Believe it or not today is the last day of January....the first month of 2012 has already come and gone!! I hope you and your family have gotten 2012 off to a great start! I wanted to let you know about a few things coming up this week:
BIGNITE is Tomorrow Night!
Tomorrow night, Wednesday Feb. 1st we'll be hanging out up in The Attic for some BIGNITE fun! The doors are open at 5:45 and we'll have some Chick-Fil-A for the students and we'll also be playing some Worst Case Scenario/Disney Survival Trivia! Students will be grouped together into teams to test their knowledge and should be a good time for everybody! Make sure your students are there!
FBCG @ The Movies
Friday night, February 3rd we'll meet at Regal Cinemas at Indian Lake in Hendersonville at 7:00 to see "Big Miracle"....think Free Willy trapped in ice and you get the idea of the plot. The movie starts at 7:20. Students will need money for a ticket and refreshments if they choose....feel free to bring the whole family!
Valentine Girls
On Tuesday night, Feb. 14th, Crystal and Lydia will be hosting all the youth girls at the Kelly's house for a girls night of fun and fellowship on Valentine's Day. They'll do some fondue and make desserts and have a "girl's night". There will be no cost to the girls. Times will be announced in the next few days.
GLO Sign-Ups
We have our GLO weekend sign-ups ready to go on the church website. Please log on and get your students and their friends registered. GLO weekend is February 16-19 and $30 covers all their weekend activities! We are excited that we have made it possible to allow our students to bring their unchurched friends for free and students can get them signed up online as well. You can follow the link below to the website to get registered.
http://fbcgoodlettsville.com/glo2012
Hope you all have a great week! Here's a thought for you as you finish out this Tuesday! It's a great article by Kendra Fleming about Pitching Fits!
Pitching a Fit
Confession: Sometimes I watch the show Hoarders. It totally freaks me out and yet I watch. I don’t know if it inspires me to clean my house or I just like freaking out over a house filled with cats. Anyway, the other day I was watching it and a 40–year-old woman threw a total, out of control tantrum, complete with yelling and screaming and stomping of feet.
Now here’s the thing. I’m around two-year-olds a lot. And when a two-year-old throws a tantrum it’s not pleasant, but I will admit sometimes it looks so silly that I smile a little bit. Especially since it’s not my child. When you’re two, it’s expected that there will be an occasional melt down. No real harm done.
But when a 40-year-old woman pitches a great big ‘ol fit. It ain’t cute. Somewhere along the line she didn’t learn how to resolve conflict in a healthy way. She didn’t learn to communicate effectively when she was upset. She didn’t learn self-control.
When you’re two and you pitch a fit, you can’t cause too much damage. When you’re two and you throw yourself on the floor you don’t have too far to fall. When you’re so mad at your mommy that you want to call her names, the worst you can do is “stinky face.”
But when you’re 40 and you throw yourself on the floor, or you throw anything for that matter, someone is going to get hurt. And your words, when unleashed in anger can cause damage to those around you that can never be undone.
Self-control really matters. And the best place to begin strengthening that muscle is when you are a kid. It’s so much harder when you’re 40—and so much more ugly.
When your child is two, you can expect a lack of self-control. It’s who they are. They are immature. While understanding that it’s appropriate for their age you’ve got to start guiding them toward self-control. One of the best things you can do with a young child is to make sure that they DO NOT get what they want when throwing a fit. If they want attention, ignore them. If they want a candy bar at the grocery store and melt into a screaming puddle, leave the store.
Don’t let their lack of self-control benefit them in any way. Easier said than done when your little darling turns into a fire-breathing monster, right?
As your kids get older, begin teaching them how to push that pause button, take a deep breath and make a better decision. So, when you see it building in them, and you see them about to blow a gasket, call a time out. Teach them how to recognize how they’re feeling, take a deep breath, gather themselves and choose their actions instead of letting their actions take over and choose for them.
By the time your kids are heading to their teen years your hope is that they are practicing a lot more self-control. Your goal is that they are able to think through the consequences of their lack of control and make better choices. They’re still learning. Mistakes will be made. But you should see a lot of progress from when they were two!
Teaching your kids to have self-control starts when they are young. It’s an important job. And even though you and I both still struggle with aspects of self-control, I hope I don’t ever see you or any of your kids pitchin’ a fit on an episode of Hoarders!
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