Tag Archives: religion

Teaching Our Children Kindness and Compassion

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Today’s world is not kind. The “leaders” are not kind to other leaders. The people that are praised as leaders have often advanced by being unkind and self-serving. Rude drivers and rude neighbors fill our communities. People still exclude others because of race and religion. Not everyone is rude, so please don’t think I’m a total pessimist. But one of my priorities as a mother in the world in this generation is to teach my children kindness and compassion.
Sometimes this feels difficult, and I really believe that some difficulties can be blamed on the unique personalities of our young children. Here’s an example. In my last two pregnancies, I had horrible morning sickness. I also had a child between 3.5 and 4.5 during both of these pregnancies.

  • One of my children during one of those pregnancies would say, “I’m sorry, Mommy! I hope you feel better soon!”
  • Another my children during a different pregnancy (same age) would say, “Mommy! Get back in here! Stop being sick! I need more oatmeal!”

I did not teach my children differently, but they have their own personalities. For one of my children, I see compassion and kindness as a personality trait. For my other child, I see other strengths. But being compassionate and having empathy for others is not one of them.
How can I help my children see the world around them with more empathy, compassion, and kindness?
I don’t believe there is a simple fix for something this important. That said, teaching kindness and compassion must start with me. I must be an example of kindness and compassion. Similarly, as a parent, I help by teaching kids to notice and use their words to communicate what we see. Finally, I must be patient with them as I teach them principle upon principle. We can’t learn anything all at once, and developing kindness is a life-mission for all of us.
I must be an example of kindness and compassion in order to teach it to children.
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Listening to God’s Will as a Parent

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Many of my educational philosophies are secular, and especially on this blog, I share learning ideas that would work for people of all faiths. But it is true that I chose to homeschool initially because God asked me too!
Today I’m blogging on All Done Monkey for her Parenting and Faith series. Here’s how I start my post:

When Leanna asked how our faith influences our parenting, I could not help but recognize that my own understanding of my role as a mother came as a direct result of my faith.

I am not naturally a patient person. When my son entered the difficult toddler age, I found myself at my wits end most days. My husband frequently traveled, and my son stopped napping, so I felt there was never a respite from motherhood!

I could not wait for him to go off to school so I would not be frustrated all day long.

But my perspective changed when he was four. This was when I was guided in a completely different direction as a mother. I let myself listen to God’s will.

Read more of Listening to God’s Will as a Parent at All Done Monkey! 

Do you feel like you homeschool for similar reasons?

A Free, Simple Template for How to Pray in Spanish

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It’s never easy to get a my resistant child to practice speaking in a foreign language, so one thing I like to do is move Spanish-language speaking into our familiar, daily use with getting in the habit of using certain words and phrases. Learning to pray in Spanish is one way we can put that practice into our daily lives.
Every day, we pray together three times (or more). We pray before every meal. What could be better than blending a little bit of Spanish practice in to such a familiar activity?! Learning to pray in Spanish has been a fun way to keep Spanish vocabulary in our daily routines.pray-in-spanish Continue reading →

Not Alone

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True response to Sunday Scribblings prompt: Guide

I grasped the robe. The volunteer secured the blindfold and nudged me forward.

I stepped tentatively in the dark. Then I heard the voice.

“Let go of the rope!”

I knew the voice: a teenager a few years older than me. He was supposed to make this harder. Another voice joined his.

“Come here! What’re you doing? Where do you think you’re going?”

I’d known they’d try to distract me, and yet I felt disoriented hearing them while blindfolded.

“Let go of the rope and come here!”

“This is where you want to be!”

I held on and stepped forward, ducking beneath a branch and nearly stumbling on a log.

Then I heard another voice: “Rose.”

Rose, my middle name. Only one person called me Rose: my bishop. My heart calmed.

“There’s another log; step more to the left.”

I felt it and stepped around it. The other voices still called, but I didn’t hear them.

“Don’t let go of the rope.”

I held on and walked forward. Then the rope led to two new ropes: one going one way, one the other.

“Choose the rope on the right.”

I followed the rope on the right.

Soon it was over. Taking off the blindfold, I turned to where the voice had been, but my bishop had gone to help the next person.

As my bishop was my guide on the obstacle course, so God provides me a guide on my daily course: His Holy Ghost, a quiet but sturdy, familiar voice amidst the chaos.

When I first heard the prompt “Guide” I tried to think of something more “secular,” but this experience and sentiment kept returning. It reinforces what I said in the About page to this website: my religion is an incredibly important part of my life, and as such, I can’t separate it from my writing.