Tag: Parenting Cartoons

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motivation Parenting Cartoons

Parental Love in a Pandemic

Cartoon of a dad reading a bedtime story to his son. The son says, "Read me the one about the dad who loved his son no matter what!"

Last night, my wife and I pondered how we would have handled this lock-down ten, fifteen, even twenty years ago. We were discussing this because of a news segment about the challenges of parenting when the entire family is quarantined. It can be very frustrating to love on your kids when they are underfoot all day, you are making sure they are doing their school work and you have your own work to do. It is overwhelming.

There will be times when you will be frustrated and you will feel like you are in the middle of a parental fail. It can be even more frustrating when the former coping mechanisms you had involved getting out of the house and doing something in a social setting. Today’s challenges require some new coping strategies. Some ways to cope include:

  • Be sure to set consistent bedtimes with your kids
    • Sure, this can be very difficult for teens. They need some autonomy, while you both need a break from each other. Find some ways to give both of you some space in the evenings.
    • Set aside time before or after the kids’ bedtimes to have time for yourself and for your spouse.
    • Make bedtime a part of your routine so there is some normalcy and control in this chaotic time.
  • Be realistic about what is possible to do during this time
    • Nobody can be a super-parent for long. Give yourself grace.
    • Work is simply different when it’s done remotely. Realize productivity is going to be different.
    • Your relationship with your children is more important than getting everything done on a task list.
  • Take some time to play with your kids
    • It will benefit parent and child
    • It will relieve some stress
    • This will be the memory makers that will outlive this pandemic
  • Call or connect with a friend who has kids your age. It will help you remember you are not alone in this.

You can make it through this, parents. It takes patience some humility and a willingness to learn and be flexible. I am rooting for you.

Cartoon of a dad reading a bedtime story to his son. The son says, "Read me the one about the dad who loved his son no matter what!"
Categories
K! Magazine Kidzmatter Magazine Magazine Parenting Cartoons

Does Anyone Remember Separation Anxiety?

Cartoon of a crying mom clinging to a boy. The caption says, "It's been hard for Chloe to serve since she began experiencing separation anxiety."
Published in "K! Kidzmatter Magazine"

When my wife took a sabbatical from ministry in 2014, she spent a lot of time at home. Our kids were in their teens and twenties, so it was basically her and the dog when I was at work and the kids were doing their own thing. The dog started to get used to having her owner at home. Separation anxiety was nowhere in sight.

But when she went back to the church, the poor dog had a nervous breakdown. When we came home, we would find her hiding and shaking. When we went to bed, she would bark until we took her upstairs and into our bedrooms. Before, she was quite content to be in a downstairs bathroom.

We took her to the vet to be sure she didn’t have a physical problem. The vet confirmed she was just fine, but experiencing separation anxiety. He suggested we could give her anti-anxiety medicine. I thanked him and said we would wait and see. Eventually, the dog got used to being the queen of her castle once again.

We live in Ohio today and are entering the third week of staying in place. I really feel for the parents who have had to figure out how to keep their kids busy when school was canceled. Many of us are working from home too. Separation anxiety may be the last thing on parents’ and pet owners’ minds these days.

But there will come a day when things get back to normal again. We will get to venture out to work and school one day. Let’s look forward to the day when separation anxiety may be the biggest concern on our minds.

How have you made the best of being at home? Let us know in the comments.

Cartoon of a crying mom clinging to a boy. The caption says, "It's been hard for Chloe to serve since she began experiencing separation anxiety."
Published in “K! Kidzmatter Magazine”
Categories
Internet Social Media Social Media

Discretion in a Hyper-Sharing World

Cartoon of boy and dad. The boy says, "You should have seen what Bobby did in class! It's already posted on Youtube!"

YouTube was well on its way when I wrote and drew this cartoon in 2009. We have done so much more with social media since then. According to a site, 300 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute. That’s a lot of cat videos!

Should every moment be shared? It no doubt affects the behavior of people if they are performing for social media. It may be tempting to do something outrageous if the goal is to get as many views and likes that you can.

Discretion is a word that isn’t used much when it comes to social media. It is something that comes with maturity and is easy to forget in the heat of the moment. But it is something we all need to keep in mind. It takes wisdom to do this. Wisdom comes from experience and experience comes from making mistakes. Unfortunately, it can be very embarrassing and life-changing if you make your mistakes on social media for all to see.

Before you get ready to post that video, before you post your opinion or respond to that obnoxious post with an equally obnoxious response, consider discretion. Use your better judgement. Let’s keep ourselves from wishing we could take that comment or video back.

Social media is a powerful tool. Let’s use it wisely.

Cartoon of boy and dad. The boy says, "You should have seen what Bobby did in class! It's already posted on Youtube!"
Categories
children cartoons Easter holiday

More Jelly Beans Prayer

cartoon of a mom and boy with jelly bean basket. The boy says, "I had a jelly bean prayer that you would buy more jelly beans."
I love jelly beans. There! I’ve said it! I loved them ever since I bit into my first licorice jelly bean. They gave me great satisfaction because I soon learned many kids didn’t like them. So I would happily collect all the black licorice jelly beans while my classmates would gladly hand them over.

Continue reading “More Jelly Beans Prayer”
Categories
CHOG News School Cartoons

Prayer and Going Back to School

Cartoon of a mom and son. The disgruntled son says,

It can be tough to have faith that can move mountains when you have to go back to school. I probably prayed a prayer similar to the boy’s prayer in this cartoon when I was in elementary school.

School was stressful for me. I never knew if my pencil was really a Number Two Pencil. If I wasn’t so nervous, I may have had the wits to actually check the inscription on the pencil. I should’ve realized almost all school pencils are number two pencils. If I just got that through my head, maybe school wouldn’t have been so stressful. Then again, maybe I should have just prayed about my stress!

I drew this for the Church of God Newsletter.

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