Archive for March, 2017
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10 ways to use God’s glory to de-stress the child of divorce
I’m always on the lookout for resources that can help us better minister to children of divorce. Right now, I’m reading Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. This book verifies what I’ve thought for years about stressed-out children: stressed kids and children with ADHD and other behavior disorders need to be outside. Louv says they have a “nature-deficit disorder.” Overall, kids Read more…
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Why does the child of divorce wonder, “Where Will I Sleep Tonight?”
Why do children of divorce wonder, Where will I sleep tonight? These children face many stressful issues, and sometimes wondering where they will lay their head is a big worry. To adults, this might sound a little ridiculous. We all know where we will sleep tonight. Children of divorce, though, do actually worry about this question. Even with a schedule and consistency in Read more…
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Questions single parents have about disciplining their kids: how you can help
Single parents frequently ask me for help disciplining their children. Remember, single parents are doing it alone and have no one in the house to help them parent late at night or during the day. It can get overwhelming, to say the least. Here are eight examples of questions I get about parenting alone. Sometimes, single parents need more in-depth answers depending, Read more…
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Question of the week: What do I do if an abusive parent shows up to kidnap his or her child? What if they are armed?
Today, I describe extreme situations that might affect your children’s ministry. I hope you never have to deal with these situations, but in today’s environment, you need to be prepared. “What do I do if an abusive parent shows up to kidnap his or her child? What if the parent is armed?” I was asked this question at a recent children’s pastors’ event. Read more…
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10 ways to help kids of divorce when they explode emotionally at church
In our last post “When kids of divorce explode emotionally, how do you help the parent?” we discussed how to help the single parent whose child explodes at home. But what do you do when an emotional explosion happens at church? You can’t send the child to his room. You must handle the explosion at the moment it happens. Many ways we deal Read more…
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When kids of divorce explode emotionally, how do you help the parent?
In ministering to children of divorce and single parents, it is important to realize that single parents might need to quickly change how they discipline. They’ve moved from a two-parent partnership to a one-parent home. What worked before might no longer work for the single parent. It can be scary to parent alone, especially when children exhibit behaviors not normal for them. This Read more…
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Question of the week: How do I respond to a child who was dis-invited to an event by one of her parents?
How would you respond to this message? Dis-invited from a zoo trip My granddaughter’s father decided to not invite her (rather, to dis-invite her) to a zoo trip with his girlfriend and her two children, saying that his girlfriend wanted to spend the day with just her girls and him. My granddaughter shrugged it off, saying, “Well, I’ll probably get rejected by a Read more…
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God showed up and ministered to me through a little kid!
I have ministered to thousands of children in my lifetime and learned that all kids influence those in ministry in some way. Sometimes, it’s a kid who you wonder if you can ever reach. Or it’s a child whose behavior can be called challenging, at best. Many times, I’ve walked out of church wondering why on earth I’m still in ministry to Read more…
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Draw your family + a child of divorce = paper ripped to shreds
A kindergarten child was asked to draw a picture of his family. The child started the picture and then ripped it to shreds. The picture above is what was left of the child’s original drawing. An assistant in the room thought the child was being disrespectful and out of control. She was ready to punish the child. When ministering to the children of divorce Read more…