Val’s Life

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The Baby Handbook: How to Train Your Parents, Months 9 & 10

Hello there, I’m back for more advice-giving, albeit a few days later than normal. I’ve been a bit busy, so much to do, learn, and see right now, so please forgive the tardiness. Let’s get down to business.

1. I hope you’re enjoying mealtimes as much as I am, as in the last post, the food keeps getting better. Not only does it get better, but feeding yourself is much more fun now that you can actually get it to your mouth. I’ve got a couple of moves that will come in handy here as you get more practiced.

a) Use a pocket bib. These are great. Mom and Dad will think that you are happily munching away, yet you keep wanting more. They are wondering where in the heck you are putting it all. Is there a hole in your leg? Nope, just keeping it for later in the pocket of my bib, and in the highchair, and in the fold of my pants…you get the idea.

b) Chipmunking it. Yep, this is just what it sounds like. God gave you those beautiful chubby cheeks for a reason. Use them to store food for later. Drawback….once you are no longer at the table, Mom might think you’ve picked up something off the floor and put it in your mouth. She will jab her finger in your mouth repeatedly trying to swipe whatever it is out. When she realizes that it is just food from earlier, you are liable to get an “ewww, gross”, but that’s about as much excitement as there is. At the very least, you’ve got a tasty snack for later.

2. Sleep is for babies. On the cusp of toddlerhood, I’ve decided that sleep is for babies. Prior posts have discussed the importance of changing your routine to the point of not really having a routine. You may now take it a step further. You can go all-out and completely skip naps if you want to. The beauty in this tactic is that they know you will be cranky if you don’t nap, yet they won’t want you to sleep this close to (fill in the blank, dinner, bed time, etc), thereby ensuring that you can get pretty much whatever you want for a couple of hours. Want some cookies? Done. Want Mom or Dad to hold you for an hour? Done. Want them to walk around in circles bouncing, singing, and making idiotic faces to get you to smile? Done, you are in total control. Feel free to work on your fit-throwing moves during this time, after all, practice makes perfect.

3. Since I mentioned fit-throwing, let’s move on to a few of the more advanced techniques. I have discovered that throwing myself backwards, regardless of what is behind me, is a cool way to get them to scramble to save me from some unforeseen impending doom. Hitting your head on the wall is nerve-wracking for them, but it’s fun to do. They will quietly whisper to each other that they hope “there is nothing wrong” and that something Mom did while she was pregnant didn’t cause you some sort of permanent brain damage. Not to worry, periodic strange behavior is just another way to keep them on their toes.

4. Goo-goo, ga-ga. While these may be the sounds that are coming out of your mouth, we secretly know that real words are actually flying around inside our cute little baby heads. Want to keep Mom and Dad’s constant attention? Pretend like you are saying real words. Pick a syllable, any syllable, and keep saying it over and over. Ma-ma-ma-ma……..da-da-da-da-da……..ba-ba-ba-ba, you get the picture. Every once in a while, look directly at a person or object and loudly exclaim something. I guarantee that they will jump up and down and run for the nearest recording device. “Did you hear that? He said ______”. Uh huh. Keep them guessing. Only do this a few times a day. NEVER let them catch you on video doing it. When you do decide to let them in on the secret that you do actually know what you are saying, continue to use it to your advantage. Looking at Mom or Dad and saying their names makes them putty in your hands. Warm, gooey putty, to mold and do with as you please.

I wish I had a bit more for you, but I’m working hard on learning new things for months 11 and 12. Continue to put everything into practice that you’ve already learned. Before you know it, the whole first year will have gone by, and their training will be complete. Well, not really complete. We’ve still got to get them through The Terrible Twos.

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The Baby Handbook: How to Train Your Parents, Months 7 & 8

Another two months have passed, oh how time flies. I don’t know about you, but I’m having a grand time every day, learning, growing, and wreaking havoc. Gotta love Mom and Dad, poor things still haven’t caught on yet to all of my tricks, but they are getting better. They’ll also never get all those brain cells back from the sleep deprivation, I’ll be using that to my advantage for years to come. So what have I been up to these last couple of months? Read on…

