A WOW! Word™ is any word that, when used by a child in conversation, causes the listener to sit up and take notice. That's positive attention, mind you. Positive attention that generally includes the verbal response, "Wow!"
It's true. WOW! Words invite children––regardless of natural or learned language abilities––to be confident and powerful talkers, talkers who hold their listeners' attention.
To introduce a new WOW! Word, merely begin using the word and any of its forms––explain, explaining, explained, explains––often and every day. Look for opportunities to use the WOW! Word in daily conversations for a week or more. Then continue using the word as you add to your ever-growing collection of WOW! Words.
It's noteworthy when your infant shows she understands words like bye-bye, mommy, or daddy. So too, you'll notice her understanding of each new WOW! Word. And when she begins to lead those conversations, she'll just naturally use every kind of word you've been modeling for her.
This week's WOW! Word: explain
Use the word in sentences, such as:
To introduce your older child to WOW! Words, check out Babs' WOW! Words for ages 4–7.
Copyright © 2014 Babs Bell Hajdusiewicz
Kbear wrote:"We should never frgeot whether we are Christian or not, that Jesus Christ is worth giving honor to. Christmas is many things to many people, but to those who have read and studied who Jesus was, what he stood for, what his life meant…He is Christmas. You can never take that away."I am not exactly sure how to respond to this comment. Certainly there would be no such holiday as Christmas if a religion had not formed around the teachings of Jesus…but were it not for the government appropriation and subsidization of the fledgling religion courtesy of Emperor Constantine, it seems very doubtful it would have become what it has. So maybe it would be just as true to say that “Government is Christmas” as “Jesus is Christmas”, for “Jesus”, in the sense of the image or icon upon which the religion of Christianity, was largely the creation of interested politicians some centuries after his execution, as were the Christian holidays.No wonder that a close reading of the accounts of Jesus’s life in the New Testament reveals near-zero similarity between how he operated, and how any of the self-styled Christian churches of which I am aware operate. It really ought to produce the most severe cognitive dissonance trying to reconcile the image of Jesus and his ministry as portrayed in the NT, with modern-day Gentiles in business suits or outrageous robes and hats, running multi-million dollar TV stations and insurance companies and banks (when Jesus railed against “usury”, or interest!), claiming exclusive representation rights…I mean…there is not even any scripture that I can find in the gospels in which Jesus even so much as intimates he would like to start a brand new religion. Rather, he repeatedly asserts his fidelity to eternal Jewish law – and nowhere implies that it was to become obsolete upon his death. He makes no mention, for example, of an impending change in dietary law, in Sabbath observance, in additions to the canon of scripture…nothing. The gospels present him simply as a popular reformer of the Israelite religion. It is really not until Paul – who, it is worth mentioning, never met Jesus once during his lifetime, and of course had no access to the gospels, since they hadn’t been written when he wrote his epistles – that you start to hear anything about some sort of new religion, some superannuation of Judaism.Lastly, strictly speaking, there never even was anyone named “Jesus Christ”. His name was Yeshua (Joshua), and his surname wasn’t “Christ” (this is only the Greek word for “anointed one”), but Josephson (bar-Yosef).Obviously, Joshua Josephson was a striking and dramatic figure – charismatic, insightful, fairly disciplined (he did beat up a bunch of people at the temple), occasionally scathing and sarcastic, and ultimately, very unfortunate. I don’t doubt he is worth knowing about – but the reality is that many of the positive points of his message were not exclusive to him (many of his most famous teachings are recapitulations of Jewish dicta), and some of them simply must be disregarded – and are disregarded – for any kind of shot at a healthy, normal life. For example, when a man rapes you, do you “turn the other cheek” and let him rape you again? Or do you resist him with utmost force, and even lethal force if necessary?Anyway, enough about that…
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© 2023 Babsy B.
Rhiannon Apple
Author
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