Our daughter just started her religion classes for her upcoming First Holy Communion this school year.

It starts with the first 3 Blessed Videos from Dynamic Catholic here:

https://www.dynamiccatholic.com/plus/blessed/first-reconciliation-1-1.html

And in the 3rd video (Season 1, Episode 3), they teach that the Jewish Rabbi encourage their people to count their blessings and see if they can get to 100 (each day).

This Sunday, as we spend our Hour of Power at Mass, we are reminded to Thank God for all His blessings.

Before Mass, watch the story of the Grateful Leper for this Sunday’s Gospel: https://youtu.be/2mlINSeGVnI

What Tree was mentioned in this Sunday's Gospel? Carpen-Tree? 😃 Find out the answer here. And be encouraged ... we are reminded that the Faith the size of a Mustard Seed can Move Mountains. God bless. Parable of the Mustard Seed <===

Question for parents: if your kids dress up as saints for parish All Saints parties, do you have your daughters dress as female saints and sons as male saints, or do you let them dress up as opposite gender saints? I feel inclined to let our kids dress up as whatever they want because all the saints are models for everyone, and it seems like it's only in a world of gender questioning that people would even think twice about something as innocent as boys dressing as St. Lucy or girls as St. Jerome, but I'm wondering what other people do, and why you do what you do.

Every night I had been quizzing my children to ensure they have certain basic prayers memorized. We’re at the point where most of these are down, but I don’t want to drop the subject.

So yesterday I have instituted a new family activity: a Bible memorization program. Each week I choose a Scripture verse for the family to memorize, and we discuss the Scripture verse in question at the dinner table.

There is an app that provides fun approaches to memorize Scripture, called VerseLocker.

The verse I choose will be from the following weekend’s liturgy, so they can listen for it. In this case, our first verse would be 2 Corinthians 12:9, which forms the basis of a popular Matt Maher song.

We are looking for volunteers to take part in a study on what women think about while they breastfeed. This study consists of three separate surveys. The initial questionnaire linked below should take15 minutes to complete. If you choose to fill out the initial questionnaire, we will email you the links to the remaining two surveys, which should take about 15 minutes each. These last two surveys will ask you to describe what you were thinking about during a breastfeeding session, once during the day (12 noon - 3PM) and once at night (12 midnight - 3AM). You will not be compensated for your participation, but your responses may help researchers understand more about factors contributing to maternal mental health. If you are interested in participating, and you breastfeed your child, please fill out the general questionnaire and we will be in touch. Link to the survey: https://surveys.mcgill.ca/ls/268135

breastfeeding.experience.study@gmail.com

Thank you!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfg9euOFfmsu-xX7S2tCcNA

Our family has cherished this weekly liturgy during the pandemic and look forward to continuing it after as a preparation for Mass. I wanted to share it with other Catholic families.

Calling All Parents! 

COVID-19 has placed you in many new roles this year. It may have changed the way your child is attending school and how you are able to spend time with friends and family. With these changes can come a mix of emotions for both you and your child. 

If you are the parent of a child between 5-17 years old, we at Case Western Reserve University want to hear about YOUR experience adjusting in this 45-minute research study. 

As a thank you, each participant will be entered into a raffle for one of four giftcards. To participate, click here: https://cwru.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1O0uCidvCzmrvdr

If you have questions, please contact: 

Amy Przeworski, Ph.D.: axp335@case.edu

Alex Piedra, B.A.: aap145@case.edu

https://tobet.org/product/tob-tots/

I found these books online but was hoping to hear from a Catholic parent that may have read them since I can't see the inside before purchasing. Any feedback?

Hi! I am a high school student in NY and I am asking for your voluntary participation in an AP Capstone research study. AP Capstone is an advanced placement program in which students are required to conduct a research study. My study analyzes the behavior of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in church, versus their behavior at home. This study is open to parents/guardians of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder who are practicing Roman Catholics. Should you choose to participate, you will be asked to answer a survey of questions regarding your child's behavior in church versus their behavior in the household. The approximate time required to participate in this survey is 5-10 minutes. If you have more than one child with Autism Spectrum Disorder, submit a separate response for each child. Thank you!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1R4x26jkpfRTKhNfqO7yY8BXr3hOixfEQp8f72ZBok7I/edit

Hi! I am asking for your voluntary participation in an AP Capstone research study. This study is open to parents/guardians of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder who are practicing Roman Catholics. Should you choose to participate, you will be asked to answer a survey of questions regarding your child's behavior in church versus their behavior in the household. The approximate time required to participate in this survey is 5-10 minutes. If you have more than one child with Autism Spectrum Disorder, submit a separate response for each child.

