This Sunday is Father’s Day. Don’t forget. Run out and get those barbecue utensils, wrench set, or last minute gift cards. At least remember the cake, heavens the cake!
Since it is Father’s Day weekend I thought I’d do the unthinkable: give advice on how to be a great dad. Every mental health profession has a list. I’ll keep mine to five.
I totally forgot it was Mother’s Day this coming Sunday. Actually, I did remember a week or two ago when I got my own mother a card. I put the card on a shelf all proud for remembering so early, and then left it there. Lights and buzzers didn’t go off in my head until yesterday afternoon so my mother, who lives across the country from me, will probably get her card on Monday rather than Saturday! Yikes!
Our oldest son e-mailed Wednesday to say that he and some friends were going camping this weekend to celebrate the end of the college year. He probably forgot it was Mother’s Day too. Of course I said ‘no problem’ because as I said, I forgot. My husband also totally forgot. He didn’t even get his mother a card, but he’s exempt since he was away on business. Double yikes!
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than two hours a day of screen time for children. This includes “TV, computer, video games and even the newest music players and smart phones that have computer-like capabilities” according to a recent article in US News Health.
I know very few children with that kind of limit, especially if you consider all of the above screens and to a teenager two hours would seem like a joke. The same can be said of adults. A televised sports game is two hours!
1 Thessalonians 5:11: “Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up…”
This scripture reading provides a strong message for prevention. It describes one way to help strengthen a child against depression by building up a deep experience of themselves as good, cherished, and part of the world around them. This does not mean we don’t correct poor behavior, nor does it mean we don’t teach them about sin and redemption. It means we do these things while leaving their sense of themselves as blessed children of God intact.
