This guest post is written by a beautiful, courageous, intelligent, witty and wise-beyond-her-years girl named Natalie. In her words, she is a “Catholic home-schooled 16-year-old who loves St. Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, Jane Austen, books, good coffee, Batman, a good laugh, and pranking her friends!”
As a teen girl growing up in a body-obsessed culture, I can say in all honesty that I have really felt the effects of it. Airbrushed models, celebrities with “perfect bodies,” and weight loss commercials are constantly blared at me from TV, store ads, and billboards. As a young girl viewing this twisted idea of beauty, I now realize, as I reflect, that it has had a great impression on me, and consequently the life of everyone around me. Read More →
across an article discussing how parents can help their anxious children. I thought article had some good recommendations and thoughts for parents of children with anxiety. I have included some excerpts from the article below and added my own thoughts and comments in red. If you would like to read the entire article 
I know some amazing parents (note this sentence! We’ll come back to it). My guess is that the overwhelming majority of parents who read this blog are pretty amazing parents. There is, however, some disagreement, even among amazing parents, on how and whether to praise children. Some parents praise everything their child does: “Talulah! You drank all your milk and ate all of your peas. You’re such a good girl. You’re so good at eating your dinner.” Other parents hold the belief that praising their child for behaviors that they should engage in anyway will create spoiled little monsters. Both praising styles are on to something–the each hold buds of truth. Proper praise motivates children, while the wrong kind of praise causes negative consequences and self-defeating behavior.. More pointedly:Praise is good, but the wrong kind of praise can be harmful. Research by Carol Dweck, a psychologist out of Stanford, helps shed some light on the praise problem.
It’s no secret that children growing up in our society face a multitude of challenges. They face the ubiquitous presence of alcohol and drugs, media saturated with sexuality, and a culture that struggles to plausibly stand behind basic values. Not to mention a high likelihood that they will not make it to adulthood with both parents in the same stable marriage. As parents, we want to find ways of shepherding our children through these dangers, and we often go to great lengths to provide worthwhile, productive and affirming experiences.
six years now. And even with all our know-how, a degree in Theology and Religious Education, teaching religion in our home school co-op, and three kids later, you’d THINK our own family prayer time would be a walk in the park by now. I can lead everyone ELSE’s kids in prayer just fine. Religion class, vacation Bible school, youth retreats – you name it, I’ve done it. But leading our kids in prayer has always been a bit more challenging, if not altogether unholy. Our six year old, the rule-follower, is fine. Angelic, really. Heck, he’s the one actually leading prayers half the time while Trev and I are distracted trying to get the other two kids to just sit down for five seconds. John Paul will be perfectly singing the Salve Regina while Joshua and Clare are launching themselves off the coffee table into the couch or the dog – or better yet, into one of us. Knees first. Unfortunately, the family activity that’s supposed to gather us together, calm our hearts and lead us all to bed in peace, instead leaves Trev and I shaking our heads and wondering if anything we’re doing is really worth it in the end. We sure don’t feel any holier ending the day yelling at everyone to just “Sit still and pray, jeepers!”