Category Archives: Parenting
New Study: Social Media Doing a Better Job than Parents?
World Vision logo (www.worldvision.org) (Photo credit: Zooomabooma)
Teens Say Social Media has Made Them More Aware of the Needs of Others
Two out of Three Say Adults Not Doing Enough to Set Positive Example
200,000 Teens Give up Food, Go Mobile – World Vision‘s 30 Hour Famine February 22-23
30 Hour Famine Funds Now Designated Here in U.S.
SEATTLE, Feb. 18, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ — According to a new World Vision study, conducted online earlier this month by Harris Interactive on behalf of World Vision, more than half of teens (56%) say social media sites (Facebook, Twitter) have made them more aware of the needs of others. This is a huge increase from 2011, when just over 4 in 10 (44%) said their use of social media made them more aware.
According to the online study, more than 2 in 3 teens (68%) say that, when it comes to helping those in need, adults don’t do enough to set a positive example for teens. From now until April, some 200,000 teens will go hungry as part of World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine (30HF) to raise funds and hunger awareness. 30HF has more than 31,000 Facebook friends. Since 1992, 30HF has raised more than $150 million to fight world hunger. This is the first time 30HF funds are being designated to fight hunger here in the United States. According to the survey, most teens feel it is primarily the responsibility of churches or other religious organizations (76%) to help address hunger in the local community, with as many as 2 in 3 teens (66%) also indicating that the responsibility lies with them.
The weekend, World Vision will give control of the 30HF website to teens across America so they can use social media to fight world hunger. While many will do 30HF in February, others participate April 26th, 27th. Teens go without food for 30 hours to get a taste of what the world’s poorest children face. Prior to the event, teens raise funds by explaining that $1 can help feed and care for a child a day. Teens consume only water and juice as they participate in local community service projects at food banks and homeless shelters. Last year 30HF raised $9.8 million to fight hunger. This year’s goal: $10.5 million.
Tonight, 870 million people worldwide will go to bed hungry. Nearly 19,000 children die each day from hunger and preventable diseases. Chronic poverty, affecting half the people on earth, is the cause. Nearly 3 billion people live on less than $2 a day. Funds raised this year for 30HF will be sent to 10 countries including Haiti, Burundi and the U.S. Some 30HF funds also address poverty here in the U.S. Info: 30hourfamine.org or facebook.com/wv30HF or call 800-7-FAMINE.
30HF groups available for interviews weekend of Feb 22-23
Columbia, South Carolina
Trinity Church – 150 youth expected. Goal: $30,000. Trinity has raised more than $66,000 for campaign.
Norwalk, Conn.
St. Philip Catholic Church – Over last ten years, close to 1,000 students have raised over $175,000
Dallas, Texas
Church plans “Hunger Car Smash” and Dodge ball tournament. Goal: $5,000
30 Hour Famine Survey 2013 Facts
The poll was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of World Vision, an international Christian relief and development organization, between January 23rd, 2013 and February 4th, 2013 via the Youth Query omnibus service among 567 U.S. youth ages 13 to 17 years old. For complete methodology, including weighing variables, please contact John Yeager.
About World Vision – World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty. World Vision serves the world’s poor regardless of a person’s religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. World Vision works in 100 countries, helping approximately 100 million people every year. For more information, visit www.worldvision.org.
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- How long does it take to change the world? (alishanewton.wordpress.com)
- Luxury Blanket Maker, careAboo.com, Partners with World Vision Children’s Charity (prweb.com)
- Hunger isn’t just a stomach thing | World Vision (notasdefilipino.wordpress.com)
- Sponsorship Q&A with a Program Manager in India (worldvision.org)
Book Release: Seducers Among Our Children, How to Protect Your Child From Sexual Predators — A Police Investigator’s Perspective
EUREKA, Mont., Oct. 12, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ — Lighthouse Trails Publishing is pleased to announce the release of Seducers Among Our Children written by New York Retired Investigative Police Sergeant Patrick Crough
Countless numbers of children will be sexually abused by the time they reach their 18th birthday. Sadly, most parents won’t even see it coming. They don’t realize that sexual predators of children are often friendly, helpful, and attentive, drawing in a child, not by force but rather through enticing seduction.