1. We’ve previously discussed how to cause trouble during diaper changes. The older you get, the more coordinated you are, and the more fun you can have with this. In the last edition, I introduced the kick, roll, scoot move. I’d like to now introduce the kick, roll, crawl. This is basically the same as the kick, roll, scoot, but the ability to quickly crawl away makes it so much better. They want to catch you, you don’t want to be caught, so you’ve got to add another ingredient; back arching and screaming. The back arching is also accompanied by stiff legs and squirming in every direction. Diapering and outfit changes soon become bi-athalon Olympic-like events. Ones for which your training is way above your competitors. Go for the gold! My mom likens this experience to wrestling an alligator. Don’t forget about your fluid control. Basically, you have none. And they can’t do a darn thing about it. Mwwwhahahaha

2. Did I mention crawling? Something I’ve discovered in the last month, and I gotta tell ya, it’s great fun. I can get where I want to go. Well, except for those stupid gates and when they close the doors. Mom can no longer shower and leave me on the floor with toys; I like the toilet, the trash, and the bathroom scale. If you’re gonna get into things, the secret is stealth. Once they’ve “baby-proofed”, you’ve got to make them think that you will be safe. Wrong!!! There are still plenty of things you can get into that they never thought of. Things like chewing on Dad’s iPhone charger cord, Mom’s laptop cord, the remote, and the not-so-tasty toes of Dad’s friend. I didn’t know the foot would be that bad, but I did manage to keep from gagging.

3. The wonderful world of fit-throwing. Granted, I’m in the baby stages of this technique, but I’ll go ahead and give you a few pointers. Basically, throwing a fit begins with not getting something you want. Usually, it’s something inconsequential, like having to be cooperative during a diaper change, or Dad snatching the remote or his phone (hey, I can’t help it that he keeps leaving them out where I can reach them) out of my mouth. At this point, I just cry or whimper for a minute, unfortunately, I’m still easily distracted by other things. I do plan on ratcheting this up in the next couple of months into full-blown, fall-on-the-floor, breath-holding events and watching to see how they handle it. I’ll get back to you on this one once I’ve refined my moves.

4. Food, glorious, food. The food keeps getting better and better. Except for the vegetables that Mom still tries to get me to eat, I at least to get play with some of it now and attempt to put it in my mouth on my own. The best thing about food though, is the mess. Eyebrows, ears, up the nose, and down the pants are all fun places to put it. The funniest part, they usually don’t discover it until later. Remember, food is fun!

I hope this wasn’t too much for you. Just because you’re learning new things, it doesn’t mean that you have to give up any of the old things. I still highly recommend changing up your naps (ie: two hour naps one day, 5 minute naps the next day); refusing to eat when you “should” be hungry; a high-pitched, ear-splitting cry that makes them desperate to figure out what is wrong with you; and of course all those charming babbles and smiles that render them completely useless when it comes to standing firm. Don’t forget to keep Grandma wrapped around your finger, she comes in handy later on.

See you next time, and meanwhile, happy training!

Baby Cael

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The Baby Handbook: How to Train Your Parents, Months 5 & 6

Congratulations, you’ve made it this far, and have passed several new milestones. For those of you a couple of months behind, I hope you learn from my experience. For those of you chugging right along with me, I hope to inspire you and call to your attention some techniques you may not have discovered on your own. Happy training!

1. From the inside-out: maybe your mom and dad have yet to start you on solid food, but for me, it was right around the age of four months. WARNING! Unless you have really cool parents who will let you start out with ice cream and steak, your first taste of “real” food is likely to be rice cereal. It tastes like spit wads. Due to the fact that you can’t yet control or push food around in your mouth, most of it will end up dribbling down the front of you. Persevere, eventually you will make your way around to better things like applesauce.

2. The fine art of mastering the high chair — hands, spitting, banging,and that wonderful thing called gravity. This section is a bit complex as there are many things to cover, so pay close attention. While still in the early stages of learning to eat solid foods, you need to start the following moves: the bob and weave, the lunge, the grab and shovel, and the grab and push.

a)The bob and weave is exactly as it sounds. Maybe mom and dad don’t watch boxing, maybe they do. At any rate, this move will ensure that the baby food doesn’t end up where intended, in your mouth.

b)The lunge consists of diving straight into the spoon. The lucky person on the other end of it must be quite adept at moving the spoon to your mouth to avoid spilling its contents everywhere. You can do this with mouth either open or closed. A word of caution, if you do it with mouth open, and the spoon gets into your mouth, you may gag because the spoon goes to far in. Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out quickly enough.

