WHO IS HE?
IN CHEMISTRY, HE TURNED WATER TO WINE.
IN BIOLOGY, HE WAS BORN WITHOUT THE NORMAL CONCEPTION;
IN PHYSICS, HE DISAPPROVED THE LAW OF GRAVITY WHEN HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN;
IN ECONOMICS, HE DISAP PROVED THE LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURN BY FEEDING 5000 MEN WITH TWO FISHES & 5 LOAVES OF BREAD;
IN MEDICINE, HE CURED THE SICK AND THE BLIND WITHOUT ADMINISTERING A SINGLE DOSE OF DRUGS,
IN HISTORY, HE IS THE BEGINNING AND THE END;
IN GOVERNMENT, HE SAID THAT HE SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, PRINCE OF PEACE;
IN RELIGION, HE SAID NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH HIM;
SO, WHO IS HE?
HE IS JESUS!
JOIN ME AND LET'S CELEBRATE HIM; HE IS WORTHY.
THE EYES BEHOLDING THIS MESSAGE SHALL NOT BEHOLD EVIL, THE HAND THAT
WILL SEND THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYBODY SHALL NOT LABOR IN VAIN, AND THE MOUTH SAYING AMEN TO THIS PRAYER SHALL SMILE FOREVER.
REMAIN IN GOD AND SEEK HIS FACE ALWAYS. AMEN
IN JESUS I'VE FOUND EVERYTHING!
The Greatest Man in History
Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.
Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.
Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.
He had no army, yet kings feared Him..
He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.
He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.
He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.
I feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us!
If you believe in God and in Jesus Christ His Son...
Share this wonderful story with you friends whenever you hanve a chance.
Just remember that Jesus said:
If you deny me before man, I will deny you before my Father in Heaven.
GOD Bless you.
Monday, February 25, 2008
The teaching of the parable in Christianity
The characters
In the Gospel the father represents God, the Ultimate Reality in Christianity, while the prodigal son is the individual living in sin who finally repents and returns to a personal relationship with God.
The prodigal son
There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, "Father, give me my share of the estate." So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, "How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men." So he got up and went to his father.
The Christian meaning of the parable is clear: We all need to return to God in repentance and faith. He does not compel us, so it must be a personal decision. God's forgiveness is not gained through high spiritual performance but only by repentance. The price for our reconciliation with God was paid by Jesus Christ, through his death on the cross. There is nothing more to add.
The parable depicts God's amazing availability to forgive and restore us, his great love that accepts us independently of our status and past. It should give us courage to come to him in repentance and faith, without fear, and inherit personal communion with him in his everlasting kingdom. Halleluya !
In the Gospel the father represents God, the Ultimate Reality in Christianity, while the prodigal son is the individual living in sin who finally repents and returns to a personal relationship with God.
The prodigal son
There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, "Father, give me my share of the estate." So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, "How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men." So he got up and went to his father.
The Christian meaning of the parable is clear: We all need to return to God in repentance and faith. He does not compel us, so it must be a personal decision. God's forgiveness is not gained through high spiritual performance but only by repentance. The price for our reconciliation with God was paid by Jesus Christ, through his death on the cross. There is nothing more to add.
The parable depicts God's amazing availability to forgive and restore us, his great love that accepts us independently of our status and past. It should give us courage to come to him in repentance and faith, without fear, and inherit personal communion with him in his everlasting kingdom. Halleluya !
Saturday, February 23, 2008
OSPF
The Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol is a hierarchical interior gateway protocol (IGP) for routing in Internet Protocol, using a link-state in the individual areas that make up the hierarchy. A computation based on Dijkstra's algorithm is used to calculate the shortest path tree inside each area. The current version, Version 3, defined in RFC 2740 (OSPFv3 1999)[1], supports IPv6 only, while OSPF version 2 supports IPv4. (OSPFv2 1998)[2].
A link state database (LSDB) is constructed as a tree-image of the network topology, and identical copies of the LSDB are periodically updated on all routers in each OSPF-aware area (region of the network included in an OSPF area type - see "Area types" below). By convention, area 0 represents the core or "backbone" region of an OSPF-enabled network, and other OSPF area numbers may be designated to serve other regions of an enterprise (large, business) network - however every additional OSPF area must have a direct or virtual connection to the backbone OSPF area. The backbone area has the identifier 0.0.0.0. Inter-area routing goes via the backbone.
OSPF is perhaps the most widely-used IGP in large enterprise networks; IS-IS is more common in large service provider networks. The most widely-used exterior gateway protocol (EGP) is BGP. The OSPF Protocol can operate (communicate with other routers about "best-path" routes to save in their LSDBs) securely, optionally using a cleartext password or using MD5 to authenticate peers before forming adjacencies, and before accepting link-state advertisements (LSA).
Routers in the same broadcast domain or at each end of a point-to-point telecommunications link form adjacencies when they have detected each other. This detection occurs when a router "sees" itself in a hello packet. This is called a two way state and is the most basic relationship. The routers elect a designated router (DR) and a backup designated router (BDR) which act as a hub to reduce traffic between routers. OSPF uses both unicast and multicast to send "hello packets" and link state updates. Multicast addresses 224.0.0.5 (all SPF/link state routers) and 224.0.0.6 (all Designated Routers) are reserved for OSPF. In contrast to the Routing Information Protocol (RIP) or the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), OSPF does not use TCP or UDP but uses IP directly, via IP protocol 89. OSPF handles its own error detection and correction, therefore negating the need for TCP or UDP functions.
Area types
An OSPF network is divided into areas, which have 32-bit area identifiers commonly, but not always, written in the dotted decimal format of an IP address. Area identifiers are not IP addresses and may duplicate, without conflict, any IP address. While most OSPF implementations will right-justify an area number written in other than dotted decimal format (e.g., area 1), it is wise always to use dotted decimal formats. Most implementations would expand area 1 to the area identifier 0.0.0.1, but some have been known to expand it as 1.0.0.0.
These are logical groupings of routers whose information may be summarized towards the rest of the network. Several "special" area types are defined:
Backbone area
The backbone area (also known as area zero or area 0.0.0.0) forms the core of an OSPF network. All other areas are connected to it, and inter-area routing happens via routers connected to the backbone area and to their own non-backbone areas. It is the logical and physical structure for the 'OSPF domain' and is attached to all nonzero areas in the OSPF domain.
The backbone area is responsible for distributing routing information between nonbackbone areas. The backbone must be contiguous, but it does not need to be physically contiguous; backbone connectivity can be established and maintained through the configuration of virtual links.
All OSPF areas must connect to the backbone area. This connection, however, can be through a virtual link. For example, assume area 0.0.0.1 has a physical connection to area 0.0.0.0. Further assume that area 0.0.0.2 has no direct connection to the backbone, but this area does have a connection to area 0.0.0.1. Area 0.0.0.2 can use a virtual link through the transit area 0.0.0.1 to reach the backbone. To be a transit area, an area has to have the transit attribute, so it cannot be stubby in any way.
[edit] Stub area
A stub area is an area which does not receive external routes except the default route, but does receive inter-area routes. This kind of area is useful when, for example, all Internet access goes through autonomous system border routers (ASBRs) in Area 0.0.0.0, but there are multiple paths to other nonzero areas in the OSPF domain.
All routers in the area need to agree they are stub, so that they do not generate types of LSA not appropriate to a stub area. The Type 5 LSA for the default route is the only external that should enter the area, and none of its routers may generate externals.
Stub areas do receive inter-area (IA) routes, advertised with Type 3 and Type 4 LSAs. If the stub area has more than one ABR, the information on other non-backbone areas allows the routers in the stub area to pick the best route to another area.
Stub areas do not have the transit attribute and thus cannot be traversed by a virtual link.
Stub areas receive default routes as type 3 network summary LSAs.
Totally stubby area
A totally stubby area (TSA), which is a nonstandard but useful extension by Cisco, is similar to a stub area, however this area does not allow summary routes in addition to the external routes, that is, inter-area (IA) routes are not summarized into totally stubby areas. The only way for traffic to get routed outside of the area is a default route which is the only Type-3 LSA advertised into the area. When there is only one route out of the area, fewer routing decisions have to be made by the route processor, which lowers system resource utilization.
Occasionally, it is said that a TSA can have only one ABR. This is not true. If there are multiple ABRs, as might be required for high availability, routers interior to the TSA will send non-intra-area traffic to the ABR with the lowest intra-area metric (the "closest" ABR).
my notes about ospf
A link state database (LSDB) is constructed as a tree-image of the network topology, and identical copies of the LSDB are periodically updated on all routers in each OSPF-aware area (region of the network included in an OSPF area type - see "Area types" below). By convention, area 0 represents the core or "backbone" region of an OSPF-enabled network, and other OSPF area numbers may be designated to serve other regions of an enterprise (large, business) network - however every additional OSPF area must have a direct or virtual connection to the backbone OSPF area. The backbone area has the identifier 0.0.0.0. Inter-area routing goes via the backbone.
