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God’s understudy: spirituality for kids in performing arts
Is performing arts a passion for one of the kids in your life? Here's an idea that may make sense to them as they continue to develop their spiritual life. Be God's understudy. God's understudy--learning, listening, practicing so we can stand in for God in the world...
Spirituality in adolescence: not what but how
Young people raised with moral or religious principles and practices typically arrive at adolescence ready to find answers to a questions like “How do I know and experience and be 'right' with God? How should that look different for me than it does for my parents?”...
Look at a child’s self-talk to help unstick anxiety or depression
When bad things happen, children feel sad, angry or worried. But what they tell themselves about what happened makes a big difference. When self-talk contributes to a child's anxiety At the core of anxiety is the child’s fear of what is going to happen in the future,...
3 ways to cheer up a child: self-talk
Jayaram V. observes, “[Self-talk] is your inseparable twin with which you have to live the rest of your life.” (writing on Hinduwebsite.com) We cheer up the children in our life when we show them how to ensure that their inseparable twin is affirming and truthful. 1st...
Big self-talk stumble: mis-attributing success or failure
How do you explain why something good or bad happens in your life? To what do you attribute your successes and/or failures? Our self-talk generally gravitates toward holding ourselves responsible or charging others. But sometimes it is jumbled up. Listen for how...
Challenge kids’ misbeliefs about happiness
Happiness is a funny thing--Is it even possible to be happy all the time? Where do we find the right people or things to make us happy more often? Are any of the children in your life growing up with the impression that life (or God) owes them happiness? Children's...
Help kids know if their self-talk is truth or myth
If we are going to help children find the misbeliefs in their self-talk and get rid of them, we should understand how they got there in the first place. They are not arbitrary. They come from somewhere, commonly from.... Hearing something repeatedly Not being told...
Becoming aware of self-talk
Whether it’s “I’m the stupidest kid in my whole math class” or “Okay, I can do this,” we’re familiar with the collection of messages children play in their heads. Self-talk is everything a child believes to be true …. …. about the way things work in the world …....
Results from your child-centered spirituality approach finally appear
A grandmother in our blog community shared her birthday request with us. She asked her teenage grandsons (currently in foster care) for a special gift that she would appreciate more than any kind of present -- a letter telling her how they feel about her. She told...
Silence: a great gift to a child’s inner life
Most of us have experienced first-hand, in our lifetime, the disappearance of silence. Our distracting and distracted culture influences the children in our lives. As Glenn Hinson said, "Noise desensitizes; silence sensitizes." We recognize how uninterrupted...
You want kids to evaluate results of their choices
Set aside the natural tendency to lecture or say "I told you so" when a child makes a choice and finds out afterwards it wasn't such a great one. Thinking about how the choices they make turn out in the end is an important part of decision-making. Evaluating the...
How we encourage kids to act on what they decide
Celebrate when children make a realistic plan and act on one of their choices! (They are succeeding at a skill more than a few adults have not mastered.) It may not be perfect. They may have overlooked some important criteria. Maybe they need to move on to one of...
Deciding which choice to try builds a child’s willpower
We’re at the midway point of the C.H.O.O.S.E tool, which builds willpower and gives children a sound decision-making process they can carry throughout their lifetime. C = Claim the problem H = How many choices can I find? O = Own and follow your moral compass O = One...
Decision-making and kids who use their moral compass
3rd in a series about a valuable, simple tool for teaching kids decision-making. The tool is C.H.O.O.S.E. and today's big idea is to know and follow moral principles. A kid's morals become their treasure chest of wisdom and guidance. C = Claim the problem H = How...
Empower kids with “I always, always have choices!”
When's the last time you heard a child say: I had to do that. I didn’t have any choice! or She made me do it! or I’m bored… there’s nothing to do. or It wasn’t my fault… he started it! Sometimes kids find themselves in situations in which they think they just don’t...
C.H.O.O.S.E: First, kids learn to Claim the Problem
C.H.O.O.S.E is the acrostic for a teaching tool we can use when equipping children to make wise choices. I learned it from my friend Linda Sibley, who is happy I’m sharing it through these posts. C = Claim the problem H = How many choices do I have? O = Own and use...
Here’s a fun decision-making process for kids
Will I get up now or hit the snooze button one more time (and probably be late for work)? Will I stop the kids from fighting now or wait until they draw blood? Will I take time to eat breakfast or eat a donut at coffee break (and feel guilty about the calories the...
“Use your words.” Words for a kid’s spiritual vocabulary
It’s hard to find child-sized words kids can use to express spiritual or transcendent experiences. “Kids need to know the words,” says middle school teacher Sheila Edwards. “When you’re giving to others, that’s sacrifice. Labeling it makes it powerful. Kids can say,...