Raising Littles In Today's Culture

How does our brain work? What happens to our brains when we experience trauma? Can we heal? These are all great questions, but they don't scratch the surface when it comes to what we as a society knows and continues to learn. Our brain is an amazing organ in our bodies and as science improves so does our knowledge. But where do we find the information? How do we share the information? There are many research universities across the globe. Many research groups specializing on specific topics like brain development and trauma or human trafficking and so much more. Each group has to decide what it is they want to know and whats the best way to figure out that information. For some it's a quantitative studay which is all about numbers. They can then do graphs or other infographics to share the knowledge. Other cases they need to go so much deeper. Sharing qualitative data takes a different form. There can be graphs used for some of the data, but in many cases videos, blogs, or sli...

I have spent over 23 years taking college classes. Starting off first in community college and dropping out, and then going back, then transferring to university level all in business. After taking my first computer programming class I decided a degree in Management Information Systems wasn't for me, so I switched to general business. I ended up having to stop for a while and eventually went back to community college and got my Associates in General Business. I finally decided what I wanted to major in for the University level and that was Family Studies and Human Services which meant I had to almost start over. I'm now just three classes away from graduation...the two I'm currently taking and one this fall!! All that being said that I was always super picky on what classes I took. I always took something that truly interested me or that would transfer to almost any degree out there. I've taken paralegal classes, classes that made me a better parent, classes on Holocaus...

Matthew 25:45 says "He will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'" That is a powerful message. As a whole society tends to walk around with blinders on pretending that someone struggling isn't our problem, but it is. We are called to serve those less fortunate. And like I said last week, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. There are plenty of organizations already in place. We may have some parenting instincts, but we are not all born ready to be perfect parents knowing all there is to know. We have to do life in community, there is great knowledge to be learned from those older and more experienced than us. But our society is quick to judge. Fear of judgement is what keeps most people from reaching out for help. And what happens when a person is surrounded by chaos? They have no positive role models in their lives. How do we break those generational curses. The military's New Parent Supp...

I think there are some benefits for being an adult student in her late thirties taking classes on adolescent development and working with parents, all part of a Family Studies and Human Services curriculum. Not only am I gaining new education I bring to the table experience. I've lived what I'm learning. I think this is exactly why some new graduates struggle particularly in this field. They come out of college all knowing and have some really great ideas...but they just aren't practical to the individuals trying to implement them. I think the same goes when a new case worker goes into a house and sees what is going on (on the surface) and wants to jump right in and start fixing things. It takes time and understanding. There are a lot of really smart people who have come before us who have accomplished some really big things by learning from the ones who went before them. Almost four years ago now I took over the leadership role of a food pantry at my home church. I had no...