OSPF is perhaps the most widely-used IGP in large enterprise networks; IS-IS is more common in large service provider networks. The most widely-used exterior gateway protocol (EGP) is BGP. The OSPF Protocol can operate (communicate with other routers about "best-path" routes to save in their LSDBs) securely, optionally using a cleartext password or using MD5 to authenticate peers before forming adjacencies, and before accepting link-state advertisements (LSA).
Routers in the same broadcast domain or at each end of a point-to-point telecommunications link form adjacencies when they have detected each other. This detection occurs when a router "sees" itself in a hello packet. This is called a two way state and is the most basic relationship. The routers elect a designated router (DR) and a backup designated router (BDR) which act as a hub to reduce traffic between routers. OSPF uses both unicast and multicast to send "hello packets" and link state updates. Multicast addresses 224.0.0.5 (all SPF/link state routers) and 224.0.0.6 (all Designated Routers) are reserved for OSPF. In contrast to the Routing Information Protocol (RIP) or the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), OSPF does not use TCP or UDP but uses IP directly, via IP protocol 89. OSPF handles its own error detection and correction, therefore negating the need for TCP or UDP functions.
Area types
An OSPF network is divided into areas, which have 32-bit area identifiers commonly, but not always, written in the dotted decimal format of an IP address. Area identifiers are not IP addresses and may duplicate, without conflict, any IP address. While most OSPF implementations will right-justify an area number written in other than dotted decimal format (e.g., area 1), it is wise always to use dotted decimal formats. Most implementations would expand area 1 to the area identifier 0.0.0.1, but some have been known to expand it as 1.0.0.0.
These are logical groupings of routers whose information may be summarized towards the rest of the network. Several "special" area types are defined:
Backbone area
The backbone area (also known as area zero or area 0.0.0.0) forms the core of an OSPF network. All other areas are connected to it, and inter-area routing happens via routers connected to the backbone area and to their own non-backbone areas. It is the logical and physical structure for the 'OSPF domain' and is attached to all nonzero areas in the OSPF domain.
The backbone area is responsible for distributing routing information between nonbackbone areas. The backbone must be contiguous, but it does not need to be physically contiguous; backbone connectivity can be established and maintained through the configuration of virtual links.
All OSPF areas must connect to the backbone area. This connection, however, can be through a virtual link. For example, assume area 0.0.0.1 has a physical connection to area 0.0.0.0. Further assume that area 0.0.0.2 has no direct connection to the backbone, but this area does have a connection to area 0.0.0.1. Area 0.0.0.2 can use a virtual link through the transit area 0.0.0.1 to reach the backbone. To be a transit area, an area has to have the transit attribute, so it cannot be stubby in any way.
[edit] Stub area
A stub area is an area which does not receive external routes except the default route, but does receive inter-area routes. This kind of area is useful when, for example, all Internet access goes through autonomous system border routers (ASBRs) in Area 0.0.0.0, but there are multiple paths to other nonzero areas in the OSPF domain.
All routers in the area need to agree they are stub, so that they do not generate types of LSA not appropriate to a stub area. The Type 5 LSA for the default route is the only external that should enter the area, and none of its routers may generate externals.
Stub areas do receive inter-area (IA) routes, advertised with Type 3 and Type 4 LSAs. If the stub area has more than one ABR, the information on other non-backbone areas allows the routers in the stub area to pick the best route to another area.
Stub areas do not have the transit attribute and thus cannot be traversed by a virtual link.
Stub areas receive default routes as type 3 network summary LSAs.
Totally stubby area
A totally stubby area (TSA), which is a nonstandard but useful extension by Cisco, is similar to a stub area, however this area does not allow summary routes in addition to the external routes, that is, inter-area (IA) routes are not summarized into totally stubby areas. The only way for traffic to get routed outside of the area is a default route which is the only Type-3 LSA advertised into the area. When there is only one route out of the area, fewer routing decisions have to be made by the route processor, which lowers system resource utilization.
Occasionally, it is said that a TSA can have only one ABR. This is not true. If there are multiple ABRs, as might be required for high availability, routers interior to the TSA will send non-intra-area traffic to the ABR with the lowest intra-area metric (the "closest" ABR).
my notes about ospf
BGP routing protocol
The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the core routing protocol of the Internet. It works by maintaining a table of IP networks or 'prefixes' which designate network reachability among autonomous systems (AS). It is described as a path vector protocol. BGP does not use traditional IGP metrics, but makes routing decisions based on path, network policies and/or rulesets.
BGP was created to replace the EGP routing protocol to allow fully decentralized routing in order to allow the removal of the NSFNet Internet backbone network. This allowed the Internet to become a truly decentralized system.
Very large private IP networks can also make use of BGP. An example would be the joining of a number of large Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) networks where OSPF by itself would not scale to size. Another reason to use BGP would be multihoming a network for better redundancy either to a multiple access points of a single ISP (RFC 1998) or to multiple ISPs.
Most Internet users do not use BGP directly. However, since most Internet service providers must use BGP to establish routing between one another (especially if they are multihomed), it is one of the most important protocols of the Internet. Compare this with Signalling System 7 (SS7), which is the inter-provider core call setup protocol on the PSTN.
BGP Operation
BGP neighbors, or peers, are established by manual configuration between routers to create a TCP session on port 179. A BGP speaker will periodically send 19-byte keep-alive messages to maintain the connection (every 60 seconds by default). Among routing protocols, BGP is unique in using TCP as its transport protocol.
When BGP is running inside an autonomous system (AS), it is referred to as Internal BGP (IBGP Interior Border Gateway Protocol). When BGP runs between ASs, it is called External BGP (EBGP Exterior Border Gateway Protocol). Routers that sit on the boundary of one AS, and exchange information with another AS, are called border or edge routers. In the Cisco operating system, IBGP routes have an administrative distance of 200, which is less preferred than either external BGP or any interior routing protocol. Other router implementations also prefer eBGP to IGPs, and IGPs to iBGP.
Finite state machine
In order to make decisions in its operations with other BGP peers, a BGP peer uses a simple finite state machine that consists of six states: Idle, Connect, Active, OpenSent, OpenConfirm, and Established. For each peer-to-peer session, a BGP implementation maintains a state variable that tracks which of these six states the session is in.
The BGP protocol defines the messages that each peer should exchange in order to change the session from one state to another. The first mode is the “Idle” mode. In this mode BGP initalizes all resources, refuses all inbound BGP connection attempts, and initiates a TCP connection to the peer. The second state is “Connect”. In this state the router waits for the TCP connection to complete, transitioning to the "OpenSent" state if successful. If not, it resets the ConnectRetry timer and transitions to the "Active" state upon expiration. In the "Active" state, the router resets the ConnectRetry timer to zero, and returns to the "Connect" state.
After "OpenSent," the router sends an Open message, and waits for one in return. Keepalive messages are exchanged next, and upon successful receipt, the router is placed in the “Established” state. Once established the router can now send/receive Keepalive, Update, and Notification messages to/from its peer.
BGP Router Connectivity and Learning Routes
In the simplest arrangement all routers within a single AS and participating in BGP routing must be configured in a full mesh: each router must be configured as peer to every other router. This causes scaling problems, since the number of required connections grows quadratically with the number of routers involved. To get around this, two solutions are built into BGP: route reflectors (RFC 4456) and confederations (RFC 5065). For the following discussion of basic UPDATE processing, assume a full iBGP mesh.
BGP was created to replace the EGP routing protocol to allow fully decentralized routing in order to allow the removal of the NSFNet Internet backbone network. This allowed the Internet to become a truly decentralized system.
Very large private IP networks can also make use of BGP. An example would be the joining of a number of large Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) networks where OSPF by itself would not scale to size. Another reason to use BGP would be multihoming a network for better redundancy either to a multiple access points of a single ISP (RFC 1998) or to multiple ISPs.
Most Internet users do not use BGP directly. However, since most Internet service providers must use BGP to establish routing between one another (especially if they are multihomed), it is one of the most important protocols of the Internet. Compare this with Signalling System 7 (SS7), which is the inter-provider core call setup protocol on the PSTN.
BGP Operation
BGP neighbors, or peers, are established by manual configuration between routers to create a TCP session on port 179. A BGP speaker will periodically send 19-byte keep-alive messages to maintain the connection (every 60 seconds by default). Among routing protocols, BGP is unique in using TCP as its transport protocol.
When BGP is running inside an autonomous system (AS), it is referred to as Internal BGP (IBGP Interior Border Gateway Protocol). When BGP runs between ASs, it is called External BGP (EBGP Exterior Border Gateway Protocol). Routers that sit on the boundary of one AS, and exchange information with another AS, are called border or edge routers. In the Cisco operating system, IBGP routes have an administrative distance of 200, which is less preferred than either external BGP or any interior routing protocol. Other router implementations also prefer eBGP to IGPs, and IGPs to iBGP.
