5 Reasons Why Children Should Read Biographies

Biographies are very beneficial for children, and I would like to encourage parents to search out those types of books.  Why encourage your children to read biographies?  Here are five critical reasons:

1. They are stories about real people doing real things.  These people often faced, and many of them overcame, great challenges.  This will help children to persevere when they too have obstacles in their paths.

2.  Children find inspiration.  My oldest son enjoyed playing sports and to encourage him to read more, I helped him to select biographies of famous athletes. Playing sports takes a lot of discipline, and by reading about the lives of athletes, he was able to develop that important skill.  He especially loved playing basketball and was eventually selected to play on a Division 1 college team – a dream come true!

3. Children learn about history through important people who actually lived at the time.    In addition to having children learn facts about certain historical periods, biographies bring those historical periods to life and often help children to remember those facts.  

4. Biographies provide important life lessons.  Children can learn from those life lessons without having to go through them themselves.

5. There are a variety of biographies, and your children can select the subject matter of the ones they would like to read.  As I mentioned, my oldest son loved sports and read many biographies about sports figures.  If your child has a musical gift, select biographies of famous musicians and composers.  If your child enjoys art, select biographies about artists. The list is never-ending. 

New Year – New Beginnings! Share Scriptures with Your Family About New Beginnings to Start off the New Year of 2023

             It’s so wonderful to enjoy the start of a brand new year!  Did you know that God’s Word is filled with scriptures about new beginnings.  Click the link below and you will find 40 of these verses.   Consider setting aside special times and sharing them with your family, including your children.  Everyone will get big doses of hope to start off the new year.  And, of course, continue to read and meditate on them throughout the month of January for continued inspiration.

Please visit:

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/bible-verses-about-new-beginnings-inspirational-scriptures.html

Why Children Should Read Biographies

I have written previously about how beneficial biographies are for children and wanted to reiterate that fact so parents would search out those types of books. Why encourage your children to read biographies? Here are a few critical reasons:

1. They are about real people doing real things. These people often faced and many then overcame challenges. This will help children to persevere when they too have obstacles in their paths.

2. Children find inspiration. My oldest son enjoyed playing sports and to encourage him to read more, I helped him to select biographies of famous athletes. Playing sports takes a lot of discipline, and by reading about the lives of athletes, he was able to develop that important skill. He especially loved playing basketball and was eventually selected to play on a Division 1 college team – a dream come true.

3. Children learn about history through important people who actually lived at the time. In addition to having children memorize facts about certain historical periods, biographies bring those historical periods to life and often help children to remember those facts.

4. There are so many different biographies and your children can select the ones they like. As I mentioned, my oldest son loved sports and read many biographies about sports figures. If your child has a musical gift, select biographies of famous musicians and composers. If your child enjoys art, select biographies about artists. The list is never ending.

To learn more, please visit:

https://www.scholastic.com/parents/family-life/parent-child/benefits-biographies-kids.html

https://therabbitholebooks.mystrikingly.com/blog/how-can-reading-biographies-help-children

Making America’s Parks More Welcoming to Diverse Groups

The National Park Service (NPS) has embarked on a major push to make our beautiful national parks more welcoming to diverse groups of people.  According to the NPS’s statistics, in 2019, over 327 million people visited the national parks. Statistics also establish that the majority of visitors are not “people of color” and NPS seeks ways to improve this.

            In conjunction with the National Park Foundation (NPF), a nonprofit organization chartered by Congress that generates private support, the NPS has established a number of programs as an outreach to our communities.  These include:

• The National Park Service Mellon Humanity Fellowships

• Junior Ranger Angler program to encourage children to learn about all the recreational activities involving fishing

• American Latino Heritage Fund to preserve and protect the history and culture of Latino Americans

• NPF’s Kids program introducing children to our parks through a variety of activities online

• The National Park as Classroom education program which provides teachers with free curriculum, field trip ideas, and workshops for students

• The Strong Parks, Strong Communities initiative supporting local programs all over the country

            In a thought provoking online article titled Here’s How We Make The National Parks More Diverse, author Ted Alvarez gathered a number of recommendations from a variety of knowledgeable people as to what more the NPS can do.  Some of the recommendations included the NPS partnering with local city parks and having NPS rangers be more visible around communities; teaching about the history and contributions of African Americans with our national parks; and having children and families come out and experience the parks, if just for a day’s outing.

