Tag: children

Examination of Conscience for a Wife

Posted on by Jeff Cassman

Examination of Conscience for a Wife

Material Responsibilities

  1. Provision
    • Have I consistently provided for the physical needs of my husband and children, including the marital debt, preparing meals, doing the laundry and other domestic responsibilites according to my state in life?
    • Have I managed our finances responsibly and with the intention of supporting the well-being of my family?
    • Have I been diligent and industrious in my work to ensure that our family’s needs are met?
    • Have I ensured that our home is a place of comfort and order, providing a nurturing environment for my husband and family?
  2. Protection
    • Have I ensured the safety and security of my husband and family?
    • Have I taken necessary measures to protect my family from harm, both physically and emotionally?

Emotional Responsibilities

  1. Love and Affection
    • Have I shown my husband love and affection unconditionally?
    • Have I been supportive, understanding, and compassionate towards my husband’s needs and concerns?
    • Have I made an effort to spend quality time with my husband first, before other members of my family?
  2. Respect and Honor
    • Have I respected my husband’s dignity and joyfully accepted his role as head of the household?
    • Have I valued my husband’s opinions and offered advice with humility and respect?
    • Have I honored my husband through my words and actions, avoiding any form of belittlement or disrespect?
  3. Communication
    • Have I communicated openly and honestly in private with my husband about my thoughts and feelings?
    • Have I listened attentively and empathetically to my husband’s concerns and perspectives?
    • Have
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Screentime Is Ruining Your Kids

Posted on by Jeff Cassman

“Children or teens who are “revved up” and prone to rages or—alternatively—who are depressed and apathetic have become disturbingly commonplace. Chronically irritable children are often in a state of abnormally high arousal, and may seem “wired and tired.” That is, they’re agitated but exhausted. Because chronically high arousal levels impact memory and the ability to relate, these kids are also likely to struggle academically and socially.

At some point, a child with these symptoms may be given a mental-health diagnosis such as major depression, bipolar disorder, or ADHD, and offered corresponding treatments, including therapy and medication. But often these treatments don’t work very well, and the downward spiral continues.”

I once saw a dad take his kid to the back of the church and give him a tablet and then return to his pew alone, confusing the problem with the solution.

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The Courageous, True Story of a Little Girl, Her Daddy and a Bad Priest

Posted on by Jeff Cassman

So… What should Mom and Dad have done differently? I will weigh in later so my ideas don’t poison the well.

It was 1963 and I had just turned twelve.

I’d gotten my period a year before and was developing faster than most girls in my class. Where they were still short, rosy-cheeked, and flat-chested, I was six inches taller, growing into a B-cup, and getting acne. It was an awkward, confusing time for me.

Sadly, my mother was pre-occupied with her newest baby and my other eight siblings. Dad was mostly at work trying to make enough money to keep us all in parochial schools. I often felt alone and—like most kids that age–unable to share my feelings with my parents. Thank God for Celestine, our full-time housekeeper who was a sweet, second mother to me. She’d watched us kids outside playing and heard some of the neighborhood kids making comments. She promptly dragged me down to the five-and-dime to buy me my first bra.

“We don’t need those nasty boys looking down your blouse,” I remember her saying.

I know she was trying to protect me, but somehow, I got the message that there was something shameful about me in the word nasty and the fact that I had breasts.

Nonetheless, I knew I was “becoming a woman” and it was (for vague reasons) something special that should be celebrated, and something precious that should be safeguarded. I just wished I’d had an older sister or someone to

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How to Lose Friends and Arguments Quickly and Easily

Posted on by Jeff Cassman
It is rare I find myself in a discussion of any seriousness without someone resorting to personal attacks, ridicule and simple name-calling. I do not think the guilty parties recognize how bad this is for themselves, and their ideas.
 
First, when you engage in one of these activities, you are showing the entire audience-not just the person you are attacking, but everyone who will ever read those words-that you are either ignorant on the matter at hand, and unable to articulate an argument, or of such poor character that you cannot resist the temptation to attack the person, rather than their idea. You get pleasure from insulting them, but care not for advancement of truth.
 

This never reflects well on you, or your argument. It also plants the idea in the mind of your audience that perhaps people who believe like you all suffer from a weak and/or corrupt mind. This is not a fair observation, but it is a likely one. If you want to advance truth, you care more about effective persuasion than hurting your interlocutor.

Secondly, the personal attack represents a violent approach that, on the surface, suggests you are incapable of argumentation, and thus, must resort to violence to get your way. In other words, you are a bully. If you don’t know the difference between a bully, and someone who is simply strong, then you might be guilty of this. A bully rules through fear and force. A strong man rules through power. There is
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