Finite state machine
In order to make decisions in its operations with other BGP peers, a BGP peer uses a simple finite state machine that consists of six states: Idle, Connect, Active, OpenSent, OpenConfirm, and Established. For each peer-to-peer session, a BGP implementation maintains a state variable that tracks which of these six states the session is in.
The BGP protocol defines the messages that each peer should exchange in order to change the session from one state to another. The first mode is the “Idle” mode. In this mode BGP initalizes all resources, refuses all inbound BGP connection attempts, and initiates a TCP connection to the peer. The second state is “Connect”. In this state the router waits for the TCP connection to complete, transitioning to the "OpenSent" state if successful. If not, it resets the ConnectRetry timer and transitions to the "Active" state upon expiration. In the "Active" state, the router resets the ConnectRetry timer to zero, and returns to the "Connect" state.
After "OpenSent," the router sends an Open message, and waits for one in return. Keepalive messages are exchanged next, and upon successful receipt, the router is placed in the “Established” state. Once established the router can now send/receive Keepalive, Update, and Notification messages to/from its peer.
BGP Router Connectivity and Learning Routes
In the simplest arrangement all routers within a single AS and participating in BGP routing must be configured in a full mesh: each router must be configured as peer to every other router. This causes scaling problems, since the number of required connections grows quadratically with the number of routers involved. To get around this, two solutions are built into BGP: route reflectors (RFC 4456) and confederations (RFC 5065). For the following discussion of basic UPDATE processing, assume a full iBGP mesh.
Computer Networks - 7 Layer OSI Model
7. Application layer
DHCP · DNS · FTP · Gopher · HTTP · IMAP4 · IRC · NNTP · XMPP · POP3 · SIP · SMTP · SNMP · SSH · TELNET · RPC · RTCP · RTSP · TLS · SDP · SOAP · GTP · STUN · NTP · (more)
6. Presentation layer
5. Session layer
4. Transport layer
TCP · UDP · DCCP · SCTP · RTP · RSVP · (more)
3. Network/Internet layer
IP (IPv4 · IPv6) · OSPF · IS-IS · BGP · IPsec · ARP · RARP · RIP · ICMP · ICMPv6 ·IGMP · (more)
2. Data link layer
802.11 (WLAN) · 802.16 · Wi-Fi · WiMAX · ATM · DTM · Token ring · Ethernet · FDDI · Frame Relay · GPRS · EVDO · HSPA · HDLC · PPP · PPTP · L2TP · ISDN · ARCnet · (more)
1. Physical layer
Ethernet physical layer · Modems · PLC · SONET/SDH · G.709 · Optical fiber · Coaxial cable · Twisted pair · (more)
DHCP · DNS · FTP · Gopher · HTTP · IMAP4 · IRC · NNTP · XMPP · POP3 · SIP · SMTP · SNMP · SSH · TELNET · RPC · RTCP · RTSP · TLS · SDP · SOAP · GTP · STUN · NTP · (more)
6. Presentation layer
5. Session layer
4. Transport layer
TCP · UDP · DCCP · SCTP · RTP · RSVP · (more)
3. Network/Internet layer
IP (IPv4 · IPv6) · OSPF · IS-IS · BGP · IPsec · ARP · RARP · RIP · ICMP · ICMPv6 ·IGMP · (more)
2. Data link layer
802.11 (WLAN) · 802.16 · Wi-Fi · WiMAX · ATM · DTM · Token ring · Ethernet · FDDI · Frame Relay · GPRS · EVDO · HSPA · HDLC · PPP · PPTP · L2TP · ISDN · ARCnet · (more)
1. Physical layer
Ethernet physical layer · Modems · PLC · SONET/SDH · G.709 · Optical fiber · Coaxial cable · Twisted pair · (more)
MPLS - Technology
In computer networking and telecommunications, Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a data-carrying mechanism that belongs to the family of packet-switched networks. MPLS operates at an OSI Model layer that is generally considered to lie between traditional definitions of Layer 2 (data link layer) and Layer 3 (network layer), and thus is often referred to as a "Layer 2.5" protocol.
It was designed to provide a unified data-carrying service for both circuit-based clients and packet-switching clients which provide a datagram service model. It can be used to carry many different kinds of traffic, including IP packets, as well as native ATM, SONET, and Ethernet frames.
A number of different technologies were previously deployed with essentially identical goals, such as frame relay and ATM. MPLS is now replacing these technologies in the marketplace, mostly because it is better aligned with current and future technology needs.
In particular, MPLS dispenses with the cell-switching and signaling-protocol baggage of ATM. MPLS recognizes that small ATM cells are not needed in the core of modern networks, since modern optical networks (as of 2001) are so fast (at 10 Gbit/s and well beyond) that even full-length 1500 byte packets do not incur significant real-time queuing delays (the need to reduce such delays — e.g., to support voice traffic — was the motivation for the cell nature of ATM).
At the same time, MPLS attempts to preserve the traffic engineering and out-of-band control that made frame relay and ATM attractive for deploying large-scale networks.
MPLS was originally proposed by a group of engineers from Ipsilon Networks, but their "IP Switching" technology, which was defined only to work over ATM, did not achieve market dominance. Cisco Systems, Inc. introduced a related proposal, not restricted to ATM transmission, called "Tag Switching" when it was a Cisco proprietary proposal, and was renamed "Label Switching" when it was handed over to the IETF for open standardization. The IETF work involved proposals from other vendors, and development of a consensus protocol that combined features from several vendors' work.
One original motivation was to allow the creation of simple high-speed switches, since for a significant length of time it was impossible to forward IP packets entirely in hardware. However, advances in VLSI have made such devices possible. Therefore the advantages of MPLS primarily revolve around the ability to support multiple service models and perform traffic management. MPLS also offers a robust recovery frameworkthat goes beyond the simple protection rings of synchronous optical networking (SONET/SDH).
While the traffic management benefits of migrating to MPLS are quite valuable (better reliability, increased performance), there is a significant loss of visibility and access into the MPLS cloud for IT departments.
How MPLS works
MPLS works by prefixing packets with an MPLS header, containing one or more 'labels'. This is called a label stack.
Each label stack entry contains four fields:
a 20-bit label value.
a 3-bit field for QoS (Quality of Service) priority (experimental).
a 1-bit bottom of stack flag. If this is set, it signifies that the current label is the last in the stack.
an 8-bit TTL (time to live) field.
These MPLS-labeled packets are switched after a Label Lookup/Switch instead of a lookup into the IP table. As mentioned above, when MPLS was conceived, Label Lookup and Label Switching were faster than a RIB lookup because they could take place directly within the switched fabric and not the CPU.
The entry and exit points of an MPLS network are called Label Edge Routers (LER), which, respectively, push an MPLS label onto the incoming packet and pop it off the outgoing packet. Routers that perform routing based only on the label are called Label Switch Routers (LSR). In some applications, the packet presented to the LER already may have a label, so that the new LSR pushes a second label onto the packet. For more information see Penultimate Hop Popping.
Labels are distributed between LERs and LSRs using the “Label Distribution Protocol” (LDP). Label Switch Routers in an MPLS network regularly exchange label and reachability information with each other using standardized procedures in order to build a complete picture of the network they can then use to forward packets. Label Switch Paths (LSPs) are established by the network operator for a variety of purposes, such as to create network-based IP Virtual Private Networks or to route traffic along specified paths through the network. In many respects, LSPs are no different than PVCs in ATM or Frame Relay networks, except that they are not dependent on a particular Layer 2 technology.
In the specific context of an MPLS-based Virtual Private Network (VPN), LSRs that function as ingress and/or egress routers to the VPN are often called PE (Provider Edge) routers. Devices that function only as transit routers are similarly called P (Provider) routers. See RFC 2547. The job of a P router is significantly easier than that of a PE router, so they can be less complex and may be more dependable because of this.
When an unlabeled packet enters the ingress router and needs to be passed on to an MPLS tunnel, the router first determines the forwarding equivalence class (FEC) the packet should be in, and then inserts one or more labels in the packet's newly-created MPLS header. The packet is then passed on to the next hop router for this tunnel.
When a labeled packet is received by an MPLS router, the topmost label is examined. Based on the contents of the label a swap, push (impose) or pop (dispose) operation can be performed on the packet's label stack. Routers can have prebuilt lookup tables that tell them which kind of operation to do based on the topmost label of the incoming packet so they can process the packet very quickly.
In a swap operation the label is swapped with a new label, and the packet is forwarded along the path associated with the new label.
In a push operation a new label is pushed on top of the existing label, effectively "encapsulating" the packet in another layer of MPLS. This allows hierarchical routing of MPLS packets. Notably, this is used by MPLS VPNs.
In a pop operation the label is removed from the packet, which may reveal an inner label below. This process is called "decapsulation". If the popped label was the last on the label stack, the packet "leaves" the MPLS tunnel. This is usually done by the egress router, but see PHP below.
