for the last 300 days of 2015. I want to be still before Him and listen to His ideas about what comes next.

I want to hear Him say, “Come,” and I want to step out of the boat. By the 65th day of the year, I want to say, “By God’s grace, I will do this thing.” I want to walk with God the remaining 300 days of the year, in this matter He sets before me. Maybe by the 65^th day of the year (Friday, March 6) I will know what I should change, what I should make my year’s goal.

What will He show me? What will He require of me? I don’t know.

I want a dedication on Day 65, and I want to call it Enoch Day and I want a big celebration this time next year. I’m thinking of keeping a journal, just for this tradition.

Maybe I’ll be brave and post it. Or maybe not.

Although all is still in the formative stages, one thing has become clear to me: In my life, a new Enoch celebration would be far better than all the New Year Resolutions in the world. (I cannot, in my own strength, change all I need to change. I have learned: God-pleasing changes do not come from my own strength.)

By God’s strength, I can walk in His will much more easily than I can walk in guilt over bondage to an overwhelming New Year’s list.

Maybe you could, too.

What if we began the New Year diligently seeking Him about what He would like changed? What if we took His Word to us and began implementing it on March 6? What if He visited us with His strength to do it?

It’s scary, but I can hardly wait.

for the grandkids, Inspiring

More on the Chickies!

Posted on November 21, 2014November 21, 2014 by Katharine

After several hours, these new babes are already putting on wing feathers! Just see!

Five-day-old chick. Buff Orpington variety.

Just had to share with those who never get to see or enjoy chicks. They weigh about like picking up a wad of cotton–almost nothing. But hidden inside them, given enough feed, etc., lies the beautifully mysterious potential to become five to eight pounds. About half are hens.

They are much stronger today than they were yesterday. Had to bathe one baby bottom, today, (five, yesterday) and the poor thing nearly got a full bath, it struggled so. 🙂 Did not photograph that one because it is having a bad hair day right now. However, the temp is 90 degrees in their little brooder pen and things dry very quickly there.

The sixteen of them have drunk a whole quart of water. Good babies!

We chose the Buff Orpington variety on the advice of a good friend in the B&B business.