New Year's Resolutions

In class Sunday, Keith asked us what our resolutions would be this year, if anything we'd covered in class might be influencing some changes with respect to our teens. My first response was that I usually don't do New Year's resolutions because a choice to make a change should be done anytime during the year. As the discussions unfolded, I started seeing some merit in making intentional, thoughtful changes in the interactions with my teens, so here goes.

My first thought was the changes in how I help them cope with their AD/HD and teaching them the skills they need to compensate. Now that we have completed formal evaluations on both of the children, I have a clearer picture of what makes them who they are. I can see now that organization and a plan for academic prep is their biggest struggle. While Keith may say "that's teenager", I have been shown by the testing that this is much more pronounced in both our kids. We have to approach this with intention to equip them now to handle this in order that they may have fewer stumbling blocks down the road.

But other things that the class was sharing has equal importance. Intentional teaching of life skills (cooking, cleaning, caring for themselves) things that we have put on the "back burner" for way too long. Intentionally engaging them in conversations about the things they value, spend time doing. Intentionally engaging them in conversations about their spiritual walk, struggles, and concerns.

As it would be, God started us on this last one yesterday. Cait was wondering if Mary, Judas, and Peter had choices. Did Mary have the choice not to conceive Jesus? Did Judas have a choice not to betray Jesus? Did Peter have a choice not to deny Jesus? If so, and they had made other choices, then how would things have turned out?

What a great way to start these resolutions!!!