Search Results for: blog living with regrets

Living Through Our Children

As parents we really do want the best for our children. I don’t think any parent intends to do wrong by their child. However without realizing it we may be making some big parenting mistakes. One of those mistakes that some parents make is to live through their children. Sometimes we do this because we want our children to be interested in the same things we are interested in. Or we do this because we want our children to do what we were never able to do. To me there is nothing sadder than a child being forced to do … Continue reading →

Living a Life without Regret

Lately some teen stars (who I won’t name, but we all know who they are) have apologized for pictures of themselves that have been released on the Internet. These pictures were posed and not taken accidentally, and yet somehow these stars didn’t realize until after their release that they were inappropriate. I’m a little confused by that—if there’s a camera pointed at you and you aren’t fully clothed, I would think that you’d know what was going on. Anyway, pushing my little judgmental voice back into the box where I try to keep it, I’ll move on to the point … Continue reading →

Wrestling with Regrets

I have always been a little wary of people who say that they have never experienced feelings of regret. While I do agree that we need to do what we can to let things go and move on, I also do not think that is always an easy thing to do. For single parents, wrestling with regrets can be something we either do regularly or at least something that can keep us from being able to move ahead in our lives. Who doesn’t have some doubts and misgivings about choices we’ve made and things that have happened in our lives? … Continue reading →

Parenting With No Regrets

Regrets…I am sure that I am in good company when I confess that wrestling with guilt and regrets has been one of my ongoing “issues” in parenting. Years ago, I remember reading an article or book where the writer said if you do your best job as a parent, you will be able to let go with no regrets. While this sounds fabulous in theory, I haven’t quite figured out how to put it into practice. Perhaps, because I’m a mom… I suppose that being fully engaged in parenting and striving to do the best job we possibly can with … Continue reading →

Living with Regrets

Many walk in shame and embarrassment from their past wrong doings. I want you to know if you have repented, God’s desire is not to condemn you (Romans 8:1-3). If you’re feeling condemnation, you need to recognize the enemy of your soul and rebuke him. I want you to please look at Psalm 103:10-13: “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so … Continue reading →

Parents Who Regret Their Baby’s Name

Parents usually spend an inordinate time trying to figure out the perfect name for their baby, but what happens when parents regret the name after living with it for a while? According to a recent study, 18 percent of parents later regret the name they gave their baby. For parents who do have naming regrets, there are a couple of options. They can choose to legally change their child’s name, or they can choose to live with it, perhaps calling their baby by a nickname or middle name instead of his or her legal name. There are a lot of … Continue reading →

Are You Projecting Your Memories of Adolescence Onto Your Teen?

Watching your kid entering into or navigating adolescence can be a real trigger for your own memories, insecurities, angers, and regrets about being a teen yourself. When this happens, your teen’s life can become a backdrop upon which you project images from your past onto your child. The problem is, those images belong to you, and only you see them because they aren’t really there. If you base how you react upon those self-images, you won’t fully know or understand all that’s happening with your teen. He may look exactly like you did at that age, but I guarantee you … Continue reading →

On the Verge of Adulthood

There can be a fine line between your teen challenging you on an issue and being defiant. I find this to be truer as they get closer to that magical age which suddenly makes them an adult. I have been doing a lot of searching within, as a parent of a 17-year-old. While in general I don’t believe that the age of 18 will suddenly make my teen mature and give him permission to do whatever he likes, I do understand the need to pull back even more. I also understand the need to be willing to listen, to hear … Continue reading →

Teens and Toddlers Aren’t that Much Different

I have recently discovered something. Teens and toddlers really aren’t that much different. I came to this conclusion yesterday, Memorial Day. My 16-year-old son was in a parade with his Civil Air Patrol unit, so my husband shot some great video footage. When we got home I wanted to right away transfer the video onto my computer so I could share it with family and friends on Facebook. Along with that video came a bunch of other transfers. My husband had apparently been working on our old videotapes, getting them onto our video camera so they could then be transferred … Continue reading →

Does Abstinence Only Education Equal More Teen Pregnancies?

According the Guttmacher Institute, a research facility tied to Planned Parenthood, pregnancy among girls aged 15 to 19 rose 3% in 2005 and 2006. This is the first increase since 1990 as pregnancy rates among teen girls dropped 35% between 1991 and 2005. There is a claim that abstinence education is to blame. “Heather Boonstra, a policy analyst with the Guttmacher Institute, was quick to politicize the findings, calling the upward trend “deeply troubling” and claiming that the results coincided “with an increase in rigid abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, which received major funding boosts under the Bush administration.” As far as my … Continue reading →