Family

Need ideas for the "I'm bored!" blues? There are tons of things that you and your children can do that require little or no additional expense, and that will get all of you away from the TV and video games. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

So, you want to start a playgroup? Are you ready to watch your children build lasting friendships? Do you have room on your busy calendar to add a few more scheduled activities? Perhaps you don't have an overloaded calendar, but would like one? You have come to the right place for ideas, support and overview.

Most of you reading this agree that there is no excuse for hitting children--no biblical teaching, no frustrating circumstance, no misbehavior or disrespect can excuse hitting. Most attachment parents consider spanking to be a form of hitting. But what, we get asked, do you do for discipline if you don't spank? There are many, many options. Before discussing some alternative routes to a disciplined home, it's important to think about why people might choose spanking.

I am an only child, and like many only children, I spent most of my time with adults. Of course I had friends, and a swarm of cousins on my father's side that I spent select holidays with, but for the most part I was surrounded by a much older crowd.

I don't remember holding a baby until I was 16, and I never babysat. My mother was convinced that I would never have a child, and for most of my young adult life, it wasn't something I even thought about.

Looking for a project you and your children can do together? Here's one that can be picked up and put down throughout the year: Remembering Journals--scrapbooks devoted to particular subjects or events, assembled primarily by the children. The results can be a valuable "log book" for your family.

Children from about the age of 6 upwards can make these journals but the younger the children, obviously the more you will have to help them. The purpose of the project is to practice writing and drawing skills and to learn about the world around us.

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails? Don't believe it for a minute!

Boys are stereotyped as wild, hard to handle and inevitably up to some daredevil antics, so all their actions are looked at in that light. All little kids love and need an energy release. Adults look at the actions of children and put our own labels on them.

Editor's Note: TNH is a secular website. We present this article not as an endorsement or condemnation of anyone's practices, but as one of our ongoing attempts to understand currents in today's parenting cultures.

Anne Peterson* of Atlanta, GA was twenty-four when she became engaged. Before they got married, Anne and her fiancé Tom*, both Christians, had a serious discussion about birth control.

Jim Lindberg is the lead singer of the punk rock group Pennywise. Being neither an aficionado of punk nor a fan of the rock bio genre of literature, I resisted reading this book. Having completed my read, I now regret that resistance.

When I was in my third trimester I suffered terribly from sciatica and my doctor suggested that I go for a massage. I had received back rubs from my husband before but I had never seen a professional massage therapist. I was nervous about the idea of being touched by a stranger but I was desperate for relief from the pain so I went and was wonderfully, delightfully surprised by the experience.

It’s going to be close," I thought, as I glanced quickly at the clock in my car. My 2 youngest children would be home from school in just a few minutes, and chances were they were going to beat me there. "I should have hurried more at the store," I murmured to myself. Well, they may have to wait just a couple of minutes for me.