All-Purpose "Thens"

All purpose "thens" to use in "if-thens" (ex. "Polly, this discussion is over. Don't say another word, or you'll cool down in your room." or "Nielson, please turn off the TV and come to supper. If I turn it off, I decide when it comes back on."

• half an hour in their room
• sitting at the table with their head down
• fifteen minutes worth of chores

Weak Discipline Invites Relentless Challenge; Resolute Discipline Makes For A Better Relationship

While kids initially may resist stronger discipline, with time they become more amenable to it. Both their demeanor and their mood settle. The explanation is pretty straightforward. Weak discipline invites relentless challenge, causing ill will for all. Resolute discipline, on the other, lays down a stable line. When consequences are clear and sure, kids learn the terms. They cease the battle, and accept what is. Put simply, better discipline makes for a better relationship. - Dr. Ray Guarendi

A Distinction Must Be Made Between The False Notion That Discipline Is "Mean" And The Reality Of Truly Mean Discipline

A critical distinction must be made between the false notion, on the one hand, that discipline in and of itself is mean, and the reality, on the other, of truly mean discipline. Certainly we can be mean as we discipline. We can verbally pummel, demean, and fling all kinds of unnecessary and hurtful words and emotions. By virtue of our human weakness, all parents are prone to some mean discipline. Good parents work hard for years to reduce its presence. Yet setting firm limits and holding children accountable for their actions is not mean at all. It is love in action. It is love that is hard for children to comprehend. Nonetheless, it is love that will endure long beyond our lifetimes in the character of the next generation we leave behind on this earth. - Dr. Ray Guarendi

You Are The Most Kind, Gentle Teacher That Your Children Will Ever Have

A prime motive for discipline is this: You are the most kind, gentle teacher that your children will ever have. Never again will they be taught how to get along in life by anyone who has so much love for them. If you don't discipline now, for whatever reason - because you feel guilty or too strict, or are afraid of doing something "wrong," or you think it's just easier to let them go - then who will ultimately discipline your children? The world. And the world is not a kind or gentle place to learn lessons. If a parent doesn't teach qualities such as self-control, respect for others, consideration, and ability to follow rules, then the teaching task is thrust upon others: a teacher, employer, landlord, army sergeant, police officer, judge. Who of these has the emotional attachment to your child that you do? Who will forgive and forget as many times as you will? - Dr. Ray Guarendi

The Principle Cause Of Delinquent Children Is Delinquent Parents

The principle cause of delinquent children is delinquent parents. Almighty God has given children to the parents as so much clay to be molded according to the Divine Image. When a child is born, a crown is made for it in heaven; woe to those parents if that crown is eternally unused. – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Servant of God

The Christian Family, Through A Process Of Ongoing Conversion Supported By The Grace Of God, Reflects The Splendour Of Christ In The World

Just like the Church, [the family] is called to welcome, radiate and show the world the love and the presence of Christ. The Christian Family to the extent it succeeds in living love as communion and service as a reciprocal gift open to all, through a process of ongoing conversion supported by the grace of God, reflects the splendour of Christ in the world and the beauty of the divine Trinity. – Pope Benedict XVI

Families Are Called To Be Islands Of Christian Life In An Unbelieving World

From the beginning, the core of the Church was often constituted by those who had become believers "together with all their household." When they were converted, they desired that "their whole household" should also be saved. These families who became believers were islands of Christian life in an unbelieving world...In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary importance as centers of living, radiant faith. It is in the bosom of the family that parents are 'by word and example...the first heralds of the faith with regard to their children. They should encourage them in the vocation which is proper to each child, fostering with special care any religious vocation.'" - Catechism of the Catholic Church 1655 & 1656

Discipline Is Needed, Not Eloquence; Character, Not Cleverness

Isn't it absurd to send children out to jobs and to school, and to do all you can to prepare them for these, and yet not to "bring them up in the chastening and admonition of the Lord" [Eph. 6:4]?... Discipline is needed, not eloquence; character, not clevernes; deeds, not words. These gain a man the kingdom. - Saint John Chrysostom (347-407AD)

Children Will Dislike Their Parents Because They Never Gave Them A Moral Sense Of Right And Wrong

‎Mothers who are afraid to discipline think pain is more serious than wrong. When children grow up, they will not dislike their parents because they disciplined them when wrong, but because they never gave them a moral sense of right and wrong. - Archbishop Fulton Sheen

One Day, All Human Accomplishments Will Be Reduced To A Pile Of Ashes But Every Single Child To Whom A Woman Gives Birth Will Live Forever

One day, all human accomplishments will be reduced to a pile of ashes. But every single child to whom a woman gives birth will live forever, for he has been given an immortal soul made to God's image and likeness. In this light, the assertion of de Beauvoir that "women produce nothing" becomes particularly ludicrous. - Doctor Alice von Hildebrand

Adore And Bless The Divine Will, Especially in The Things Which Are Hardest For You

In all the events of life, you must recognize the Divine will. Adore and bless it, especially in the things which are the hardest for you. - Saint Padre Pio

The Origin of Marriage is in God

Marriage, with its character as an exclusive and permanent union, is sacred because its origin is in God. Christians, in receiving the sacrament of marriage, share in God's creative plan and receive the graces they need to carry out their mission of raising and educating their children...to respond to the call to holiness. - Pope John Paul II

Catholic Homeschooling Resources

Supplement existing Studies or use for homeschool with the 'Faith And Life Series' by CUF/Accension Press Grades 1-8 The best there is! 9-12 and on through college - The Didache Series by Dr. Scott Hahn. - Markie Works

Like the Twigs of Plants, the Young are Easily Influenced

Moreover the strongest support is provided not only to protect the young from evil, but also to rouse them and attract them more easily and gently to the performance of good works. Like the twigs of plants, the young are easily influenced, as long as someone works to change their souls. But if they are allowed to grow hard, we know well that the possibility of one day bending them diminishes a great deal and is sometimes utterly lost. - Saint Joseph Calasanz

He Has Marked You With His Seal to be Set Free

Guard against foul talk; let your words be for the improvement of others, as occasion offers, and do good to your listeners, otherwise you will only be grieving the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal for you to be set free when the day comes. Never have grudges against others, or lose your temper, or raise your voice to anybody, or call each other names, or allow any sort of spitefulness. Be friends with one another, and kind, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ. - Ephesians 4:29-32

An Abomination in the Eyes of the Father

I repeat, My child, that much discipline will be needed. The manner of clothing that We see being permitted by the parents to be worn by their children is an abomination in the eyes of the Father. They are sinful, they are degrading and they lead others into sin. Cover your bodies for they are temples of the Holy Spirit. - Our Lady of the Roses 1974

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Heaven Has Entrusted You With These Children

O Christian mothers, if you knew what a future of anxieties and perils, of ill-guarded shame you prepare for your sons and daughters, imprudently getting them accustomed to live scantily dressed and making them lose the sense of modesty, you would be ashamed of yourselves and you would dread the harm you are making of yourselves, the harm which you are causing these children, whom Heaven has entrusted to you to be brought up as Christians. - Pope Pius XII