c) The grab and shovel and the grab and push are essentially the same thing, except one pulls the spoon towards you, and one pushes it away from you while you grab the spoon. Both have the same goal, making a mess.

d) One more mouth move that will serve you for many years to come, spitting. This is actually more like blowing a raspberry with your mouth full of food, again, the goal is to get the food everywhere, so call it what you like.

e) The final thought here involves gravity. Anything, and I mean anything, you can get a hold of with your hands, be quick about it and throw it on the floor. If you have new parents, they’ll rush to the sink to wash it, for more seasoned parents, they’ll give it a quick blow and give it right back. However they handle it doesn’t matter, the object will end up right back on the floor.

2. Solid food = stinky poo. They thought they had it bad before? That was nothing compared to the dirty bombs you will now begin to drop. You can still continue to use the stealth maneuver listed in the last edition, but don’t expect it to be near as effective now, the stench will be too great.

3. Along those same lines, I will now introduce to you my favorite diaper changing technique. It is called the kick-roll-scoot. Your body may not be quite coordinated yet to do this, but I urge you to keep practicing. When mom, dad, or anyone else is fighting to control their gag reflex while dismantling a dirty bomb, continuously kick your legs with a big smile on your face, you can even break out with a bit of cooing or babbling. While in the midst of wiping (hey, those darn things are cold, gotta get ‘em back somehow), arch your back, swing your legs around, and flip onto your belly. As quickly as you can, push yourself up inchworm style and scoot one or two inches away from them. If they are an experienced diaper-changer, they will not panic too much, because all of the poop will already be cleaned up. If not, you have conquered and won a major victory. At the very least, you will have them scrambling to re-diaper you before you pee on the floor.

4. If have yet to start cutting teeth, I’ll be honest, it’s no piece of cake. It can be quite uncomfortable, but there are ways to handle it successfully. First off, it may take them a while to catch on to what you are fussing about. One way to help them catch on a bit faster is to commandeer a finger and gnaw. Who the finger belongs to is of no importance, just hope it is somewhat clean. If they do happen to catch on, watch out for the Orajel. It’s nasty. Unless you are one of those oddballs who ends up enjoying the taste of cough syrup, you’ll just have to tough it out. At any rate, it won’t stop you from enjoying a good finger chewing. Now the best part, once the tooth pokes through, you can control the situation by inflicting a bit of pain. The recipient of the bite will likely curse and quickly pull the finger away. Should this happen, start to cry. They will feel sorry for you and try to give you a teething toy. Throw the teething toy on the floor and cry until you get a finger. Drool, bite, and repeat. It’s that simple.

5. Vocalizations: the way you communicate. As with everything else, your use of “vocabulary” is quickly expanding. I’d like to introduce my latest finding, the whimper/whine/giggle/squeal. Basically, this is a combined vocalization in which the person closest to you will be wondering if you are happy, upset, or about to get upset. The fun thing about this combo is watching them jump up and check on you every time you do it. If you are lucky, you can give a big smile when they are close to you, which will usually result in some undivided attention.

I know this is a lot of information at one time. Take time to digest it slowly. You don’t have to learn everything in a day. Remember, in the end, it’s all about YOU, and that’s all that matters. Looking forward to seeing you next time.

Baby Cael

Valerie Owings is a parenting consultant striving to improve the lives of families. You can visit her site at www.parentingwithpeace.com.

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The Baby Handbook: How to Train Your Parents, Months 3 and 4

Greetings devoted readers! This is your good friend, baby Cael. As you can see, I’ve completed the second installment of the baby handbook. These last two months have been almost as much fun as the first two, just see what I have in store!

1. In the first installment, I discussed with you how to utterly and completely exhaust your parents with sleep deprivation. You can still work on this (especially during growth spurts!), but let’s face it, it’s getting to the point where you need your sleep too. The next best tactic is messing around with nap time. Stay completely unpredictable. Two or three long naps one day, sleep for about thirty minutes total the next day. Even though Mom and Dad are getting more sleep at night, now they will not be able to get much done during the day, and they will always be on edge wondering how much they can get done before you wake up.

2. As your social and physical development progresses, you will find that you can still quite readily have them at your fingertips in a heartbeat. If you haven’t yet worked on rolling over, start now. This will ensure that they can’t leave you alone for a minute. Either because they want to capture the exciting event on video, or because of fear that you will hurt yourself by rolling off of something or into something.

