Precious Gifts

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Your family is a precious gift.  Think about your life without family.  Your husband or your wife.  Your children.  Your parents.  Your siblings.  Your cousins, aunts and uncles.  Your grandparents.  How empty would your world be without these precious gifts in your life?  Do you tell your family that you love and appreciate them?  If so, how often?  If not, why not?

One of the primary components required for developing healthy family relationships, is thechristmas-present-83119_960_720 expression of admiration towards one another.  Not just when a special occasion arrives, like a birthday or a holiday, but every day.  Every day is a new day and a chance to speak loving thoughts to those that you care about the most.  Can anyone tire from hearing ‘I love you’ or ‘You are beautiful’?  No.  I don’t believe so.  Understand that your expressions of admiration build a fortress that helps guard relationships against difficult times.  Every family faces difficult moments.  Protect your family with a fortress of love.

Your family needs to regularly hear your compliments.  Stay focused on their individual strengths.  Tell each of them what makes you proud of them … today.  Tell each of them what makes you grateful that you have them in your life – today.  Keep speaking your praise towards them and watch what happens.  THEY will achieve greater goals in their lives.  THEY will begin speaking praise over others, including praise over you.

If you cannot find anything complimentary to say, don’t say anything at all.  Smile upon your loved one. Wait until the storm passes within you.  When it does, proceed with expressing your love and your appreciation for them.

Set the example.  Treat your family with respect.  Watch over your children by giving them your undivided attention.  You will unwrap many gifts this holiday season.  Unwrap your most precious gifts, your family, with love and care.

Do you have some thoughts of your own on this topic?  Please leave your comments below.

By, Joanne Henig, President / Co-Founder / Author / #evolution

 

Teaching Your Child to be Generous

The jury is still out on whether or not children need to be taught to give. A study by Notre Dame University showed that children as young as two years old start to show spontaneous helping behavior. Another study by the International Journal of Cognitive Science – Cognition – showed that helping proactively comes naturally to young children. On the other hand, another Notre Dame-funded study revealed a correlation between a particular gene variation and less generous behavior in preschoolers. Whatever the outcome, if you feel your child needs lessons in compassion and generosity, here are some things to remember. You can also catch the Joy Kids Express which offers suggestions on how to share the joy with all the wonderful children of the universe.

  • Start at home – Like other types of behavior and attitudes, a child will tend to do what it sees the parents doing. If your child sees you sharing, volunteering, and helping others, chances are the child will try to emulate your behavior.
  • Talk the walk – Even if you show a good example by being generous, talking to your children about generosity helps a lot. Research by Indiana University – Purdue University showed that, even with good role modeling, talking to children about generosity increased the probability of giving by 18.5% compared with not talking.
  • Use what’s around you – Take advantage of situations in your community to teach community workgenerosity to your child. Volunteer work, donating used clothing and toys, contributing to charitable organizations, spending time to help younger kids in school – these are just some of the ways to instill a spirit of giving in your children.
  • Put them in other people’s shoes – Broaden our child’s horizon by discussing other people’s needs with him or her. This will help create the ability to empathize with others, and empathy is a prerequisite to learning how to give and share. Joy Kids Universe believes this will also establish a long-term foundation for generosity in your child that will last all his life.

 

Your Child Is Not Your “Friend”

There has been much debate on whether or not your child should be your “friend”. Just what does being a “friend” to your child mean? It boils down to the responsibilities of a parent as compared to those of a friend. Consider the following factors.

The relationship of a parent to a child is fixed. Whether the child was born of the parent, or adopted, the child is part of a family unit and all that it entails. The physical and emotional relationship between parent and child goes far beyond the relationship with others who do not belong to the family.

The relationship of a friend to a friend is variable. It all depends on the friends involved, and the nature of their friendship. For some it may be deep, like Casey Rose and The Joybug. For others it may be superficial. A friendship may start on a very casual basis, with little or no mutual obligations. Gradually, it may deepen as the friends get to know each other better. Or, it may peter out.

The responsibilities of a parent towards the child are clear and well-defined. There is a certain minimum of obligations which a parent must fulfill towards a child under its loving a childcare.  Among these are the proper care and nurture of a child, and to love a child without judgement. This includes the feeding, clothing, sheltering and protection of the child. It encompasses the education of the child, and the development of the right attitudes and sense of values.

The responsibilities of a friend can be flexible. This, again, depends upon the nature of the friendship. There are certain responsibilities of a parent that a friend is not obliged, or expected, to bear. If a friend chooses to take on these responsibilities, that is purely optional.

The responsibilities of a parent and a friend may overlap or even conflict. This is especially true in the case of discipline. Every parent is expected to discipline the child properly to ensure its proper development. On the other hand no friend is expected to discipline the other friend.

In short, while some characteristics of friendship may be helpful in the relationship of a child with its parent, being simply a “friend” to your child will be falling short of your obligations as a parent. Hop on board The Joy Kids Express for more joyful tips.