During these operations, the contents of the packet below the MPLS Label stack are not examined. Indeed transit routers typically need only to examine the topmost label on the stack. The forwarding of the packet is done based on the contents of the labels, which allows "protocol-independent packet forwarding" that does not need to look at a protocol-dependent routing table and avoids the expensive IP longest prefix match at each hop.
At the egress router, when the last label has been popped, only the payload remains. This can be an IP packet, or any of a number of other kinds of payload packet. The egress router must therefore have routing information for the packet's payload, since it must forward it without the help of label lookup tables. An MPLS transit router has no such requirement.
In some special cases, the last label can also be popped off at the penultimate hop (the hop before the egress router). This is called Penultimate Hop Popping (PHP). This may be interesting in cases where the egress router has lots of packets leaving MPLS tunnels, and thus spends inordinate amounts of CPU time on this. By using PHP, transit routers connected directly to this egress router effectively offload it, by popping the last label themselves.
MPLS can make use of existing ATM network infrastructure, as its labeled flows can be mapped to ATM virtual circuit identifiers, and vice versa.
Comparison of MPLS versus IP
MPLS cannot be compared to IP as a separate entity because it works in conjunction with IP and IP's IGP routing protocols. MPLS gives IP networks simple traffic engineering, the ability to transport Layer 3 (IP) VPNs with overlapping address spaces, and support for Layer 2 pseudowires (with Any Transport Over MPLS, or ATOM - see Martini draft). Routers with programmable CPUs and without TCAM/CAM or another method for fast lookups may also see a limited increase in the performance.
MPLS relies on IGP routing protocols to construct its label forwarding table, and the scope of any IGP is usually restricted to a single carrier for stability and policy reasons. As there is still no standard for carrier-carrier MPLS it is not possible to have the same MPLS service (Layer2 or Layer3 VPN) covering more than one operator.
Comparison of MPLS versus Frame Relay
Frame relay aimed to make more efficient use of existing physical resources, which allow for the underprovisioning of data services by telecommunications companies (telcos) to their customers, as clients were unlikely to be utilizing a data service 100 percent of the time. In more recent years, frame relay has acquired a bad reputation in some markets because of excessive bandwidth overbooking by these telcos.
Telcos often sell frame relay to businesses looking for a cheaper alternative to dedicated lines; its use in different geographic areas depended greatly on governmental and telecommunication companies' policies. Some of the early companies to make frame relay products included StrataCom (later acquired by Cisco Systems) and Cascade Communications (later acquired by Ascend Communications and then by Lucent Technologies).
AT&T is currently (as of June 2007) the largest frame relay service provider in the United States, with local networks in 22 states, plus national and international networks. This number is expected to change between 2007 and 2009 when most of these frame relay contracts expire. Many customers are likely to migrate from frame relay to MPLS over IP or Ethernet within the next two years, which in many cases will reduce costs and improve manageability and performance of their wide area networks.
MPLS deployment
MPLS is currently in use in large "IP Only" networks, and is standardized by IETF in RFC 3031.
In practice, MPLS is mainly used to forward IP datagrams and Ethernet traffic. Major applications of MPLS are Telecommunications traffic engineering and MPLS VPN.
Competitors to MPLS
MPLS can exist in both IPv4 environment (IPv4 routing protocols) and IPv6 environment (IPv6 routing protocols). The major goal of MPLS development - the increase of routing speed - is no longer relevant because of the usage of ASIC, TCAM and CAMbased switching. Therefore the major usage of MPLS is to implement limited traffic engineering and Layer 3/Layer 2 “service provider type” VPNs over existing IPv4 networks. The only competitors to MPLS are technologies like L2TPv3 that also provide services such as service provider Layer 2 and Layer 3 VPNs.
IEEE 1355 is a completely unrelated technology that does something similar in hardware.
IPv6 references: Grossetete, Patrick, IPv6 over MPLS, Cisco Systems 2001; Juniper Networks IPv6 and Infranets White Paper; Juniper Networks DoD's Research and Engineering Community White Paper.
Access to MPLS networks
MPLS supports a range of access technologies, including T1, ATM and frame relay. While less expensive DSL connections may also be used, they don’t allow network users to reap the significant MPLS benefit of class-of-service application prioritization. In January 2008, however, New Edge Networks announced plans to make traffic prioritization on its MPLS network available via DSL access. According to New Edge, its service will enable businesses to implement and manage an MPLS network without having to assume the higher price of T1 lines at all locations. The company said its MPLS class of service over DSL is scheduled for an April 2008 rollout.This is an industry first.[16] Normally, a company wanting to run MPLS would require T1 lines or better.
Benefits of MPLS
MPLS provides networks with a more efficient way to manage applications and move information between locations. With the convergence of voice, video and data applications, business networks face increasing traffic demands. MPLS enables class of service (CoS) tagging and prioritization of network traffic, so administrators may specify which applications should move across the network ahead of others.
This function makes an MPLS network especially important to firms that need to ensure the performance of low-latency applications such as VoIP and their other business-critical functions. MPLS carriers differ on the number of classes of service they offer and in how these CoS tiers are priced.
my notes about mpls.
It was designed to provide a unified data-carrying service for both circuit-based clients and packet-switching clients which provide a datagram service model. It can be used to carry many different kinds of traffic, including IP packets, as well as native ATM, SONET, and Ethernet frames.
A number of different technologies were previously deployed with essentially identical goals, such as frame relay and ATM. MPLS is now replacing these technologies in the marketplace, mostly because it is better aligned with current and future technology needs.
In particular, MPLS dispenses with the cell-switching and signaling-protocol baggage of ATM. MPLS recognizes that small ATM cells are not needed in the core of modern networks, since modern optical networks (as of 2001) are so fast (at 10 Gbit/s and well beyond) that even full-length 1500 byte packets do not incur significant real-time queuing delays (the need to reduce such delays — e.g., to support voice traffic — was the motivation for the cell nature of ATM).
At the same time, MPLS attempts to preserve the traffic engineering and out-of-band control that made frame relay and ATM attractive for deploying large-scale networks.
MPLS was originally proposed by a group of engineers from Ipsilon Networks, but their "IP Switching" technology, which was defined only to work over ATM, did not achieve market dominance. Cisco Systems, Inc. introduced a related proposal, not restricted to ATM transmission, called "Tag Switching" when it was a Cisco proprietary proposal, and was renamed "Label Switching" when it was handed over to the IETF for open standardization. The IETF work involved proposals from other vendors, and development of a consensus protocol that combined features from several vendors' work.
One original motivation was to allow the creation of simple high-speed switches, since for a significant length of time it was impossible to forward IP packets entirely in hardware. However, advances in VLSI have made such devices possible. Therefore the advantages of MPLS primarily revolve around the ability to support multiple service models and perform traffic management. MPLS also offers a robust recovery frameworkthat goes beyond the simple protection rings of synchronous optical networking (SONET/SDH).
While the traffic management benefits of migrating to MPLS are quite valuable (better reliability, increased performance), there is a significant loss of visibility and access into the MPLS cloud for IT departments.
How MPLS works
MPLS works by prefixing packets with an MPLS header, containing one or more 'labels'. This is called a label stack.
Each label stack entry contains four fields:
a 20-bit label value.
a 3-bit field for QoS (Quality of Service) priority (experimental).
a 1-bit bottom of stack flag. If this is set, it signifies that the current label is the last in the stack.
an 8-bit TTL (time to live) field.
These MPLS-labeled packets are switched after a Label Lookup/Switch instead of a lookup into the IP table. As mentioned above, when MPLS was conceived, Label Lookup and Label Switching were faster than a RIB lookup because they could take place directly within the switched fabric and not the CPU.
The entry and exit points of an MPLS network are called Label Edge Routers (LER), which, respectively, push an MPLS label onto the incoming packet and pop it off the outgoing packet. Routers that perform routing based only on the label are called Label Switch Routers (LSR). In some applications, the packet presented to the LER already may have a label, so that the new LSR pushes a second label onto the packet. For more information see Penultimate Hop Popping.
Labels are distributed between LERs and LSRs using the “Label Distribution Protocol” (LDP). Label Switch Routers in an MPLS network regularly exchange label and reachability information with each other using standardized procedures in order to build a complete picture of the network they can then use to forward packets. Label Switch Paths (LSPs) are established by the network operator for a variety of purposes, such as to create network-based IP Virtual Private Networks or to route traffic along specified paths through the network. In many respects, LSPs are no different than PVCs in ATM or Frame Relay networks, except that they are not dependent on a particular Layer 2 technology.
In the specific context of an MPLS-based Virtual Private Network (VPN), LSRs that function as ingress and/or egress routers to the VPN are often called PE (Provider Edge) routers. Devices that function only as transit routers are similarly called P (Provider) routers. See RFC 2547. The job of a P router is significantly easier than that of a PE router, so they can be less complex and may be more dependable because of this.