Seducers Among Our Children is the personal perspective of an investigative police sergeant who knows first hand the inner workings and methods used by sexual predators. This book offers a practical, simple presentation of how child predators operate in today’s society. It will educate concerned parents and guardians about how to recognize when a child predator is in their midst, how to protect children from that predator, how to recognize if their child has already been offended by a predator, and what to do if their child discloses he or she has been offended by a predator. For the adult reader who was sexually molested as a child, this book may assist you in making some sense out of what happened and help you understand it wasn’t your fault.
From chapter 1: “On a warm spring night in May 1994, 5-year-old Kali begged her mom, Judy Gifford, to allow her to go outside to play on her Big Wheel tricycle. Judy was preparing magazines that she was to deliver that evening. The two would go together for the deliveries. The small amount of money that this single mother made from her second job was to pay for a family trip to Disney World the following summer. As Judy put the flyers together, Kali became more and more anxious to go outside. She was looking forward to going to McDonald’s after the deliveries were completed. Finally, Judy relented and told Kali to stay right near the front door. Five minutes later, she went to check on Kali, and she was gone. It was the last time she would ever see her daughter alive.”
Related articles
- Sexual Predator and Online Predator Prevention Tips Released by iPredator Inc. (prweb.com)
- New tool to fight child sexual predators (newsnet5.com)
- Every Parent Should Read Gladwell’s Profile of Sandusky and Other Sexual Predators (themoderatevoice.com)
CHRISTIAN PARENTS SHOULD LEAD BY EXAMPLE
English: The Apostle Paul (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
By. Rev. Robert A. Crutchfield
I was attending a men’s bible study class years ago when I said one of the most insightful things I have probably ever said. We were discussing parenthood when I remarked that parenthood was a big game of monkey see, monkey do. There erupted quite a conversation among the fathers in the group about how their grown children did things just as they did, even though they were not consciously taught to do them that way. They were able to quickly cite from their own experience specific incidents of what I had just said. Their kids, now grown learned from years of observing their example !
Example is critical part of any parent’s leadership. Let’s look at what the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy about leading by example, “ …but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” ( 1 Timothy 4:12) Our children spend a great deal of time with us over the years. The majority of our life, and who we really are is constantly on display to them. If we’re always reminding them to say their blessing at meal time, but our bible is getting dusty on the shelf what are we really saying ? The old saying that actions speak louder than words could never be truer than when it comes to parenting.
Of course we must bear in mind that nobody is perfect, so no parent is perfect. All of us, me included should constantly be working to become better husbands, wives, parents etc. The point is we owe it to our children ( and theirs) to be aware of what our actions are teaching our kids. People in a sense are like computers. There is an old saying in computers “garbage in, garbage out.” Parents provide the vast majority of the “input” children receive, especially during the formative years. Do you ever consider what kind of input your children are getting from you ?
Single parent families are increasingly common. What about single parents and leading by example.
Angela Redd a single mother writing for Focus On The Family-Canada has this to say, “ While I cannot be both mother and father I can teach my teen daughters about Jesus, and be the example of a godly woman. I’ll never be the perfect parent, but I can lead our family in becoming more Christ like.”
Nobody is expecting anybody to be perfect. However actions have consequences. As parents those consequences extend beyond us to our children in ways it will take years, perhaps an entire generation to uncover. Neither am I saying you won’t have weak moments, we all do. Why not use these to teach your kids how to overcome obstacles in a Christian way ? They will after all face challenges in their own adulthood, shouldn’t we prepare them for that ?
Example is a powerful teaching tool ! As parents we are always teaching through our example even when we don’t realize it. Are our actions matching our words ? Do we want our kids as adults to act and react as we do ? Or are we undermining our creditability as parents without meaning to ? Our children are watching !