3. Another great trick I have learned is being camera shy. Get Mom, Dad, or Grandma going by being absolutely adorable. Giggles work really well since this is a newly acquired feat. Someone will exclaim “Where’s the camera, we have to get this recorded!”. As soon as they break it out, stop all interesting interaction and begin to do something boring like shoving your fist in your mouth.

4. Drool! Drool! Drool! Need I say more? Interspersed with the occasional spit-up and squirt of pee, you still have the upper hand when it comes to bodily fluids.

5. We need to talk about poop. In the last installment, we discussed poo-poo faces. Now is the time to go stealth. Add frequent farts to your routine. The smell will get them wondering. They may check three or four times. Now is the time to break out the big one. Since the first few were just gas, they will assume that this one is also the result of something you ate. When they do go to change the diaper, they are in for a big surprise. Don’t you just love messing with them?

That’s enough fun for now. More information to follow upon the closing of months five and six. Happy Training!

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Do You Hear What I Hear?

Some interactions with my teen daughter have got me asking this question lately. I suppose it would be better to put it this way……do you hear what I meant to say? We’ve apparently been having a miscommunication issue. As in, she hears one thing, but what I meant was something else entirely. I can think of several examples lately. A few weeks ago, she was watching a daytime talk show, and they were asking viewers to call or email in if “Your Parents Think You Must Be Perfect All the Time”. So, I jokingly turned to Elizabeth and said, “Elizabeth, you must be perfect all the time”. “That’s not funny” she says. What! Is she implying that I really think she must be perfect all the time? Hmmm…….must have hit a sore spot with her. Example #2 — Elizabeth was flying out on Christmas Eve to spend the holiday with her dad in Texas. A family member asked her why her grandmother was taking her to the airport instead of me. Elizabeth says, “Because mom didn’t want to”. What!!! How did that get communicated at all? I corrected my daughter….her stepdad and I had other plans and weren’t able to take her. Sheesh.

Relationship expert and therapist Dr. John Gottman has studied interactions between married couples to see if he can predict whether or not a couple will divorce. According to Gottman, one key component is the number of positive to negative interactions. Couples who have healthy relationships will have a positive to negative ratio of about 5:1. Couples who are headed for divorce have a ratio of .8:1.

I think these statistics could be applied to any relationship, including parents and teens. Count how many interactions a day you are having with your teen. Are they positive or negative? Are there more positive interactions than negative ones?

I can recall several other incidents with my daughter in which one or the other of us clearly mistook what the other one was saying. Guess that’s something I need to work on.

Valerie Owings is a parenting consultant striving to improve the lives of families. You can visit her site at www.parentingwithpeace.com.

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Mary did you know?

I love the song “Mary Did You Know?” that is sung this time of year. Here are some of the lyrics:

Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
that your Baby Boy has come to make you new?
This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you.

I haven’t heard the song yet this year, but it has been going through my head. As a new mother (again), I think of my own baby boy and I relate to Mary, the way all mothers can relate to one another. Here are some thoughts I had:

While no one I know has delivered a Christ child, I think God gave all of us mothers experiences similar to Mary. From her story, I can see that she went through the same things all of us have gone through.

At the moment we find out we are pregnant, we are simultaneously terrified yet rejoicing

Every mother ponders what the future holds for her son or daughter

Every mother hurts when she sees her child hurting

Every mother will not understand the choices her child makes, yet still understands that there is a meaning and a bigger purpose behind it

Thank you Lord, for the experience of being a mother. May my children be as special to me as the baby Jesus was to Mary. Please help and guide me in being the mother You want me to be, as You did with Mary.

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The Baby Handbook: How to Train Your Parents, Months 1 and 2

The following is an excerpt from The Baby Handbook as dictated by Cael to his mommy during his 3 a.m. feedings.

1. During the first two weeks of life, never sleep for more than two hours at a time. Also never go more than two hours between feedings. This will thoroughly exhaust mom and dad. The point is to break their will to make them attune to your needs instead of theirs. They will attempt to try a tag team approach so that one person is up with you while the other one sleeps. Do not fall for this tactic, it is possible to exhaust them both at the same time.