I have traveled and visited many parks over the years with my family and can say that we absolutely loved the beauty and adventures that our parks have. Especially during the pandemic, I recommend that all families, no matter what race or national origin, make plans to visit some of them.

To read the entire online article and obtain more information on this topic, please visit:

https://www.backpacker.com/news-and-events/national-parks-diversity

https://www.nationalparks.org/our-work/programs/programs-connect

https://www.nationalparks.org/our-work/programs/all-programs

https://www.nationalparks.org/connect/blog/celebrating-black-history-and-culture-through-national-parks

Are Too Many Rewards Hurting Rather Than Helping Your Children?

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Illustration by Natalie Matthews-Ramo

        As a parent raising two sons, I used rewards to help motivate them to do I what I believe needed to be done.    I reasoned at the time that rewards were proper means to an end.  The “rewards” system did not always work and in some instances, turned out to be more of problem than an effective solution or inducement.  As I have matured as a parent and seen parents give, in my opinion, too many rewards, I wonder whether we have misused and abused the “rewards” system.  I would like to share with you what John Rosemond, the “Parent Guru”, and author, psychologist and parent educator Robin Grille have to say on this subject, which I find to be very enlightening.

         Mr. Rosemond responded to a question posed to him about giving a child “prizes” or rewards just to have the child obey a parent’s request, in this case, to dress nicely to attend church and stop whining and moping about it.  He stated:

It should go without saying (but it seems that when it comes to child rearing, nothing goes without saying these days) that children should be taught do the right thing — in this case, obedience to parental instructions — simply because it is the right thing to do. Another way of saying the same thing: Children need to learn that good behavior is its own reward.

          He further talks about the short-term achievements that rewards give and get, and that researchers are finding that rewards are not good for the long-term.  In the online article Rewards and Praise – The Poisoned Carrot, Ms. Grille reached a similar conclusion:

Rewards work well for getting children to do something that they don't naturally want to do, for the short-term only. This immediate behavior change rewards us, and keeps us addicted to rewarding. The negative consequences of rewards and praise don't materialize until later, so we fail to recognize rewards and praise as the culprit.

          Another important point made by Ms. Grille is that many children learn how to manipulate and become “superficially compliant”, doing just what it takes to get the reward and often honesty suffers.  With my sons, I learned that I could not just ask them “to clean their rooms” for their rewards but had to be specific about what needed to be done.  Exactly what is meant by “clean”? Often, they would do minimal work and then expect a reward.  If none was forthcoming, complaints and arguments ensued. 

I agree with many of Mr. Rosemond’s and Ms. Grille’s conclusions and if I had to do it over again, would not give rewards as often as I did for certain things.  But, as a parent, it is up to you to decide what is best. 

To read the entire articles and more on the subject, please visit the following:

https://lacrossetribune.com/lifestyles/relationships-and-special-occasions/john-rosemond-children-need-to-learn-that-good-behavior-is-its-own-reward/article_b456455c-6921-50d1-ac43-1dc2e066f67d.html

https://www.naturalchild.org/articles/robin_grille/rewards_praise.html

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-trust/201604/heres-how-rewarding-good-behavior-leads-bad-behavior

Passing on Good Values

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A friend of mine told me about the non-profit organization Foundation for a Better Life and its website www.passiton.com and I wanted to pass on what I have found and learned.   I believe it will be very helpful to parents and children in learning about and promoting good values.