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- Self Denial and Evangelical Parenting (thechristianpundit.org)
Dr. James Dobson Delivers Clear Mandate for the Family
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Christian Ministry Launching ‘Children’s Critical Life Skills Curriculum’ to Help Prevent CSM (Childhood Sexual Molestation)
GREENSBORO, N.C., June 25, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ — Elder Raymond S. King Jr., co-founder of Securing Hope Ministry, has created a very unique and much needed children’s curriculum, to help break the cycle of CSM (childhood sexual molestation). This curriculum is designed to empower parents, pastors, and ministry leaders to teach children between the ages of 4-9, how to 1) recognize, 2) avoid, and 3) report attempted and/or actual sexual molestation. Since most children between the ages of 4-9 don’t know what sexual molestation is, it’s imperative to end this generational ignorance to protect our children.
The epidemic of CSM is one of the most ignored yet devastating childhood traumas a child can experience. Since there are over 39 million survivors of CSM in America, and since 80% of the children who are sexually molested remain silent, with a very small percentage ever disclosing this devastating experience, most not until they are adults, it is imperative to begin to be proactive instead of being reactive to this dilemma.
With the recent public accounts of Bishop Eddie Long, ‘accused’, and coach Gerald Arthur “Jerry” Sandusky, ‘convicted’, of sexually abusing children, it’s evident that very prominent people of authority, ‘in and outside’ of the ‘Church’, are counted among those who have and are destroying the lives of the innocent. But these examples are just the tip of the iceberg. What has been discovered in these two cases is actually a repetitive generational evil that is happening all over the nation, every hour of everyday. This reality can no longer be ignored or dismissed, because many survivors of CSM themselves become molesters, as a matter of fact, up to 85% of those who molest children were themselves molested. In addition only 1 of 10 child molesters are registered and up to 90% of these molesters are people who the child knows and in most cases trust.
The ‘Bee Wise Critical Life Skills Curriculum’ is a powerful, biblically based tool for those who want to empower their child with the knowledge to recognize, avoid, and equally important, report attempted and/or actual molestation. Created for children starting at age 4, it is designed to be a proactive measure to help prevent children from becoming victims of the generational curse of CSM.
The curriculum will empower each child to: *develop “God centered” self-worth, *appreciate and understand their divine gender assignment, *start exercising proper character building habits, *know the difference between a “Good Touch” and a “Bad Touch”, *know the difference between “Public Body Parts” and “Private Body Parts”, and last but not least, *know what to do if an inappropriate touch is attempted or molestation is experienced
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- Should Parents Be Allowed to Kill People Who Sexually Molest their Kids? (healthland.time.com)
- Jury: Sandusky Guilty Of Sexually Molesting Boys (wibw.com)
- Adopted son says Jerry Sandusky molested him – This Just In – CNN.com Blogs (news.blogs.cnn.com)
Swedish court declares mom, dad of abducted home-schooled boy to be fit parents
English: European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Domenic Johansson still in government captivity after three years
The court stated it could not ignore the unanimous and extensive testimony of first-hand accounts of friends, family, and others that Domenic Johansson’s parents, Christer and Annie, were properly caring for him prior to Swedish authorities seizing him in 2009.
“The government shouldn’t abduct and imprison children simply because it doesn’t like home schooling,” said ADF Legal Counsel Roger Kiska. “We encourage Swedish authorities to release Domenic to his parents in light of the court’s ruling, and we hope the European Court of Human Rights will reconsider its recent rejection of Domenic’s case in light of the Swedish court’s determination. This family’s human rights have been unimaginably violated.”
“This is a tremendous day for the Johansson family,” said HSLDA Director of International Relations Mike Donnelly, one of more than 2,100 attorneys in the ADF alliance. “HSLDA and ADF have been supporting them since Swedish officials took their child–a grotesque abuse of their human rights. Dominic has not been returned home yet, but we have every hope that he will be soon.”
