Like play-doh - By Carl Johnson

Hey there Blogeroonies,

Good friend Carl Johnson is back at the keyboard tonight.  Please enjoy his post about what he is most passionate about.  Until tomorrow,

Christina



Parents, if you want to give the greatest gift to your children, give them this: Teach them honor. Honor in a family has 3 parts.

First, treat people as special. It is so easy to treat our family members as less special than our friends. We find it easy to violate the dignity that we would afford others. It's easy, because our family is stuck with us. But it's important to reach beyond that, to treat each other better than outsiders.

Second, do more than is expected. As parents, take a moment to write a note to your child once in a while. Teach your children to look beyond the tasks you give them to do. Teach them to look for something extra to do every day. This habit will follow them, and they will find favor with anyone they deal with. Imagine the spouse your child will become with only this one habit.

Finally, have a good attitude. Today I taught the children that attitude is like play doh. You can shape it any way you want. Attitude is your automatic reactions to situations. When you want that candy in the store and Mom says no, do you accept your disappointment, or do you badger or throw a tantrum?

In the end, this is how I packaged it for the kids in my class: Would you rather live in a house with happy parents or angry parents? Would you rather live with happy siblings or frustrated siblings?

We recommend discussing this with your children frequently, but not in the midst of conflict. Discuss it over dinner, or in the car. Make this investment when things are going well, and potential conflict may be avoided.

Carrying honor with them will help them in their future, with teachers, employers, and with their own families. And they will expect to be treated with honor, which will help them choose friends that treat them well.

The Bible only gives two commands to children, honor and obey. The better they learn these as children, the easier the rest of the commands will be for them to live by. Make this investment.

"Eight Point Lake by Carl Johnson" & "Today" By Lucy Lusk

Eight Point Lake:

Christina asked me to be a guest blogger. I'm honored. It seems like so much time has passed, and sometimes it seems like only a day since Micheal and Christina and I were together.

Yesterday my work took me to Eight Point Lake. My Grandfather owned a cottage on the lake there that he sold when I was six. I hadn't been back there since, until yesterday.

I have to imagine that you could count the number of times I was there, but for me it was endless. We rode there in a station wagon that didn't have electronic ignition or fuel injection. There was no phone there, I don't think it mattered. I remember a small TV with rabbit ears, but I don't remember it being on much. I remember my dad and uncles sporting crew cuts. They were younger then than I am now.

I remember in the evenings we would bring the inner tubes into the yard. My cousins and I would roll them with someone inside, or bounce on them. We smelled like OFF. Inside the grown-ups would start a fire in the fireplace, and we'd roast marshmallows.

Yesterday I was at the lake to repair a telephone problem. I tried to find that cottage. Last I heard someone had renovated it and now lives there. As I drove around the lake I got disoriented. I had to go to another trouble call. I got out my PDA and Google mapped my location. Cell signal was weak, but it was there.

So here I am in a place I haven't been in four decades, with a truck full of the latest electronic technology, a PDA in my hand, a bluetooth in my ear, leaving the home of a customer happily surfing the internet. I'm there, wishing I could just bounce on an inner tube or roast a marshmallow. I wiped a couple tears away on my shirt sleeve.

I think often about the kids in my class. What will they long for? The good old days of dropped cell phone calls? Cars with tires? Reality television shows?


Carl (C.J) S. Johnson


This is me, Christina now:
Man, that post brought back many memories of my own childhood (I could go for a marshmallow right now).  Carl is huge into being an awesome husband and father.  He has provided a link to an fantastic website that can help you become an amazing (or even more amazing!) parent as well.  Check it out.  They're even offering a FREE conference with lunch and childcare provided.  http://www.foundationalparenting.org

As a bonus:

"Today" by Lucy Lusk

today I went to school.then I went to reading class which we don't read .We make videos. But we we're
suposed to make a book. After that I went to Cici's pizza with my mom. I ate pizza and a breadstick. I
even got dessert! that was the best day of my life!

I call my friend Jordan's mealworm poopy because he poop's a lot.
Lucy.