Learned recently that a new couple in our church are bloggers too. The husband posts as "swamphopper" on The Rough Woodsman, a group blog about culture and politics. Mrs. swamphopper is the proprietoress of Marsupial Mom, and together they write Little House. He's a public school high school English teacher, and she's at home with their three little girls. Here's a link to their bio. I'll look forward to getting to know them through their blogging and in person at church on Sundays, too.

Apropos of Mother's Day, here's a bit of a Marsupial Mom entry titled "Connection or Correction?"

Amanda's mom understood she needed to connect with Amanda rather than just correct her. In too many families it plays out a lot differently: Child feels bad. Child misbehaves. Mom yells and punishes. Child feels even worse. Child misbehaves again. Mom gets really frustrated and yells even louder. Child feels really bad now. Dad comes home and hears about how bad the child was that day. Mom escapes to the mall, the library, the coffeeshop, etc so she can feel better. Child still feels bad. Rinse and repeat.

How many times have my own children had a bad sad mad day and I offered only correction? Too many for me to be harsh toward to other moms who do the same thing, but I am growing and learning. My kids need to be corrected every day, but the correction is received a lot better when there has been a good connection.

Go read the whole thing.