Links to resources and articles for living out the 7 Building Blocks to a Joyful Catholic Home. Here are some links for this week:
Love
Raising generous children: don’t force them to give. I found this article in Gwen Dewar’s “Top Ten Parenting Stories of 2013.” A study (Cornell University) showed that forcing children to give and share actually backfires; that allowing them to choose when and if they’ll share may make kids more generous. This is a hard one. I think practicing virtue is important for attaining it, even if we don’t feel like practicing it, but I’m glad to have this information.
Empathy
Family Environment Influences Child’s Ability to Handle Stress Long-Term: A new study from the University of Oregon looked at the way “parents with stress dysregulation shape their children’s developing stress sensitivity via both inherited and social-environmental paths.” The study found that “the family environment continues to modulate [a child’s] stress sensitivity over time, framing regulation as a dynamic interplay among early and later parental influences, and current conditions, rather than a static outcome.” I think this study is interesting because it suggests that even if we haven’t always handled stress well in front of our children, there are many factors at play in raising our children to be patient, self-possessed, and peaceful. Gaining a greater self-understanding over time, and learning to handle our parenting weaknesses, is important for our child’s well-being.
Gentle Discipline
52 Positive Discipline Parenting Tools. I already posted a link to this on CAPC’s FB page, but here it is again. Such a great idea. Jane Nelson offers 52 weeks of easy, short topics for parents to learn about and practice in real life!
Spanking Children Slows Cognitive Development. An article about a new book by Murray Strauss. “Research shows that spanking corrects misbehavior. But it also shows that spanking does not work better than other modes of correction, such as time out, explaining, and depriving a child of privileges. Moreover, the research clearly shows that the gains from spanking come at a big cost. These include weakening the tie between children and parents and increasing the probability that the child will hit other children and their parents, and as adults, hit a dating or marital partner. Spanking also slows down mental development and lowers the probability of a child doing well in school,” Straus says.