THE AWKWARD MOM

because uncomfortable conversations are the ones worth having

Tag: anger (page 1 of 3)

9 Ideas to Parent with More Emotional Health This Week

Reading Time: 2 minutes

ways to parent with emotional health

Looking for ways to parent with more emotional health?

Here’s nine. (Start with, like, two.) read more

Proverbs for Kids: 5 Printables to Post

Reading Time: 2 minutes

This morning as my 14-year-old scarfed down chicken-maple sausage links before school, I pulled Tim Keller’s devo (for adults) on Proverbs off the kitchen’s half-wall, where it sits by the fruit bowl. These pages have become to me a quietly cherished part of our routine.

There’s something about Proverbs’ concrete wisdom and word pictures for developing young brains that makes this book wonderfully tactile. (And bless the person who divided it neatly into 31 chapters, one per day of the month.) read more

“We Never Fight”: The Problem with Zero Conflict

Reading Time: 4 minutes

we never fight

I was glad/sad to see high click-throughs for my recent post, When Valentine’s Day is hard.

Maybe I’m reading into it. But maybe some of you are army-crawling through hard times. Or know someone who is. (Or are curious to see exactly how I would tackle that beast.) read more

Printable Prayer: For Discomfort, Anger, & Foolishness (Freebie)

Reading Time: < 1 minute

This week has dabbled in the frenetic at my house. Uh. More than usual.

Rather than writing you a half-baked post, I’m pulling from the archives some chalkboard art of a printable prayer–an artistic version of this challenging Franciscan benediction:

Grab this printable prayer here.

Free printable prayer chalkboard art God discomfort anger foolishness Franciscan blessing read more

Walking with Kids through Church Hurt

Reading Time: 4 minutes

church hurt

This is one of those posts where I’m not an expert, just a mom. (Um, most of my posts?!)

But maybe these small ideas will help. And if I’m smart, I’ll keep this short, right? read more

Anger Issues? Ideas to Keep a Lid On

Reading Time: 5 minutes

anger issues

I still recall with vividness my son’s drawing, proclaiming my anger issues to the world.

It was in red marker (his favorite color). Chunky hands rested on wonderfully slim, stick-figure hips. “I made you look mad, but you’re not mad in this picture,” he explained. read more

When Anger’s Hot: Raising Self-Controlled Kids in Outrage Culture

Reading Time: 2 minutes

outrage letting off steam

I admit to being comfortably removed from a lot of social media’s ANGRY CAPITALIZATION and #%$^& words for longer than is normal.

An overseas cocoon, removed from a lot of news, swaddled me. It was a happy place where celebs were just famous people. Where yet to come was the U.S. 2016 election–when it would feel like the whole country was getting a nasty divorce. read more

Bouncing Back: Helping Your Child Open the Gift of Failure

Reading Time: 6 minutes

My thirteen-year-old and I sat across a sticky table from each other at the local donut shop. If I remember right, he had this maple-frosted thing that was the size of a small planet, totally at my permission (unusual for my Sugar Nazi tendencies). His tears had dried by now, leaving a whisper of salt on his cheeks.

“I just feel like I have more setbacks than wins,” he shrugged, so clearly in pain. read more

The Stressed Version of Your Parenting

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Stress is like wearing a flannel shirt when you’re washing dishes, you know?

One minute, you’ve got your hands in the water, scrubbing, the edge of your cuffs kissing the water. Next minute, the water’s bled up to your armpits. (For this reason, my husband’s told me that in Boy Scouts, they always said “Cotton is death”: If you’re wearing cotton when you’re active in the cold, it absorbs your perspiration, and can quickly bring you to hypothermia in bad weather.) read more

Printable Infographic: 9 Ways to Pray for Kids in School!

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Want to pray for teachers and administrators, too? Grab that printable here.

I’ve probably written before about my dad sending my sisters and I off to the bus on so many mornings, in that flurry most of us with school-bound children know well. Lunches! Instrument! Mom, you didn’t put that in my lunch, did you? Permission slip! Did you finish that homework? Who’s picking me up from practice? Yes, you have to wear a coat; this is not optional.  He’d surround us in his big farmer-arms or put those sausage-like fingers on our shoulders. “Go MAD!” He’d say. My dad finds little shame in the corny, so that was Dad-code for “Go make a difference.”

Now I’m the one pecking heads while they run out the door, my fingers reaching (when not scrambling for the lunch and permission slips) for those shoulders that grow just a little more every year. I’m sending them on a mission, really.

« Older posts

© 2024 THE AWKWARD MOM

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑

Show Buttons
Hide Buttons