When an unlabeled packet enters the ingress router and needs to be passed on to an MPLS tunnel, the router first determines the forwarding equivalence class (FEC) the packet should be in, and then inserts one or more labels in the packet's newly-created MPLS header. The packet is then passed on to the next hop router for this tunnel.
When a labeled packet is received by an MPLS router, the topmost label is examined. Based on the contents of the label a swap, push (impose) or pop (dispose) operation can be performed on the packet's label stack. Routers can have prebuilt lookup tables that tell them which kind of operation to do based on the topmost label of the incoming packet so they can process the packet very quickly.
In a swap operation the label is swapped with a new label, and the packet is forwarded along the path associated with the new label.
In a push operation a new label is pushed on top of the existing label, effectively "encapsulating" the packet in another layer of MPLS. This allows hierarchical routing of MPLS packets. Notably, this is used by MPLS VPNs.
In a pop operation the label is removed from the packet, which may reveal an inner label below. This process is called "decapsulation". If the popped label was the last on the label stack, the packet "leaves" the MPLS tunnel. This is usually done by the egress router, but see PHP below.
During these operations, the contents of the packet below the MPLS Label stack are not examined. Indeed transit routers typically need only to examine the topmost label on the stack. The forwarding of the packet is done based on the contents of the labels, which allows "protocol-independent packet forwarding" that does not need to look at a protocol-dependent routing table and avoids the expensive IP longest prefix match at each hop.
At the egress router, when the last label has been popped, only the payload remains. This can be an IP packet, or any of a number of other kinds of payload packet. The egress router must therefore have routing information for the packet's payload, since it must forward it without the help of label lookup tables. An MPLS transit router has no such requirement.
In some special cases, the last label can also be popped off at the penultimate hop (the hop before the egress router). This is called Penultimate Hop Popping (PHP). This may be interesting in cases where the egress router has lots of packets leaving MPLS tunnels, and thus spends inordinate amounts of CPU time on this. By using PHP, transit routers connected directly to this egress router effectively offload it, by popping the last label themselves.
MPLS can make use of existing ATM network infrastructure, as its labeled flows can be mapped to ATM virtual circuit identifiers, and vice versa.
Comparison of MPLS versus IP
MPLS cannot be compared to IP as a separate entity because it works in conjunction with IP and IP's IGP routing protocols. MPLS gives IP networks simple traffic engineering, the ability to transport Layer 3 (IP) VPNs with overlapping address spaces, and support for Layer 2 pseudowires (with Any Transport Over MPLS, or ATOM - see Martini draft). Routers with programmable CPUs and without TCAM/CAM or another method for fast lookups may also see a limited increase in the performance.
MPLS relies on IGP routing protocols to construct its label forwarding table, and the scope of any IGP is usually restricted to a single carrier for stability and policy reasons. As there is still no standard for carrier-carrier MPLS it is not possible to have the same MPLS service (Layer2 or Layer3 VPN) covering more than one operator.
Comparison of MPLS versus Frame Relay
Frame relay aimed to make more efficient use of existing physical resources, which allow for the underprovisioning of data services by telecommunications companies (telcos) to their customers, as clients were unlikely to be utilizing a data service 100 percent of the time. In more recent years, frame relay has acquired a bad reputation in some markets because of excessive bandwidth overbooking by these telcos.
Telcos often sell frame relay to businesses looking for a cheaper alternative to dedicated lines; its use in different geographic areas depended greatly on governmental and telecommunication companies' policies. Some of the early companies to make frame relay products included StrataCom (later acquired by Cisco Systems) and Cascade Communications (later acquired by Ascend Communications and then by Lucent Technologies).
AT&T is currently (as of June 2007) the largest frame relay service provider in the United States, with local networks in 22 states, plus national and international networks. This number is expected to change between 2007 and 2009 when most of these frame relay contracts expire. Many customers are likely to migrate from frame relay to MPLS over IP or Ethernet within the next two years, which in many cases will reduce costs and improve manageability and performance of their wide area networks.
MPLS deployment
MPLS is currently in use in large "IP Only" networks, and is standardized by IETF in RFC 3031.
In practice, MPLS is mainly used to forward IP datagrams and Ethernet traffic. Major applications of MPLS are Telecommunications traffic engineering and MPLS VPN.
Competitors to MPLS
MPLS can exist in both IPv4 environment (IPv4 routing protocols) and IPv6 environment (IPv6 routing protocols). The major goal of MPLS development - the increase of routing speed - is no longer relevant because of the usage of ASIC, TCAM and CAMbased switching. Therefore the major usage of MPLS is to implement limited traffic engineering and Layer 3/Layer 2 “service provider type” VPNs over existing IPv4 networks. The only competitors to MPLS are technologies like L2TPv3 that also provide services such as service provider Layer 2 and Layer 3 VPNs.
IEEE 1355 is a completely unrelated technology that does something similar in hardware.
IPv6 references: Grossetete, Patrick, IPv6 over MPLS, Cisco Systems 2001; Juniper Networks IPv6 and Infranets White Paper; Juniper Networks DoD's Research and Engineering Community White Paper.
Access to MPLS networks
MPLS supports a range of access technologies, including T1, ATM and frame relay. While less expensive DSL connections may also be used, they don’t allow network users to reap the significant MPLS benefit of class-of-service application prioritization. In January 2008, however, New Edge Networks announced plans to make traffic prioritization on its MPLS network available via DSL access. According to New Edge, its service will enable businesses to implement and manage an MPLS network without having to assume the higher price of T1 lines at all locations. The company said its MPLS class of service over DSL is scheduled for an April 2008 rollout.This is an industry first.[16] Normally, a company wanting to run MPLS would require T1 lines or better.
Benefits of MPLS
MPLS provides networks with a more efficient way to manage applications and move information between locations. With the convergence of voice, video and data applications, business networks face increasing traffic demands. MPLS enables class of service (CoS) tagging and prioritization of network traffic, so administrators may specify which applications should move across the network ahead of others.
This function makes an MPLS network especially important to firms that need to ensure the performance of low-latency applications such as VoIP and their other business-critical functions. MPLS carriers differ on the number of classes of service they offer and in how these CoS tiers are priced.
my notes about mpls.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Keys to Wise Spending
God expects us to have faith, but also to use common sense and wise planning in allocating the resources He has given us. The best way to manage your money and stay out of debt is to have a strategy in place before the expenses or temptations arise.
BEGIN WITH A BUDGET. A budget is a road map that guides you and tells you when you are on course. Budgeting won't ensure prosperity, but it will keep you from overspending your resources and will help you avoid the debt trap.
DECIDE TO FOLLOW THE BUDGET. Most people understand the need for a good budget, but few follow through. Only 25% of American families operate on a budget. Fifty percent say they want to budget but never get around to it. Make your plan and stick to it.
PRIORITIZE YOUR EXPENDITURES. Make a list of what is most important to you. Start with the necessities (housing, food, car, utilities, insurance and taxes). Then list what you "should have" (clothing, furniture, etc.). Finally, list the things you'd like to have.
PAY THE LORD FIRST. If you get this first priority right, each step thereafter is easier. God makes it clear He is to receive the first fruits of your income, not the leftovers. The key to honoring God with your finances is remembering that your money is not your money. God owns it all and gives it to us as He pleases.
PAY BILLS ON TIME. Establish a budget that allows you to pay all your bills in full and on time each month. If you can't pay them all, pay something on all of them and communicate your intentions of paying everything to those you owe. If you can't pay your regular bills, it's time to move to a smaller house, drive an older model car, or make drastic cuts until your outgo matches your income.
GET OUT OF DEBT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Debt carries with it heavy responsibilities. Don't allow yourself to become a slave to creditors. Don't take on debt unless you have a clear plan for repaying it. Certainly stay away from debt if it is a habit out of control.
PLAN FOR EMERGENCIES. Small emergencies can eat at your budget every month unless you begin to set aside funds as part of your budget. For example, the dog gets sick, your car radiator dies, time for back-to-school clothes, etc.
HAVE SOME FUN. Use your resources for personal enjoyment. After you have managed your money wisely and given generously, there comes a time for you to enjoy the fruits of your labors.
IF YOU HAVE A FAMILY, INVOLVE THEM. When you create a list of priorities, it's important to involve your whole family so everyone understands the priorities and is focused on the goals.
IF YOU HAVE A SPOUSE, ASSIGN THE JOB OF PAYING THE BILLS. This isn't about control, since both should fully understand the financial situation and goals, but about the most capable person taking on the job.
BEGIN WITH A BUDGET. A budget is a road map that guides you and tells you when you are on course. Budgeting won't ensure prosperity, but it will keep you from overspending your resources and will help you avoid the debt trap.
DECIDE TO FOLLOW THE BUDGET. Most people understand the need for a good budget, but few follow through. Only 25% of American families operate on a budget. Fifty percent say they want to budget but never get around to it. Make your plan and stick to it.
