THE AWKWARD MOM

because uncomfortable conversations are the ones worth having

Tag: Proverbs

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

When Your Teen Yells at You: 8 Win-win Ideas

Reading Time: 4 minutes

yells angry

So yeah. That happened.

I won’t tell you which one. It doesn’t matter. And I have this phobia my kids will need to be in therapy because their mother is a writer. 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.

Spiritual Disciplines for Real Families: Fun Ways to Study God’s Word (with FREE printables)

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Missed the other posts in this series? Check out these on Prayer, Meditation and Contemplation, Simplicity, Solitude, Service, and Fasting.

Okay, so if it’s not obvious—problem numero uno may be getting our kids to study anything, right?

Maybe. read more

Election 2016: How can I talk with my kids about all this?

Reading Time: 4 minutes

america-wonderingMaybe your chest is as chock-full of emotion as mine over the results of November 8, 2016. As my friend Kristen Welch wrote in her excellent post, America is Stunned. God is Not: 5 Things We Can Teach Our Kids in the Wake of Change: I don’t even know what to say, but just between us: I wasn’t with her and I wasn’t for him.

From the moment we got off the plane, my kids have marveled slack-jawed (with the rest of us) over the news shows and internet headlines of the rabbit hole that is the 2016 elections. Perhaps like I’ll never forget the Challenger exploding at liftoff or where I was on 9/11, they will never forget these last few months.

Some of my kids have dealt with no negligible amount of fear. They’re rife with questions, and looking to a lot of places for hints on how to make sense of this brouhaha. And, as my mom used to say, I can assume they’re even smarter than I think they are. They’ve picked up on a lot. (Though I had to grin yesterday, when during a wrestling session I heard, “Can’t Dad just run for president?”)

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