Parenting

Ever tried to penetrate the tough guy facade? Or been turned away by the 'I don't need you or anyone else' face? There is a secret to winning someone's heart. This article does not guarantee that you will it merely equips you with the best tools to do so. It does not matter if the situation is a boy trying to win the heart of a girl, a parent trying to get through to his rebellious teenager, an employer trying to help a disgruntled employee, or a wife trying to break down emotional barriers in her husband, the answer to accomplishing this is the same: understanding. No one can win another's...

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A fact is directionless. It is just there. It doesn't teach or say anything. However, if you couple that fact with a philosophy-a direction-then it does teach a 'truth'. The problem lies in the concept that two people can look at the same fact and come up with different truths. Take four people, set them on four different corners of an intersection, and allow them to observe a car accident. They will all see the same facts, but they will all have different stories of what happened. I'm a Christian and a pastor both. Truth, to me, is the Bible and all it says. I think Jesus is the truth. I believe...

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Emotional immaturity is the result of or a combination of one of two things. 1. Emotional trauma as a child or young person. 2. Never having had to accept responsibility for one's own actions. These two things are the primary source of emotional immaturity. Combined, they reflect a troubled individual and personality. EMOTIONAL TRAUMA Children and even teenagers lack the experience and emotional stability to deal with the trauma that can result from abuse, abandonment, being unloved, or even the death of someone close. So many of the problems that I as a pastor and counselor deal with...

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Teenagers and young adults are on a quest for a unique identity wholly their own. This search often leads them into the realm of rebellion as they try to break the bonds of their conception of other people's preconceptions. Teenagers will dissociate themselves from their parents and associate themselves with their peers. This often is very destructive. Understanding the need and nature of this identity crisis is important. At some point in our lives we seem to have a desire to break free from the expectations of those who raised us. Be it parents, teachers, or other authority, teenagers and young...

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There is some debate over whether or not you should allow your teenager to disagree with you. I'm of the mind that if the teenager doesn't have a platform to voice his or her disagreements you could isolate your teenager from you in a way that you would not like. The teenage years are best spent preparing him or her for adulthood. To do this, they need understanding. They need to know the intricacies of life. What? Would you prefer that they learned about life from their friends? Well, one of the best ways to help them understand life is to allow them a proper platform to disagree with you. Done...

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Character is self government. The ability to rule your desires and lusts--even your needs--is what character is all about. It forces you to do the right thing even when you have no desire to do so. It does not rely on someone else's character but has the ability to determine your direction despite personal desires. Proverbs 6:6-8 - Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. These two verses should be every parent's hope for their children. We want our children...

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Often what brings people together has absolutely nothing to do with what will keep them together in the long run. Getting close to someone is often the result of mutual attraction or the discovery of things that you have in common. If you both like tennis, that might be enough to draw you together. Dating couples find things about each other that they like, and these mutual attractions or common interests pull them into a relationship. People who work together towards common goals will find themselves getting close to each other. Just ask any war veteran how they feel about their foxhole buddy. But...

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I'll state again that the instincts that will be discussed here are not universally true but generally true. In the majority of the cases, you'll find that these God given instincts exert a particular force on our nature and thus the family. With that being said, the family, in the context of this article, is that of a man, a woman, and their children. This is the family that I believe God ordained, and the particular instincts that we are created with have a symbiotic impact on each of these three elements. Things will obviously be more confused when you add in divorce, stepfathers, stepmothers,...

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The marriage should come first. That doesn't mean that you ignore the children. But it does mean that if you want what is best for your children, you will keep the marriage strong. As a pastor of a Church, I counsel many marriages and many problem children. What I have discovered is that many or rather most of a child's problems are directly related to the problems within the marriage of his or her parents. Give me a troubled marriage and I will invariably find troubled children. That is a fact that is indisputable from my experience of over a decade of counseling and trying to patch relationships...

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UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM Most people don't turn to God until they feel like they need Him. Even in presenting the plan of salvation to someone, we must point out a real Hell and a real possibility of going to that Hell. Only then will the need for salvation become clear enough for most people to want to trust Jesus. Children, however, are dependent upon parents, in their eyes, more so then they are in God. Having no need for God, as they see it, is part of the problem. In dealing with teenagers, the largest obstacle we overcome is the thinking that they don't need God. Often, this is a subconscious...

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