PRIORITIZE YOUR EXPENDITURES. Make a list of what is most important to you. Start with the necessities (housing, food, car, utilities, insurance and taxes). Then list what you "should have" (clothing, furniture, etc.). Finally, list the things you'd like to have.
PAY THE LORD FIRST. If you get this first priority right, each step thereafter is easier. God makes it clear He is to receive the first fruits of your income, not the leftovers. The key to honoring God with your finances is remembering that your money is not your money. God owns it all and gives it to us as He pleases.
PAY BILLS ON TIME. Establish a budget that allows you to pay all your bills in full and on time each month. If you can't pay them all, pay something on all of them and communicate your intentions of paying everything to those you owe. If you can't pay your regular bills, it's time to move to a smaller house, drive an older model car, or make drastic cuts until your outgo matches your income.
GET OUT OF DEBT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Debt carries with it heavy responsibilities. Don't allow yourself to become a slave to creditors. Don't take on debt unless you have a clear plan for repaying it. Certainly stay away from debt if it is a habit out of control.
PLAN FOR EMERGENCIES. Small emergencies can eat at your budget every month unless you begin to set aside funds as part of your budget. For example, the dog gets sick, your car radiator dies, time for back-to-school clothes, etc.
HAVE SOME FUN. Use your resources for personal enjoyment. After you have managed your money wisely and given generously, there comes a time for you to enjoy the fruits of your labors.
IF YOU HAVE A FAMILY, INVOLVE THEM. When you create a list of priorities, it's important to involve your whole family so everyone understands the priorities and is focused on the goals.
IF YOU HAVE A SPOUSE, ASSIGN THE JOB OF PAYING THE BILLS. This isn't about control, since both should fully understand the financial situation and goals, but about the most capable person taking on the job.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Christian Parenting II
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SPANKING - When is a child old enough to be spanked and how should it be done?
CLAUDIA (a parent, asks): I have a nine month old, and I have been swatting him on the hand every once in a while for misbehaving. Is this okay?
KEVIN (Dr. Kevin ): Why do you swat him?
CLAUDIA: He plays with the stereo and I don't want him to get into the habit, so I say no, and then I give him a little swat on the hand. He is catching on, but I am wondering if this is too young.
KEVIN: I'm on record, Claudia, as saying, first, nine months is too young to swat a child. I think age two is about as early as I would ever like to start with a swat on the child's popo or bumbum. Second, I don't recommend swatting a child on the hands or the backs of the legs. Nor do I believe it is ever right to slap a child in the face.And, when applying a swat to a child's bottom, which is the best and most natural place to administer this kind of discipline, I don't like using objects like paddles or spoons. I think the same loving hand that helps a child up when he falls is the same loving hand that should administer the swat. The idea behind the swat on the tail is to get the child's attention and to let him know that Mom or Dad is very displeased with what just happened.
RANDY (Randy): I think it helps to be even more definitive. When we talk about a swat, no way are we talking about leaving marks on children. It gets back to the purpose of spanking, which is direction, discipline, teaching - redirecting the child.
KEVIN: It is part of the guiding process. Scripture tells us to train up our children and guide them. Parents who emphasize "spare the rod and spoil the child" often misunderstand the spirit of God's law and overdo it. I always like to remind parents that the shepherds used the rod, for the most part, to guide their sheep, not whack them over the head.I recall a woman at one of our seminars who talked about the picture of Jesus with a little lamb over his shoulders. Her incredible rationale for spanking her own children was that shepherds in Bible times would break the legs of lambs that strayed, then put them in splints and carry them on their shoulders until they healed. That way, the little lambs learned to stay near the shepherds, and not stray again from the right path. The lady was right about what the shepherds did to sheep back then, but it left me wondering how far shed go when spanking one of her own little lambs. It makes me shudder to even intimate that "discipline" means beating the living daylights out of a kid, but there are some parents who think that way. That's why we always talk about disciplining children in love. If you love the child, you will discipline the child, but you wont abuse the child. Discipline and love go hand in hand.
RANDY: Another thing to remember is that some children will respond more favorably to spanking than others. I can count on one hand the number of times I was spanked as a child, while my oldest brother, Warren, was spanked regularly. My parents tell me that spanking was very effective with me, but it had little effect on Warren. With some kids you can spank and spank, and it just becomes a power struggle. But if you're going to spank at all, Claudia, it shouldn't be done any younger than eighteen to twenty-four months. Kevin leans to twenty-four months, but I would go down to maybe eighteen.
What is the best way to discipline a child under two years?
CLAUDIA: Okay, I see your point, but if I can’t give my nine month old a light swat, how do I keep him away from the stereo? Its too big to move out of his way.
KEVIN: Then just remove him from the scene. Its the best single thing you can do.
CLAUDIA: But what happens if he just crawls right back and does the same thing again?
KEVIN: There is not a little "ankle biter" who doesn't, in fact, crawl with great speed and accuracy back to whatever he wants. You could pick him up and remove him again, and if he crawls back one more time, I would invite you to use a brand new discovery called a "playpen," It has soft but firm walls that say, "Okay, you sit here for a while." For a nine month old, a playpen is a very good form of discipline because discipline should start very early. Spanking, however, should not start that early.How can a parent be too powerful with a child?
AUDREY (a parent, asks): What did you mean when you talk about a parent being too powerful with the child?
KEVIN: One of the primary ways a parent can be too powerful is to use spanking as the primary means of controlling a child's behavior. If that's the case with you or your husband, my suggestion is to back off and, instead of spanking the child, put him in a safe place and give him time to calm down. Also, it will help to back off on any other powerful behaviors you may be using with your child, such as making every decision for him, criticizing or correcting him at every turn, or comparing him to older children and saying things like, "Why don't you act like your big brother?" Remember, powerful behavior from a parent will always breed powerful behavior in a child.
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FEAR OF THE DARK - How can I help my child to trust in God's care when she is afraid at night?
LUCY (a grandparent, asks): I was visiting my five-year old granddaughter for a few days and every night she had these horrible fears of the dark. She wanted to sleep with her grandpa and me. I checked with my daughter and her husband to see if it was okay for her to come in bed with us for a few nights. Then I told her,I'm going to ask God to help you go to sleep at night, because night and the dark are made for rest, and daytime and sunshine are made for play and all the things that we like to do.
KEVIN (Dr. Kevin): Unless, of course, you are a raccoon.
LUCY: The third night we were there, we were having our prayer time and Tammy reminded me,You forgot to ask God to help me to sleep.
So we prayed again and I asked God to help her to sleep that night and to get her rest. We spent five nights there and every night she fell asleep better than she had before. By the end of the week, my husband, who had always been on the other side of the bed listening to us pray, said,You know, I believe that it really helped for you to ask God to help Tammy go to sleep at night and rest.
SALLY (a guest on the radio show): That's a wonderful little story, Lucy, and it reminds me that it helps to mention to children that everyone is afraid sometimes, even Grandma and Grandpa and Mommy and Daddy. One of the best little books I've ever found to read to a child who may be a bit fearful is called Here and There and Everywhere: Jesus Is With Me. Reading it to a young child will help reassure him of God nearness.
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REALITY DISCIPLINE - What is it?
KEVIN [Dr. Kevin ]: We never tell parents to punish. We tell them to discipline, train, and teach their kids, but that doesn't mean that there might not be some kind of "pain" or consequence involved. That's how the kids learn what the real world is like and how it works. Reality Discipline gives the child a chance to make his own decisions and then live with the result of his mistakes and his failures or his good choices and his successes.
RANDY [Randy]: You know, Kevin, when we tell people they can give children choices, some moms and dads might think that sounds permissive…
KEVIN: Not on your autographed copy of Dr. Spock! The last thing you can call Reality Discipline would be "permissive." But the best thing about it is that it is not authoritarian. Reality Discipline helps parents avoid making some big mistakes. Authoritarian parents often tend to think that they own their children; that they are judge and jury of every little thing that happens; that their children can’t fail; and—heroes the favorite—"Look, Kid, I'm the boss and what I say goes!"
We always say that the parents are in healthy authority over their kids. In other words, I never let my kids use me or manipulate me, but at the same time I don't come down on them with "Its my way or the highway!" That can work with some kids for a while—maybe while they grow up, but later in life it can come back to haunt everybody.
RANDY: Okay, at "Parent Talk" we’re not permissive, nor are we authoritarian. We hit a happy medium—maybe the best way to describe it is authoritative. A child doesn't care what you know about parenting; what he really wants to know is, "Do you care about me?" That's really the essence of Reality Discipline. By holding kids accountable, or, as you say, Kevin, "pulling the rug out," parents use a combination of love and limits, which helps children feel safe and secure as they grow and develop during their maturing years.
KEVIN: We always like to say,“Love and discipline go hand in hand.”
