March 24, 2023
top trending topics
🔗 Positive parenting may not be what you think… it’s about connection.
👏 Here are a few simple ways you can encourage your insecure teen.
💻 Worried that your child is cyberbullying? Here’s what you can do.
💔 Help your teen navigate through breakups with ease.
🤯 It’s totally normal to have bad days with your kids! But, here’s how they can strengthen your relationship.
tips & tricks for growth
family technology takeoverrr
Do you remember when the only TV at home was in the family room? Or when your family looked for license plates from all 50 states when you were traveling? Now, just about everybody has their own personal device. Each person listens to different music in the car. Homes have several screens and family members rarely watch the same shows together. Technology is everywhere. Technology affects families, without a doubt.
In the last 50 years, technology has exploded. It’s no longer in one place with limits and parental supervision. It’s portable and unlimited. And it can be very hard to control.
Consider these examples of technology’s impact on families.
So, what about you? Will your family unplug devices so you can really connect with each other?
trust em or not…
Oddly enough, you are going to have to trust me on this. You don’t know me. At the end of this, you are going to have to decide if this is trustworthy advice from a trustworthy source.
This is probably a good place for a disclaimer or three:
🛡️ Trust is a two-way street. Sometimes we withhold trust from people that are trustworthy. We may have gotten burned by someone close to us. We may be having trust issues because the world has gotten crazy and we are anxious and stressed out and feel overwhelmed by the constant bombardment of opinions and information. Or, we may have trust issues to work through on our end for a variety of totally legitimate reasons. Make sure you are doing the work on your end.
🛡️ Trust exists on a sliding scale. Trust is less like a light switch and more like a thermostat—we can turn it up as we develop trust with someone or turn it down if we see someone showing signs of not being trustworthy. Sometimes we don’t have enough history with someone to really decide if they are trustworthy and we have to go with a gut feeling about them. Only you know the track record of your “gut feelings.”
🛡️ Trust can be regained. We have all violated someone’s trust at some point. I know I have. I’ve been grateful that they didn’t write me off as “untrustworthy” forever and ever but gave me opportunities to regain their trust. Sometimes it has taken a period of time and understandably so. Leave others the room you want to be human and make mistakes. That said, there are pathologically untrustworthy people. Note it and act accordingly.
Trust is the bedrock of our relationships, but trust is also a fragile thing. Whether it is a spouse, our child, a member of our extended family, a neighbor, a co-worker, a friend posting on social media, or even the news—we need to know how much of our trust to invest and we want to be confident that our investment is safe.
let’s get REALatable
It’s time to take things a step further & get a little intimate with a Q&A. What do you say?😉 Learn a little bit about the faces behind all of this relationship gold. This week we’re chatting with Tamara Slocum, wife to her college sweetheart– Bobby, Mama to 3 girlies… (Her hands & heart stay full!), avid bookworm, and the Creative Strategist here at First Things First! Let’s get REALatable💛 & learn a little bit about her:
Q: Favorite place you’ve traveled?
A: 🗻 Salzburg, Austria! I loved visiting the trick fountains at Wasserspiele Hellbrunn and the Mirabell Palace Gardens (where they filmed some scenes from The Sound of Music)
Q: The thing that gets you in the most trouble?
A: 📚 Buying new books before I’ve finished what I’m currently reading… only to add it to my ever-growing ‘To Be Read’ list.
Q: Hot or cold drinks?
A: ☕️ Hot drinks! Vanilla Chai Tea Latte, Hot Apple Cider, Hot Chocolate… all my favs.
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