​

Please note that this is an updated version of the survey.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1R4x26jkpfRTKhNfqO7yY8BXr3hOixfEQp8f72ZBok7I/edit

I hope this is allowed - I wanted to let other Catholic parents know about a book I've just published, in case anyone else might find it helpful: it's called 'Why Does Mummy's Tummy Hurt?'

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Why-Does-Mummys-Tummy-Hurt/dp/1398401625/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=why+does+mummy%27s+tummy+hurt&qid=1603106824&sr=8-1

It's not an explicitly Catholic or religious book, but it explains the menstrual cycle in a positive, warm, way - in a way that aligns with the Theology of the Body, rather than any clinical or negative way that society in general often views it. On a practical level, I wrote it to help mums explain to their young children why they get tummy ache every few weeks, or why they want the bathroom to themselves sometimes, but I think it's also really useful for introducing conversations about women's bodies, new life, fertility, and so on. It doesn't touch at all on how babies are made from a biological point of view, so it's fine for very young children.

I know obviously I'm biased, because fundamentally I wrote it for my daughter, but it really has been both liberating and positive, to be able to talk to her about these things in an honest but age-appropriate way, and I've had quite a few parents say they've had the same experience; so I hope maybe it can be helpful for others, too.

Any suggestions on books for young children about their body. My preschool aged son is wanting to learn how his body works (bones, muscles, blood flow) and how doctors keep us healthy. Would love any suggestions on appropriate books that cover those topics innocently.

Sorry for the length of this..

My husband and I are cradle Catholics. Since our son was born nine years ago, my husband has been much more active in our faith community, but we have both taught our son’s PSR for the last 4 years and we attend Adoration weekly. One of the things that we kind of regret is that we normally sent our son to the nursery while we attended Mass when he was a toddler. His preschool and kindergarten PSR classes were held during Mass, and during the summer we normally sat in the ‘cry room’ area. We prayed with him every night and talked to him about God. But we kind of dropped the ball when it came to helping him really understand why we attend Mass. So when he finished kindergarten and we expected him to attend Mass in the sanctuary with us every week, he resisted. We still went, but he complains about frequently and wants to leave the moment it ends.

I give that background so that you understand how odd our current situation has been.

Our parish held Mass again last week for the first time in almost 3 months. My husband and I were so excited, but our son, as usual complained. Too bad, buddy, we’re still going.

Two nights ago as I was sitting reading a book with him, he suddenly said ‘Mom. I’m afraid God isn’t in me and I’ll go to hell instead of heaven.’ I told him that of course God is within him. He then told me that he is afraid that Satan is in him and not God. I asked him why he felt that way. He said that he wasn’t sure why, but that all of the sudden he just had a strange feeling. I was a shocked and reassured him again that God will never abandon him, that His love for us is always greater than our sins. He asked me when the next time we were going to Mass was.

This morning he got up and asked me what time Mass was. Then he told my shocked husband that we needed to take water with us to have it blessed. (The priest blessed water for people last week because the Holy Water fonts are empty.)

We got to church, and I let him choose our seats. He chose the very front row. He normally wants to sit in the overflow seats in the vestibule. And he actively participated the entire time. Mind blown.

Then when we were walking out, he asked if we could start attending Mass on both Wednesday’s and Saturday’s.

On the one hand, I’m happy that he wants a more active faith life. But I’m also concerned about why this transformation occurred. He’s a good kid. I mean, as part of one of his distance learning assignments he had to write a sentence about a guiding principal in his life. (Public school.) He wrote ‘My guiding principal is that God exists.’ Even as an adult I don’t think I would have thought of that.

I’ve looked at his chat and browser history to see if he saw anything that might have scared him. Nothing.

Do I just let this go for now and see how it progresses. Or should we try talking to him again?

So, my oldest is turning 5, and I wanted to get her involved in some sort of scouting. There's an AHG and Little Flower's Club roughly equidistant from our house, and I wanted to ask around and see if anyone could give me the pros and cons? What they do well, what they do less well, that sort of thing.

I’m looking for some encouraging Catholic quotes about fatherhood or parenting in general to incorporate into our Father’s Day celebrations this year. What are your favorites?

So Dragon Prince season 2 I read has two queens who rule together and share a kiss. That was on Common Sense media.

Anyone now if such things are absent from season 3-5, mean among females or males?

Watched season 1 which was cool but plan to skip season 2