First, I came across an article published about spanking.
Then at Crossroads, the church we have been attending Brian Tome was doing his knock off series and one was on parenting. He mentioned spanking. But it was more about the different types of “parenting” God uses with His children and we should use with our kids based on their age/stage: Nurse, King/Queen, Coach, and Friend. Listen to it here.
Wednesday I was reading about Dr. Sears and attachment parenting and my usual style of parenting. I blogged about it a little bit here.
Then yesterday I went to my MOPS meeting. I am really enjoying MOPS. Online communities contribute so much toward “meeting” with people with similar situations and interests. I feel so blessed to be a part of these communities. But, there is still something nice about chatting in person over coffee.
Yesterday, we had a guest speaker. And you guessed it. She was talking about parenting. Kim Orlemann from Beech Acres Parenting Center came and talked about Intentional Strength Based Parenting (ISBP). You can learn more about it here.
But ISBP is basically creating a mission statement for your family and a plan for how you are going to instill character or characteristics in your kids while at the same time noticing and developing the strengths the child has. It is not exclusively a Christian parenting method, but I applied it that way.
I really liked her message. I like it because it allows for our parenting styles to be different. And it allows our children to be individuals. For us all to grow to be the unique people God created us to be. And our families to be mini bodies of Christ, with each working slightly differently because of the individuals in the body.
But it challenged me too. Being intentional is a lot of work. So is making a plan with my husband for each child. But in Gods eyes, as Beth Moore says, “Good does not equal easy”. And if anything is worth the work it is our children.
Kim recommended a book Your Child’s Strengths by Jenifer Fox.
It is now definitely on my to read list. But until I get it I’m going to use these tips to keep moving in the right direction.