HSLDA is a 29-year-old, 80,000 member non-profit organization advocating the legal right of parents to home-school their children.
Swedish authorities forcibly removed Domenic from his parents in June 2009 from a plane they had boarded to move to Annie’s home country of India. The officials did not have a warrant nor did they charge the Johanssons with any crime. The officials seized the child because he was home-schooled, even though home schooling was legal in Sweden at the time he was taken into custody.
In December 2009, a Swedish court ruled in Johansson v. Gotland Social Services that the government was within its rights to seize the child. ADF and HSLDA attorneys filed a lawsuit, Johansson v. Sweden, with the European Court of Human Rights in June 2010 over the matter. That court recently declined to hear the case even after additional submissions from ADF and HSLDA attorneys, but the new ruling from the Swedish court determined that Domenic’s mother and father are suitable to exercise parental rights over their son, bringing new hope that the child will be returned home.
- HSLDA update page: Johansson v. Gotland Social Services
- Pronunciation guide: Kiska (KISH’-kuh), Donnelly (DAHN’-uh-lee)
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All God’s Children International Receives Hague Accreditation
English: states parties of the Hague Service Convention. Orange: states that ratified, but where the conference is not yet in force; Green: states for which the country is in force (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Dr. James Dobson Caps 50-Year Career, Expands Legendary Parenting Video Series
Original Series Seen by 80 Million People
Two Weekends at San Diego’s Skyline Church: May 11-12 and 18-19
RESERVE TICKETS NOW: BuildingAFamilyLegacy.com
SAN DIEGO, CALIF. – April 26, 2012 – Dr. James Dobson, now heading Family Talk radio and known for bestsellers such as The Strong-Willed Child, Dare to Discipline and Bringing Up Boys—will restore and expand his legendary 1978 film series on parenting (more than a third of the U.S. population saw it at the time), with new segments filmed May 11-12 and 18-19 at a two-weekend conference free and open to the public called BUILDING A FAMILY LEGACY.
“My son, Ryan, at the time a new dad, picked up a video and watched it one night,” Dobson said, describing the genesis of the new series. “He phoned me, and, after a few laughs about the sideburns and big eyeglasses, he said, ‘Dad, this is what parents are wanting right now!’”
Ryan’s plea was far from the first, and the Dobson team with producer David Nixon began to consider which segments to retain and what to update and add. In 1978 segments about dealing with young children, for example, the child psychologist speaks from the front lines of raising Ryan and Danae, at the time young children in the Dobson household (she inspired The Strong-Willed Child!). That one-of-a-kind footage will be restored and reframed. (“John Wickham, then Army chief of staff, was so taken with the Fathering film, he made it required viewing for soldiers around the world,” Dobson recalls.)
In the new Legacy session, one of five new titles to be presented at the San Diego conference, Dobson traces four generations in his family to examine the enduring influence of a single generation.
“Mixing the immediacy of youth and the perspective of age from one man’s long career is a rich capstone,” said Robert Wolgemuth, BUILDING A FAMILY LEGACY executive producer and, interestingly, one of the marketers of the original film series at Word Publishers. “We’ve specially invited audience members from the original San Antonio event because that conference was a once-in-a-generation moment, and this is too.”
“Faces in the crowd in that San Antonio screening were minor celebrities for two decades,” Wolgemuth added, laughing.
Author of more than 30 books, Dr. Dobson currently heads Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk, a nonprofit ministry and radio program. For 14 years, he was an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Southern California School of Medicine and was on the attending staff of Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles for 17 years. He earned his doctorate in child development from USC. He founded and is chair emeritus of Focus on the Family.
WHEN
Friday, May 11
Saturday, May 12
Friday, May 18
Saturday, May 19
Each evening, sessions are from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
WHERE Skyline Church, 11330 Campo Road, La Mesa, Calif. (Highway 94 at Jamacha Boulevard)
TICKETS BuildingAFamilyLegacy.com
INTERVIEWS: Dr. Dobson has limited availability through the end of April. For interview information, contact Monique Sondag Monique@Lovell-Fairchild.com.
