The Warren & the World is Story Warren’s weekly newsletter, providing a round-up of our favorite things from around the web as well as a review of what was on our site over the past week. We’re glad you’re here!
Around the Web
Story Warren Special for Sleeping Giant Fall Online Writing Classes
Our dear friend Jennifer Trafton, who writes magic on the page in The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic (and the forthcoming Henry and the Chalk Dragon), also teaches kids to do so through her online writing classes. She’s got a special deal for her friends here at Story Warren!
- I’d love to offer Story Warren readers a coupon for my online classes, if you’re interested. There are two Fall classes that have just opened up, “Playing with Words” and “Spies in the Universe” (more details on my website jennifertrafton.com).The coupon code is STORYWARRENKIDS and would be good through the end of August. And since there is already an Early Bird Sale going on right now, the coupon will double the discount for those who sign up quickly.
Why We Don’t Punish Our Kids
Sara Wallace writes at The Gospel Coalition about the difference between punishment and discipline.
- The word “punishment” comes from the root “pun,” from which we get words like “punitive” and “penalty.” Punitive, penalty, and punishment all relate to the law and what happens when the law is broken. Punishment is retributive. It means exacting what’s deserved for the committed offense.
Instead, as part of our new punishment-free relationship with God, we will be lovingly disciplined.As incredible as it sounds, this will never happen to God’s people. Punishment is no longer part of our relationship with God. Christ absorbed every drop of punishment on the cross for us. God isn’t our Judge anymore; he’s our Father. We will never be punished for our sins.
Do It Afraid
Our friend Sarah Mackenzie writes about jumping in. She’s talking about the work of homeschooling, but her words apply to all of our pursuits.
- Sometimes you just need to jump in.
At least I do. We could wait until our checklists are perfected and the pencils are sharpened and the books are stacked neatly on the shelves. But learning is the art of living well, and sometimes it’s better to jump in with both feet and shore up the details as you go.
3 Things My Children Have Taught Me About Death
Michael Kelley shares what he’s been learning from his children in a season of loss.
- has been a difficult season for our family.
Just two weeks ago, our family traveled to Texas to visit with my mother-in-law who was suffering from an aggressive kind of cancer. A few days after we arrived, I got word that my sweet grandmother had passed away. Then, a day before her funeral, my mother-in-law also went to be with the Lord. That means our family, and our three children, will be involved in two funerals of women they knew and loved in five days.
That’s a lot for anyone, but it feels like an awful lot for kids. And yet it is moments like these when our kids become our best teachers.
Around the Warren
What is Childhood For?
James Witmer ponders whether childhood is preparation or magic?
- Is childhood preparation for adulthood, or a magical time of life to be savored?
Reading variously across that great font of wisdom known as The Internet, I’ve found most parenting “experts” fall into one of two camps: Camp Preparation, or Camp Magic.
Camp Preparation has little time for fluffy foolishness about enjoying the endearing foibles and short attention spans of adults-in-the-making. People of all ages can, and should, be productive citizens. Camp Magic, meanwhile, recoils in horror from terrible taskmasters demanding work and responsibility from winsome little souls only briefly unshackled from a burdensome world.
But what if childhood is both?
The Power of Prelutsky
Glenn McCarty introduces us to the work of Jack Prelutsky.
- There’s an old story about the blues musician Robert Johnson, whose mastery of the electric guitar – it was said – came about as a result as a secret meeting at the crossroads with the devil himself. Every time I read Jack Prelutsky’s poetry, I have the same feeling – this guy must have made some sort of sketchy bargain to obtain his otherworldly abilities with language. No normal human being possesses such a dexterity of rhythm, mastery of rhyme, and command of various forms of side-splitting humor, from puns to hilarious word-pictures.
Either that, or he’s a wizard.
Something to Do with Your Kids
Ever wonder what you can make from a cardboard box? Fortunately, The Crafty Crow website has a category for exactly that question.
And Something to Watch
Stop me if you know this one…
Thank you for reading. We’re on your side.
Carolyn Clare Givens is displaced Northerner exploring the foreign ways of the South. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her two literary cats, Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. She's the author of The King's Messenger and Rosefire and in her free time helps run Bandersnatch Books.
You can find her at carolyncgivens.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @carolyncgivens.
You can find her at carolyncgivens.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @carolyncgivens.
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