Category: Parents

Building stronger relationships between parents and kids – The Morning Thing 4/18/17

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Today, The Morning Thing focused on the relationship between parents and kids.

We shared some wonderful insight from Focus on the Family on how to build healthy relationships with your kids. Click HERE to read the full article.

Pray, pray, pray – don’t make this a last resort, make it part of your routine.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances;for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Get into their space.
From infancy through about age 8, kids spend a lot of time on the floor. We should be down there, too — playing games, pretending with dolls, building block forts. Fight the feeling that you’re acting stupid; crawl through those embarrassed feelings and meet your kids.

Keep it real.
As hard as it may be, recounting our missteps can help kids who are 12 and older learn from our errors. They also get to see we’re not perfect.

Enjoy family time.
A simple way to connect with your kids is eating together as a family. This is easy to do when they’re little, but as kids get older, sports and other activities compete with the family mealtime.

Do projects together.
You’ll need to think and pray about the right level of involvement for your children based on their ages and experience. Count on this: The project may take longer, and your children will not do things like you would. If you can accept these facts, you’ll discover an endearing, enjoyable time.

Be silly.
This isn’t just for small ones. Older kids like it when you act silly, too — even though you might hear, “Oh, Dad, stop it” or “This person is not my mother.”

Embarrassing children in public is not a good idea, but having fun in private keeps things light and makes you approachable. So go ahead, do the goofy dance, make funny faces, sing silly songs, talk for the dog.
We also shared 20 ingenious tricks on how to get your kids to open up about their school day. Click HERE to read the full article from www.sheknows.com

Here are 10 of the tricks:

  1. Tell me about today’s “thorn” (a not-great thing that happened) at school.
  2. Now tell me about the “rose” (the best thing that happened).
  3. Did anyone say something funny or tell a good joke?
  4. Was it a “play with your friends at recess” kind of day? Or a “chill by yourself on the swings” kind of day?
  5. You had art/music/computer today, right? What kind of project are you working on?
  6. Tell me something that you learned today that I don’t know. If you can stump me, I’ll do a goofy dance/read to you for an extra 10 minutes/watch an entire YouTube video with you (insert whatever works here).
  7. Tell me something kind that you did for someone today.
  8. Tell me something kind that someone else did for you.
  9. How many stars would you give the cafeteria food today?
  10. Did your friends get along really well today?

(Picture from Focus on the Family and Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock)

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February is Bake for Family Fun Month! Try a recipe from The Morning Thing.

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February is Bake for Family Fun Month! We found some fun and yummy recipes for you to try. (Picture from www.daysoftheyear.com)

Here are some Kid Friendly Slow Cooker recipes.

Chicken Fajita (from www.playpennies.com)

Ingredients

  • 1 pound Skinless Chicken Breasts (Cut into Chunks)
  • 1 Large Onion (Sliced)
  • 1 Large Red Pepper (Cut into Strips)
  • 1 Large Green Pepper (Cut Strips)
  • 1 Can Chopped Tomatoes
  • 1 Packet of Taco Seasoning

Method

  • Put the Chicken Chunks into the bottom of the Slow Cooker and sprinkle with the Taco Seasoning.
  • Chuck everything else in and cook on low for 7 hours.
  • Get two forks and shred the Chicken.

Thanksgiving Dinner in a Crockpot (from www.smashedpeasandcarrots.com)

Prep time – 10 mins
Cook time – 4 hours
Total time – 4 hours 10 mins
Recipe type: Slow Cooker
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 4 frozen chicken breasts
  • 1-10 oz package of frozen vegetables
  • 1 can cream of chicken soup
  • 1 6 0z box stuffing (and water and butter to make your stuffing…see your package directions!)
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Place frozen veggies in the bottom of crockpot.
  2. Next add your chicken breast, frozen or raw.
  3. Pour the can of Cream of Chicken soup over top the chicken next.
  4. Then make your stuffing according to package directions, place on top of the soup layer.
  5. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours.
  6. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Click HERE for more slow cooker recipes that kids love.

Toddler Recipes you can make together.R
Click HERE for some FUN recipes that you can try with your little one.
– Marshmallow Sugar Pops
– Frozen Banana Marshmallow Pops
– Muddy Buddies

For our Morning Thing Fave 5, the co-hosts shared their favorite recipe to make with their families.

Dan Monnin loves to make fried fish. Click HERE to hear him tell about the experience.
Click HERE to hear Kelsey Bryte tell a funny story about an oven, her 3 year old sister and a “hot” baking experience.

Andy Krolik talks about his favorite sandwich. Click HERE for his recipe of the perfect PB&J.
Jenna Potts talked about a funny story about her Mom and strawberry delight. Click HERE to hear the story.
Marcy Rinehart loves her Mom’s waffle recipe. Click HERE to hear more.

Waffles from the kitchen of Linda Street (Marcy Rinehart’s Mom)

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 – 1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
6 Tbsp. oil or melted butter
1 1/2 – 2 cups of milk

DIRECTIONS:
Mix flour, baking powder, and sugar. Set aside.
Mix eggs, butter, and milk.
Beat flour, baking powder, and sugar mixture with eggs, butter, and milk mixture until smooth (add milk until the dough is medium thick).
Pour 3 large spoonfuls into waffle iron.

Enjoy waffles.

 
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Understanding Your Teen: The MT’s Guide to Slang

Have you ever wondered what in the world some of the words that your teens use mean?! Well today, we’re trying to help you!

Here are some of the words we decoded on the show:

  • Ship: Used as a verb, meaning you want 2 people to be in a relationship. Especially popular with fictional characters
  • TBH: An abbreviation of “to be honest”, can be used in everyday conversation when someone is giving their honest opinion about something. Someone could say “TBH, I don’t really like watching the Olympics”
  • Lowkey: A synonym for “kind of”, “slightly”, or “a little bit”. The opposite would be highkey, meaning “very” or “a lot”
  • Woke: Used in the phrase “stay woke”, which means to “stay alert” or “be ready”
  • Salty: When someone is upset or bitter about something
  • OTP: An abbreviation for “One True Pair”; two people who you think are meant to be together.
  • Basic: Ordinary or plain, can also mean like everyone else
  • Gucci: Means cool or good
  • Peep: To look at or listen to something, such as “You should peep this new song”
  • GOAT: An acronym for “Greatest Of All Time”, usually used to refer to a person
  • Slay: When someone succeeds at something amazing, or if they “killed it” at something. For example, you could say “Katie Ledecky slayed in the Olympics 400 meter swim”
  • Fangirl: Can be used to describe someone who is a really big fan of something. Can also be used as a verb when someone gets excited about whatever they are a fan of, such as “I’m fangirling over the new trailer for that movie”
  • Lit: When something is amazing or exciting

Hopefully that helps you understand your teens and their confusing language a little better! Be sure to let us know if there are any other terms we left out that your teens use!

Have a great week!

-Jess and Marcy

 

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