2. To ensure utter and complete exhaustion, spend a significant amount of time awake. Then, by the time you fall asleep, it will only be a short amount of time before you need to eat again. The purpose of this exercise is to ensure that mommy and daddy cannot think clearly or function effectively. Again, this serves to completely break them to your will.

3. In order to make sure that you don’t sit in poopy diapers for very long, make sure that you have created a good repitoire of what I will call “poo-poo faces”. This includes grunts, a red face, pursing of lips, and other various types of grimaces. It won’t take them long to catch on to what you are doing. It is most effective to make sure you have their full attention before you begin. Then, once your diaper has been changed, repeat the sequence. You may do this two or three times per initial diaper change. If you are skilled enough, you can even make them think that you are quite cute when you do this.

4. The key to getting bodily fluids on other people is to catch them off guard. Boys especially can be quite skilled at this. New parents without a lot of diaper changing experience are particularly vulnerable. While poop and pee are good fluids to use, never underestimate the power of a good spit-up. This is a good tactic when someone has just showered and has on clean clothing.

5. After the first four weeks or so when your parents believe that they have somewhat adjusted to their new darling, it is time to switch up the game. Don’t sleep when you were sleeping. Instead of eating every two hours, go three to four hours, then eat every hour on the hour for the next five feedings. Now is also a good time to start having blow-outs. In addition to frequent diaper changes, you will also get to model all of those cute new outfits that have just been sitting there in your dresser drawers.

6. Car seat etiquette demands that you wake up as soon as you are strapped in. On a good day, you will be happy for as long as it takes it to get the car moving, then begin screwing up your face and fussing. This will get them worried that you will begin screaming at any moment. Desperate attempts to keep you happy will be employed. This might include shoving an unwanted pacifier into your mouth, as well as shaking and dangling annoying toys in your face. Do not give in. Scream your heart out until they get the picture and pull over and take you out and hold you. On a bad day, this can begin as soon as you get in the car seat.

7. As your world expands, you will actually begin to enjoy looking at toys and your loved one’s faces. The whole family will start to think you are cuter and cuter. They will coo and goo in your face and smile at you frequently. As you reciprocate, you will know that you’ve really got them snookered. Now is the time to stay awake for really long periods of time. When appropriate, scream for a significant amount of this waking time. The only exception is when grandma comes over to help. When grandma is there, happily snooze in her arms all day. When she leaves you may go back to screaming.

8. The last tip of this segment involves grown-ups meal times. As soon as you sense that mom or dad has fixed some food and is ready to sit down and eat it, begin to fuss. It doesn’t matter if you were in a dead sleep or have only been asleep for five minutes. Interrupt their meal and demand to be fed.

I hope you enjoyed the first part of the book. Look for the next segment, Months 3 and 4 coming in January 2010.

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Everybody Hates Growth Spurts

I promised myself when I started this blog that I would write one blog a week. Well, if you’re a follower, you know this hasn’t happened for the last several months. See, I’ve been busy. Busy because of growth spurts, not mine you understand. My title is a play off of the television show “Everybody Hates Chris” based on the comedy of Chris Rock. Unlike Rock’s stand-up routines, the show is mostly wholesome and not filled with foul language. The title of each show is “Everybody Hates _____” fill -in -the blank of whatever situation Chris is facing that week. The premise of the show is Chris’ family in Brooklyn in the 1980′s. His mother is the heavy-handed disciplinarian, and his father a comical tightwad. Chris is constantly blamed and berated for his behavior, but also the behavior of his younger brother and sister.

Anyway, back to my topic, everybody hates growth spurts. As much as these first few weeks with my newborn are precious and dear, the sleep deprivation is a killer. Yes, I know it’s expected, but we are dealing with growth spurts right now. One at 2-3 weeks of age (which lasted for a week). And now, he’s hit his six week one, which means we are pretty much nursing every 2-3 hours around the clock. And it’s not just me who is hating this growth spurt stage. Poor hubby is also getting up, either to help me, or to dole out that life-saving bottle which actually allows me to sleep a bit. Poor teen daughter who helps out and babysits while I am at school or meetings, also is at a loss when he is screaming his head off, and she can’t fix it, unless with a bottle every two hours. “Mom, why is he screaming?” she will text me. Well sister, gotta figure that one out on your own. During growth spurt time, he is either hungry or tired….. constantly. It doesn’t help that with constant nursing, he will only sleep about 10 minutes at time on some days. Most of the time he will go to sleep, only to wake up a short time later because he is filling his diaper. He’s happy for a bit, then remembers that he is tired. Another 10 minute nap, and he wakes up because he is hungry again!

