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Bored Kids? Learn How Boredom Is a Gift (Part 2)

/ / boredom, friends, friendship, gift, kids, middle school, patience, play, relationship, technology
  Boredom Builds Friendships If you do an Internet search for “boredom” and “kids,” you will get the distinct impression that these two entities should not coexist, that kids should never be bored. That explains the Pinterest articles, such as “200 Boredom Busters for Kids” and “25 Ways to Keep Kids Entertained.” Well, I call bluff. We’ve talked about the individual gifts that boredom brings to a developing soul. But there’s more! I say letting a slew of kids get good and bored together, without pacifying, distracting, or occupying them, is a profound gift to them all, because it allows ...
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Bored Kids? Learn How Boredom Is a Gift (Part 1)

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  Boredom Makes You Create There are two things I think we did right as young parents. First, we got rid of all the pacifiers before the children turned four. As I type that, it ...
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One Big Lesson I Learned in My Garden

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  Life is funny sometimes, isn’t it? Though I grew up in a green thumb family, it took me a long time to get out in the garden myself. Over the last seven years, though, ...
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It’s Not About the Cheese

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I almost banished my beloved to the hinterland because he ate my cheese. I was fuming! The appropriate response from therapy and married retreats: “I felt _____ when you _____,” just didn’t pack enough punch ...
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Seven

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Here I sit sifting through the mountains of emails and cards we received after losing Asher. And like it or not, all those memories of love and loss come pouring back to me. In the ...
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Two Years Sober – A Lesson in Strength

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    My husband and I were in the greeting card section of Target one Friday on one of our less exciting date nights, and we came across a card in the 40-something birthday section ...
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I Don’t Know

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  I don't know how to live in a world where my little girl skips past broken relics of violence Where she asks me to hold her lollipop amid the echos of anger and smiles ...
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Sign Me Up: Getting out of Your Family Comfort Zone

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You and me, we’re not moms so that we can go through the assembly line of raising a family – add a kid or two, throw in a pet, build a home big enough, and
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Ten Things Every Racial Bridge-Builder Should Know

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  It’s easy to say that we want diversity in our homes, our neighborhoods and our MOPS groups, but it’s another thing to intentionally do it. We want to share some practical tips to help ...
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Adventure Together

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  All of my children love adventure, but my second son, William, actually needs it. Adventure feeds his soul. He is always the first one to jump into a body of water fully clothed, to ...
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MOPS International Statement of Faith

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MOPS International has been made aware of a new blog and companion podcast posted this week criticizing MOPS’ theology. We are saddened that these Christian bloggers did not contact us directly with their concerns. Solid ...
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Scales and Arpeggios

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Growing up, I took several years of piano lessons and my least favorite part was practicing my scales. It seemed so tedious. Did it really have a purpose? Turns out there was a purpose. Practicing ...
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Slingshot Fun

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"We have to reinvent fun back into our American society or we are going to serious ourselves to death." - Alice Cooper https://vimeo.com/271905836 The MOPS International staff taking a much-needed fun break from the work ...
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Call for Submissions: The MOPS Magazine November Issue (Holiday)

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We are seeking a wide variety of content. We highly value unique perspectives or novel thought processes with a diversity of voices and experiences as well as variations in content lengths. These types of pieces ...
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Resources to Fuel Change

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  The heartbeat of motherhood is universal; it crosses lines of color, creed, socioeconomics, politics. So as mothers, may we be the ones who lead hearts, our nation and the whole of humanity to actively ...
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Being a Body-Image Role Model

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  I struggled with body image for most of my life, and it’s important to me to help my kids feel confident in their bodies rather than having the same insecurities I faced. But as a ...
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It’s Not About the Cheese

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I almost banished my beloved to the hinterland because he ate my cheese. I was fuming! The appropriate response from therapy and married retreats: “I felt _____ when you _____,” just didn’t pack enough punch ...
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Mama, PRAY!!

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  Effective prayer has been one of the strongest weapons against my own insecurities, against the accusatory voices around me, and against unjustly judging others. These three things can often put us in deep turmoil ...
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Master Gardener

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  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. - John 15:2 (NIV) We all ...
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