To learn more about this once-in-a-generation event and to reserve seats (as they last), visit: BuildingAFamilyLegacay.com
New TV Show on the Internet, ‘Restoring The American Family’
BUENA PARK, Calif., April 6, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ — “Restoring The American Family” launched it’s first show April 4th 2012.
There is a new TV show on Wednesdays each week at 8:00 pm eastern time dealing specifically with family services and CPS.
The two major areas will be dealing with rebuilding of broken marriages and families, and revealing what CPS and family services are doing to break the family by removing the children.
The one and only authority to deal with this “restoration” discussion will be The Holy Bible.
Prayer for, and with the family will be done by telephone conference calls on a regular basis. Family pastors and religious leaders will be encouraged to participate in these prayer sessions.
“Restoring The American Family”
To watch – click here.
To call in, to tell your story to the whole world, and ask for their prayers call 1-800-839-3002 during the show or e-mail your story to wileywiley@att.net for inclusion in a future show.
Callers can identify themselves or not.
Those wishing to be on the “LIVE” TV show will be offered free transportation from Los Angeles Airports to the studio in Buena Park, California 90621.
Also broadcast on www.crusaderadio.com.
Host, Dr. Wiley S. Drake Sr.
Easter Seals and the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. are Making the First Five Years of Life Count for Kids
Easter seals of the U.S.A., 1930s, created to support crippled children Русский: Пасхальные виньетки США в поддержку детей-инвалидов, 1930-е годы (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
April 1st Deemed Make the First Five Count® Sunday at Baptist Congregations Nationwide
CHICAGO, March 29, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ – Today, there are more than 5 million children under the age of 5 at risk of autism, developmental delays and disabilities. The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. H.O.P.E. Ministry has designated April 2012 as Easter Seals Awareness Month, specifically promoting “Make the First Five Count Sunday” on April 1, 2012 to stress the importance of early intervention to its more than 7 million members.
The first five years of children’s lives are years of incredible learning that shape their futures. This, alone, is a reason to assure that all children have access to the resources they will need to learn and grow. Every year, more than one million young children with unidentified disabilities and developmental delays enter school with learning and health issues that put them far behind their peers and have a lasting, negative effort on their ability to meet their full potential.
Make the First Five Count Sunday will highlight MaketheFirstFiveCount.org and its numerous resources available to parents and caregivers. Members of National Baptist churches across the country will be visiting the site for free access to the Ages & Stages Questionnaires®, a developmental screening tool from Brookes Publishing, and to join Easter Seals’ advocacy efforts to encourage Congress to grow and protect funding for Part C Early Intervention Programs by signing the online petition.
“As the largest provider of autism and early intervention services, Easter Seals knows what’s possible when kids get the support they need during the first few years of life – and also what happens when they don’t,” says James E. Williams, Jr., president and chief executive officer, Easter Seals. “We are appreciative of the National Baptist Convention, churches and thousands of individual pastors and congregations that are helping to spread our message and engage their local communities.”
Easter Seals created Make the First Five Count to talk about the importance of early intervention for young kids at risk for autism, developmental delays and other disabilities. And National Baptist Convention church congregations are helping to spread the word by distributing fact sheets, informational worship guides and sharing this important message with their families and friends and in their local communities.
Easter Seals‘ website is also a great place for information and to find the closest location to access Easter Seals screenings and services.
About Easter Seals
Easter Seals is the leading non-profit provider of services for individuals with autism, developmental disabilities, physical disabilities and other special needs. For more than 90 years, we have been offering help and hope to children and adults living with disabilities, and to the families who love them. Through therapy, training, education and support services, Easter Seals creates life-changing solutions so that people with disabilities can live, learn, work and play. Support children and adults with disabilities at www.easterseals.com or visit MaketheFirstFiveCount.org to learn more.
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