The Foundation is dedicated to passing on good values in our communities through public service campaigns.  Various means of communicating positive values are used such as through videos, billboards, radio messages, and the internet.  Additionally, if you are looking for an inspirational quote, one page on its website is dedicated to that as well.  No matter how you may be feeling, there is an inspirational quote for you to help brighten your day.

A quote from its website explains its mission: “The goal of The Foundation for a Better Life is to offer inspirational messages to people everywhere as a contribution toward promoting good values, good role models and a better life.”  I can’t tell you enough about how impressed I am with this organization and all that it is doing.  Please spend some time on its website – you will not be disappointed!

What Are You Believing For Your Children?

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I am a living example that children are likely to grow up to what their parents believe of them. When I was growing up, my parents would tell me that I could become anything I wanted.  They stressed hard work and a good education.  Back then, there were not very many women attorneys or judges.  But, that didn’t deter me because my parents had instilled in me to dream big.  I worked diligently in school and if I brought home anything less than an “A” on my report card, my parents would be disappointed, telling me that I could have achieved an “A”.   I would work even harder to achieve that “A” because they had told me I could.

When I became a mother, I too passed on to my two sons that they could become anything they wanted.  Ask yourself – what are you believing for your children?  

When I was a judge, I heard many parents tell me in the courtroom what a disappointment their children were and even call them derogatory names.  All the while, their children are in the courtroom listening to what they are saying.  Often, the child would be hanging his or her head down while the parent was speaking.  I often cringed wondering if that is what they are saying about their children in a courtroom, I would hate to hear what they are saying to their children at home!

Proverbs 18:21 says that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue”.  Examine what you are speaking about your children.  Is it life, health and prosperity?  Those should be the only words that you speak over them as words have no end in time and affect their eternity.

Inspirational Back to School Quotes for Your Children – Build Trust

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

For the month of September, I have been centering my blog posts on inspirational, back to school quotes for your children.  In this last blog for the month, I would like to focus on teaching your children to trust God.

Trusting God first starts with children understanding and accepting the critical truth that He loves them unconditionally.  Unlike a parent whose love may be denied based on the child’s actions, God always loves us because He is love.  Since He loves us so very much, we know that we can trust Him in everything.

On her webpage, Rachel Wojo writes about many ways to teach trust to children.  She suggests taking your children to a planetarium, for example, to help them understand how big our God is and how His ways are greater than our ways.  She also has a list of Bible verses to read with your children to help them build trust.  She further suggests spending quality time praying with your children, and when their prayers are answered, remind them of all that God has done for them.  To learn more, visit her webpage by clicking here.

Inspirational Back to School Quotes for Your Children – Build Honesty

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Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Philippians 4:8 NLT

This is my third blog post for the month of September on back to school inspirational quotes for your children. Today, I would like to stress the importance of honesty.  Jesus said that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  John 14:6.  Since He is the Truth and our example, we should strive to be truthful in all that we say and do.  

Being honest all the time is not easy.  When your children are in school, there will be times that they will be asked questions.  Will they speak the truth or lie?  Help them to be bold in honesty.  In doing so, it’s important to remember that your children are watching and listening to you.  If you do not tell the truth, it will be difficult for your children to do so.  Be a role model of integrity for them. 

Inspirational Back to School Quotes for Your Children – Instill Courage

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The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

Deuteronomy 31:8

I’m continuing with back to school inspirational quotes for your children during the month of September and today’s blog post is on instilling courage.  As your children return to school, they are dealing with many different fears – fears of the unknown such as new teachers, new classmates, new activities, etc.  The Bible is filled with stories showing how ordinary people overcame their fears by keeping their focus on God.  Pick out some stories and read them to your children.

One wonderful example is Daniel in the lion’s den.  Discuss the characters in the stories and how they stood out from among the others.  Select verses focusing on courage and help your children memorize them.  Pray with your children for strength and courage during times of transition.  Talk to them about the situations that they are going through.  Help them develop a deep understanding that God is faithful and will always be with them.