parenting

Fathers, Be Good to Your Daughters

dad

I heard the song “Daughters” by John Mayer last week at a pizzeria with my husband and son. It’s one of those songs that has so much depth and gut-punching truth to it. It’s so beautiful and sad at the same time. I’m including the lyrics here for us to ponder. The most profound part is his plea:

On behalf of every man
Looking out for every girl
You are the god and the weight of her world

So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too

We all need to realize the power fathers and mothers have on the their children, who will one day be parents themselves.

“Daughters”

I know a girl
She puts the color inside of my world
But she’s just like a maze
Where all of the walls all continually change
And I’ve done all I can
To stand on her steps with my heart in my hands
Now I’m starting to see
Maybe it’s got nothing to do with me

Fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too

Oh, you see that skin?
It’s the same she’s been standing in
Since the day she saw him walking away
Now she’s left
Cleaning up the mess he made

So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too

Boys, you can break
You’ll find out how much they can take
Boys will be strong
And boys soldier on
But boys would be gone without the warmth from
A womans good, good heart

On behalf of every man
Looking out for every girl
You are the god and the weight of her world

So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too

Why You Should Lower Your Expectations

Do you feel like you had to kiss a frog to find your prince?

frog

This article I wrote was published in Family Share. It addresses marital expectations, but parenting is just a relevant. Click on the link below to access it.

“Why you should lower your expectations”

5 Ways to Destroy Your Child’s Self Confidence

familyshare_nocom

Here is an article I wrote that was published on Family Share March 8, 2014. It was viewed over 6,500 times in 4 days and shared over 1,000 times. Wow! Click here.

http://familyshare.com/5-ways-to-destroy-your-childs-confidence

Book Blog Tour May 1-28

Keep-it-Real-Blog-Tour

The blog tour book review for my book “Keep It Real and Grab a Plunger: 25 tips for surviving parenthood” is May 1-15, with extended days until the 28th. If you are interested in reviewing it or reading reviews and interviews, here is the link. http://blog.cedarfort.com/blog-tour-keep-it-real-and-grab-a-plunger/

If you read it, please post your feedback on Amazon and Goodreads for others to follow. Thank you!

BYU radio show: Communicating with Children in Distress

I contributed on the Matt Townsend show on BYU radio on Jan 21, 2015.

The topic was communication and I came on after the first guests to discuss how to communicate with a child in distress.

http://www.byuradio.org/episode/9cb0ae24-b2c6-489e-8d4a-b5205946490a/the-matt-townsend-show-relationship-communication

Media Matters

Here is a link to stream the Matt Townsend BYU radio show where I spoke on Jan. 7, 2015. The topic was media perceptions and I was interviewed the last hour about role model influences in the media on children.
http://www.byuradio.org/episode/3d0b49f2-26c1-4936-962b-256a1402b218/the-matt-townsend-show-media-perception

The main talking points were:

Tips for parents of young kids

Limit screen time.

Find age-appropriate content.

Tips for parents of elementary-aged kids

Avoid stereotypes and antisocial role models.

Search out good programming together.

Avoid role model consumerism. 

Tips for parents of older kids

Embrace what they like to hold influence with them.

Educate them with unrealistic ideals, including reality TV, soaps and unnatural body figures.

Believing, Christmas, and Santa Claus

Today I read the original text of the famous newspaper editorial written in response to a child’s, Virginia, letter to the editor. It brought tears to my eyes. I had forgotten how beautifully written it was, and how profound was the truth therein. I share it here for all parents who are teaching the un-provable truth of Santa, sharing, and the joy of Christmas:

We take pleasure in answering at once thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of “The Sun”:

Dear Editor–

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

– Virginia O’Hanlon, 115 West Ninety-fifth street.

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

http://classiclit.about.com/od/christmasliteratur1/a/aa_yessanta.htm