Pulling the rug out means the parent goes into action and just doesn't do a lot of talking. Kids can smell it in a minute if you just talk and don't really mean it. And after you pull the rug, you stick to your guns and hold your children accountable for their actions. That's how they learn from any experience.Using Reality Discipline means…Being in healthy authority over your children. Holding your children accountable for their actions Combining love and limits on a consistent basis. Dealing with every child as the unique individual he or she is. Being tough but always fair. Using action instead of words. Sticking to your guns and following through with enforcing consequences. Following the biblical instruction not to exasperate your children and make them angry and resentful, but to bring them up with loving discipline and godly advice (see Eph. 6:4, The Living Bible).
If I haven't used reality discipline before, can I just start “cold turkey”, or should I ease into it slowly?
ANN [a parent]: I have two boys, nine and seven, and a little girl, three. I can see using Reality Discipline with her, and I've already started, but what about my boys? They're the typical, strong-willed type. They are constantly giving me a bad time, particularly with not wanting to get ready for school. Both of them are night owls—bedtime is a battle, too, and when it's time to get up, they just don't make it and every morning it's a hassle.
KEVIN [Dr. Kevin]: You can start “cold turkey,” and you can start without apology. You might say this much to your boys:Boys, things are going to be different from this day forward.
End of explanation. Don't give them a lot of warnings about if they misbehave they're going to have to pay the consequences, if they don't get up on time, they're really going to get in trouble, and so on. When Reality Discipline is used correctly, there are no warnings—none—because warnings are disrespectful acts.
RANDY [Randy]: For kids who don't want to get up for school and morning is a hassle, we usually have one basic solution: be sure the child has an alarm clock and knows how to use it. Then tell him,It's your responsibility to set your alarm and get up in time to clean up, get dressed, get breakfast eaten, and leave for school on time.
If your child says,But Mom, aren't you going to help get me up the way you always have?
You reply,From now on, it is your responsibility.
And leave it at that. What your child is probably used to is having you poke your head in the door in the morning and say, "Honey, it's 7:20," and five minutes later you're back again saying, "Honey, it's 7:25." Then, when it's 7:30 your voice increases in intensity and instead of calling the child, "Honey," it's "John Allen! You've got to get up for school or you're going to be late." When the kid hears his middle name, it's probably the first time he even begins to stir. Now he knows that Mom is getting upset and that he's pushed her as far as he dares.
ANN: But what if I give him the clock, and make him responsible to get up and he doesn't? What then?
RANDY: Then he's going to be late. No rescuing him by driving him down to school. And no writing him an excuse. Send a note along, but simple have it say,
“Dear Teacher:
The reason why little Harlan was late today is because he didn't get himself up for school on time. We have made this his responsibility and he is totally responsible for being late today.”
KEVIN: Letting your child be late for school a few times may be embarrassing. You might want to call the teacher and explain what you're trying to do and enlist her cooperation. When little Harlan starts realizing that you are not going to bail him out when he plays his usual game, that is when he will start feeling the pain and being accountable. He's going to have to explain to the teacher why he's late, and he'll have to accept the discipline she gives him—detention time at recess or staying after school, or whatever.
Reality Discipline is not just a technique to discipline children. It's really a way of life for all of us. It's respectful, action-oriented, and it gives you an out in so many situations where you might otherwise be pummeled by your powerful little buzzards. So keep in mind the goal: To raise adults, not children. Someday they are going to leave your nest and no longer be under your protection. Hold them close in the early years, but bit by bit always look ahead to when you must let them go. Reality Discipline is the way to give them new challenges and responsibilities, so that someday they will be able to make the kind of decisions that life requires of them.
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TV AND MOVIE CONTROL - How do I say no in a positive way when my child wants to watch bad TV or movies?
I'm a single parent [LUETTA] and I have my ten-year-old daughter living with me while my sixteen-year-old son lives with his dad. I need some guidelines on how to communicate my values, particularly about TV - some of the cartoons. How can I explain to her that they might look innocent enough, but they are really not good to watch? When I try, she simply says, "Oh, Mom, so what if there are some bad words? I hear this all the time at school. I don't see anything wrong with this program." I usually wind up just letting it go, and I don't know what to do about it.
RANDY : In other words, your ten-year-old is sort of running the house.
LUETTA: In some respects, that's true. Maybe I try to take it too easy on her because of the marital breakup and all the things she's been going through. I was divorced only a year ago, so she's still hurting. I'm having a difficult time staying in control.
DR. KEVIN : Try to look at your parenting task as being in healthy authority over your child rather than being in control of her at all times, which is impossible. As the single parent, your job is to establish boundaries that are reasonable and firm and then hold your child accountable for staying within those boundaries. It's my guess, as a single mom, you are letting guilt influence a lot of your decisions. Guilt is making you too permissive and, Luetta, you can't let guilt rule your life and then give your daughter carte blanche as far as what she wants to watch on TV.
LUETTA: I'd like to throw this in to help you understand the situation. I've always been a pleaser. I do let my kids have their way because I think that if I don't they won't love me. I know that's not true, but that's how I feel.
RANDY: So you grew up being a pleaser and now that you're a single parent it's obvious that you can't put that pleasing nature and inability to confront on a back burner. You still want people to like you, particularly your daughter. But I think, Luetta, you have to realize, as a parent, your job is to love and discipline your child, not to be liked by your child. There will be times when your daughter won't like you - particularly if you make her change the channel. But your job is to set the boundaries in love and her job is to respect you and obey you. In the long term, you hope that she will love and like you for what you did.
LUETTA: But how do I explain why I don't want her to watch certain programs and movies?
KEVIN: You have to be sure of your own values and stick to your guns. If a program has bad language, just tell her, "Look, I know you hear bad language at school, but that doesn't mean we have to hear it in our home. Let's find another program."
If there's too much violence, just tell her, "This show is too violent. The people who made this program want us to think that killing or hurting people is the way to solve problems."
As for programs that are sexy, this is a great opportunity to share your views about sex, dating, boys, men. Let her know that sex is something wonderful and these programs turn it into something cheap and dirty.
RANDY: The important thing, Luetta, is not to back off. Stand your ground and when in doubt, simply say, "No, we aren't going to watch this or do this because it simply isn't right or good. I love you too much to let you watch or do this." As a single mother who knows she's permissive, you have to keep working at being as authoritative as possible. You have no partner to back you up or provide a balancing style of discipline, so you have to provide that balance yourself. Just hang in there, Luetta; you and your daughter will be okay.
SPANKING - When is a child old enough to be spanked and how should it be done?
CLAUDIA (a parent, asks): I have a nine month old, and I have been swatting him on the hand every once in a while for misbehaving. Is this okay?
KEVIN (Dr. Kevin ): Why do you swat him?
CLAUDIA: He plays with the stereo and I don't want him to get into the habit, so I say no, and then I give him a little swat on the hand. He is catching on, but I am wondering if this is too young.
KEVIN: I'm on record, Claudia, as saying, first, nine months is too young to swat a child. I think age two is about as early as I would ever like to start with a swat on the child's popo or bumbum. Second, I don't recommend swatting a child on the hands or the backs of the legs. Nor do I believe it is ever right to slap a child in the face.And, when applying a swat to a child's bottom, which is the best and most natural place to administer this kind of discipline, I don't like using objects like paddles or spoons. I think the same loving hand that helps a child up when he falls is the same loving hand that should administer the swat. The idea behind the swat on the tail is to get the child's attention and to let him know that Mom or Dad is very displeased with what just happened.
RANDY (Randy): I think it helps to be even more definitive. When we talk about a swat, no way are we talking about leaving marks on children. It gets back to the purpose of spanking, which is direction, discipline, teaching - redirecting the child.
KEVIN: It is part of the guiding process. Scripture tells us to train up our children and guide them. Parents who emphasize "spare the rod and spoil the child" often misunderstand the spirit of God's law and overdo it. I always like to remind parents that the shepherds used the rod, for the most part, to guide their sheep, not whack them over the head.I recall a woman at one of our seminars who talked about the picture of Jesus with a little lamb over his shoulders. Her incredible rationale for spanking her own children was that shepherds in Bible times would break the legs of lambs that strayed, then put them in splints and carry them on their shoulders until they healed. That way, the little lambs learned to stay near the shepherds, and not stray again from the right path. The lady was right about what the shepherds did to sheep back then, but it left me wondering how far shed go when spanking one of her own little lambs. It makes me shudder to even intimate that "discipline" means beating the living daylights out of a kid, but there are some parents who think that way. That's why we always talk about disciplining children in love. If you love the child, you will discipline the child, but you wont abuse the child. Discipline and love go hand in hand.
RANDY: Another thing to remember is that some children will respond more favorably to spanking than others. I can count on one hand the number of times I was spanked as a child, while my oldest brother, Warren, was spanked regularly. My parents tell me that spanking was very effective with me, but it had little effect on Warren. With some kids you can spank and spank, and it just becomes a power struggle. But if you're going to spank at all, Claudia, it shouldn't be done any younger than eighteen to twenty-four months. Kevin leans to twenty-four months, but I would go down to maybe eighteen.