While up in the wee hours of the morning one night, I told myself that he will soon be out of this stage and that I will miss his sweet baby milkiness. But until then, everybody hates growth spurts.

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I Apologize for the Scare

On Friday, I visited a place I used to work to catch up and see what is going on before the little guy is born. There are a few people there who regularly read this blog, and a couple others who know enough about my private life that I share quite a few things with them. None of them have teenagers yet. All of them commented to me the other day, “You’ve got me scared for when my kids are teenagers’. So, for all of my gloom and doom teenager stories, I apologize. They’re not all bad. So this blog will be devoted to the postives of having teens.

1. Watching them reach their milestones is still a wonderful thing. It’s the same thrill as when they toddle those first steps and learn to ride a bike. It’s bittersweet. You know they’re growing up and the last of the time will fly. I swear I was teary-eyed the day I drove each of my kids to the first day of their first jobs. Taking the test to get a learner’s permit was almost as nerve-wracking for me as it was for them. And then they want to drive home!

2. I’m still proud of good grades and neat artwork they make in school. I love it when they ask me for help on a project or some kind of homework. It’s some of those little things that tells me somewhere inside them I do know a little more than they do, and they recognize that.

3. I love to see them make good choices and do the right thing. Although I seem to focus on the negative with them, I have to say they could be making really bad choices. Like drugs (taking or selling). Or be involved in porn on the internet or meeting strangers online. Or getting in trouble with the police for being involved with a gang or being caught vandalizing something. Thank you, Lord, that I’ve not ever had to deal with that kind of trouble.

4. It’s fun to see them have a good time and hear them out and out laugh. This has happened with my daughter more than my son, but when she has a friend over, they act like total goofballs. It’s such a joy to see your child enjoy herself.

5. I love it when my kids take time to be with their little sister and really focus on her and pay attention to her. Elizabeth will invite Grace into her room, and they will have “girl time”. Hair gets fixed, nails get painted, and cool music is on the radio. I know that Grace will cherish those memories and I hope that Elizabeth will too. Luke is so good with little kids. While he tends to tease both of his sisters a lot, they love to laugh at him and Grace loves to wrestle and play chase with Luke.

So fear not fellow parents. I hope one of the things you learn from my situations is that no matter what is going on with your kids (good times and bad) that you will get through it. Learn from others, listen to their advice and use what will work for you. Above all, pray and trust that God will get you and them through those teenage years. Oh, and don’t forget, the fruits of your labor are grandkids!

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Afraid to be Vulnerable?

I think I discovered in church yesterday why so many people are afraid to go to church. They’re afraid of being vulnerable. Being a hormonal pregnant woman right now, just about anything can produce tears. But what I really got out of it is that if you are in the presence of God, you are laid bare. There is nothing that He does not see or know about you. If you are open to it, then you won’t be afraid of it. Usually I’m afraid to go forward during altar call. Not because I’m embarrassed to be seen going up front, but because I don’t think I’d even be able to explain myself to the prayer counselor because I’d just be bawling my eyes out. I think in church, many of us are able to hide our fears and doubts. During prayer time at home, no big deal. No one sees me.

Which brings me to my real point of today’s blog:

The main message of the sermon yesterday was about finding God’s pathway to joy. One of the points that stuck out for me was what God thinks is good for me, I may not think is good for me. The path to joy is often littered with pain. For me, that pain often involves my kids. I’ve thought about this before, but when it really comes down to it, I really can do very little to protect my kids from Satan’s temptations, lies, and snares. Every time they leave my house, and sometimes even when they are in it, I am powerless to stop the destruction. I think the only thing I have on my side is prayer. And when God is unresponsive to those prayers, it’s very hard to trust Him. See, I don’t want to see my kids go through pain to get to the joy. But if that’s what God thinks is best for them to bring them close to Him, do I really get to argue with that? One of the things I pray most often for my kids is that God will expose the lies that Satan has got them to believing. About the way they act, about what they say, it’s not pleasing to God. Right now those conversations with them seem to fall on deaf ears.

Lord, help me to entrust my children to you, and to know that you are doing what is best for them, and for me.