What is the best way to discipline a child under two years?
CLAUDIA: Okay, I see your point, but if I can’t give my nine month old a light swat, how do I keep him away from the stereo? Its too big to move out of his way.
KEVIN: Then just remove him from the scene. Its the best single thing you can do.
CLAUDIA: But what happens if he just crawls right back and does the same thing again?
KEVIN: There is not a little "ankle biter" who doesn't, in fact, crawl with great speed and accuracy back to whatever he wants. You could pick him up and remove him again, and if he crawls back one more time, I would invite you to use a brand new discovery called a "playpen," It has soft but firm walls that say, "Okay, you sit here for a while." For a nine month old, a playpen is a very good form of discipline because discipline should start very early. Spanking, however, should not start that early.How can a parent be too powerful with a child?
AUDREY (a parent, asks): What did you mean when you talk about a parent being too powerful with the child?
KEVIN: One of the primary ways a parent can be too powerful is to use spanking as the primary means of controlling a child's behavior. If that's the case with you or your husband, my suggestion is to back off and, instead of spanking the child, put him in a safe place and give him time to calm down. Also, it will help to back off on any other powerful behaviors you may be using with your child, such as making every decision for him, criticizing or correcting him at every turn, or comparing him to older children and saying things like, "Why don't you act like your big brother?" Remember, powerful behavior from a parent will always breed powerful behavior in a child.
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FEAR OF THE DARK - How can I help my child to trust in God's care when she is afraid at night?
LUCY (a grandparent, asks): I was visiting my five-year old granddaughter for a few days and every night she had these horrible fears of the dark. She wanted to sleep with her grandpa and me. I checked with my daughter and her husband to see if it was okay for her to come in bed with us for a few nights. Then I told her,I'm going to ask God to help you go to sleep at night, because night and the dark are made for rest, and daytime and sunshine are made for play and all the things that we like to do.
KEVIN (Dr. Kevin): Unless, of course, you are a raccoon.
LUCY: The third night we were there, we were having our prayer time and Tammy reminded me,You forgot to ask God to help me to sleep.
So we prayed again and I asked God to help her to sleep that night and to get her rest. We spent five nights there and every night she fell asleep better than she had before. By the end of the week, my husband, who had always been on the other side of the bed listening to us pray, said,You know, I believe that it really helped for you to ask God to help Tammy go to sleep at night and rest.
SALLY (a guest on the radio show): That's a wonderful little story, Lucy, and it reminds me that it helps to mention to children that everyone is afraid sometimes, even Grandma and Grandpa and Mommy and Daddy. One of the best little books I've ever found to read to a child who may be a bit fearful is called Here and There and Everywhere: Jesus Is With Me. Reading it to a young child will help reassure him of God nearness.
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REALITY DISCIPLINE - What is it?
KEVIN [Dr. Kevin ]: We never tell parents to punish. We tell them to discipline, train, and teach their kids, but that doesn't mean that there might not be some kind of "pain" or consequence involved. That's how the kids learn what the real world is like and how it works. Reality Discipline gives the child a chance to make his own decisions and then live with the result of his mistakes and his failures or his good choices and his successes.
RANDY [Randy]: You know, Kevin, when we tell people they can give children choices, some moms and dads might think that sounds permissive…
KEVIN: Not on your autographed copy of Dr. Spock! The last thing you can call Reality Discipline would be "permissive." But the best thing about it is that it is not authoritarian. Reality Discipline helps parents avoid making some big mistakes. Authoritarian parents often tend to think that they own their children; that they are judge and jury of every little thing that happens; that their children can’t fail; and—heroes the favorite—"Look, Kid, I'm the boss and what I say goes!"
We always say that the parents are in healthy authority over their kids. In other words, I never let my kids use me or manipulate me, but at the same time I don't come down on them with "Its my way or the highway!" That can work with some kids for a while—maybe while they grow up, but later in life it can come back to haunt everybody.
RANDY: Okay, at "Parent Talk" we’re not permissive, nor are we authoritarian. We hit a happy medium—maybe the best way to describe it is authoritative. A child doesn't care what you know about parenting; what he really wants to know is, "Do you care about me?" That's really the essence of Reality Discipline. By holding kids accountable, or, as you say, Kevin, "pulling the rug out," parents use a combination of love and limits, which helps children feel safe and secure as they grow and develop during their maturing years.
KEVIN: We always like to say,“Love and discipline go hand in hand.”
Pulling the rug out means the parent goes into action and just doesn't do a lot of talking. Kids can smell it in a minute if you just talk and don't really mean it. And after you pull the rug, you stick to your guns and hold your children accountable for their actions. That's how they learn from any experience.Using Reality Discipline means…Being in healthy authority over your children. Holding your children accountable for their actions Combining love and limits on a consistent basis. Dealing with every child as the unique individual he or she is. Being tough but always fair. Using action instead of words. Sticking to your guns and following through with enforcing consequences. Following the biblical instruction not to exasperate your children and make them angry and resentful, but to bring them up with loving discipline and godly advice (see Eph. 6:4, The Living Bible).
If I haven't used reality discipline before, can I just start “cold turkey”, or should I ease into it slowly?
ANN [a parent]: I have two boys, nine and seven, and a little girl, three. I can see using Reality Discipline with her, and I've already started, but what about my boys? They're the typical, strong-willed type. They are constantly giving me a bad time, particularly with not wanting to get ready for school. Both of them are night owls—bedtime is a battle, too, and when it's time to get up, they just don't make it and every morning it's a hassle.
KEVIN [Dr. Kevin]: You can start “cold turkey,” and you can start without apology. You might say this much to your boys:Boys, things are going to be different from this day forward.
End of explanation. Don't give them a lot of warnings about if they misbehave they're going to have to pay the consequences, if they don't get up on time, they're really going to get in trouble, and so on. When Reality Discipline is used correctly, there are no warnings—none—because warnings are disrespectful acts.
RANDY [Randy]: For kids who don't want to get up for school and morning is a hassle, we usually have one basic solution: be sure the child has an alarm clock and knows how to use it. Then tell him,It's your responsibility to set your alarm and get up in time to clean up, get dressed, get breakfast eaten, and leave for school on time.
If your child says,But Mom, aren't you going to help get me up the way you always have?
You reply,From now on, it is your responsibility.
And leave it at that. What your child is probably used to is having you poke your head in the door in the morning and say, "Honey, it's 7:20," and five minutes later you're back again saying, "Honey, it's 7:25." Then, when it's 7:30 your voice increases in intensity and instead of calling the child, "Honey," it's "John Allen! You've got to get up for school or you're going to be late." When the kid hears his middle name, it's probably the first time he even begins to stir. Now he knows that Mom is getting upset and that he's pushed her as far as he dares.
ANN: But what if I give him the clock, and make him responsible to get up and he doesn't? What then?
RANDY: Then he's going to be late. No rescuing him by driving him down to school. And no writing him an excuse. Send a note along, but simple have it say,
“Dear Teacher:
The reason why little Harlan was late today is because he didn't get himself up for school on time. We have made this his responsibility and he is totally responsible for being late today.”
KEVIN: Letting your child be late for school a few times may be embarrassing. You might want to call the teacher and explain what you're trying to do and enlist her cooperation. When little Harlan starts realizing that you are not going to bail him out when he plays his usual game, that is when he will start feeling the pain and being accountable. He's going to have to explain to the teacher why he's late, and he'll have to accept the discipline she gives him—detention time at recess or staying after school, or whatever.
Reality Discipline is not just a technique to discipline children. It's really a way of life for all of us. It's respectful, action-oriented, and it gives you an out in so many situations where you might otherwise be pummeled by your powerful little buzzards. So keep in mind the goal: To raise adults, not children. Someday they are going to leave your nest and no longer be under your protection. Hold them close in the early years, but bit by bit always look ahead to when you must let them go. Reality Discipline is the way to give them new challenges and responsibilities, so that someday they will be able to make the kind of decisions that life requires of them.
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TV AND MOVIE CONTROL - How do I say no in a positive way when my child wants to watch bad TV or movies?
I'm a single parent [LUETTA] and I have my ten-year-old daughter living with me while my sixteen-year-old son lives with his dad. I need some guidelines on how to communicate my values, particularly about TV - some of the cartoons. How can I explain to her that they might look innocent enough, but they are really not good to watch? When I try, she simply says, "Oh, Mom, so what if there are some bad words? I hear this all the time at school. I don't see anything wrong with this program." I usually wind up just letting it go, and I don't know what to do about it.
RANDY : In other words, your ten-year-old is sort of running the house.
LUETTA: In some respects, that's true. Maybe I try to take it too easy on her because of the marital breakup and all the things she's been going through. I was divorced only a year ago, so she's still hurting. I'm having a difficult time staying in control.
DR. KEVIN : Try to look at your parenting task as being in healthy authority over your child rather than being in control of her at all times, which is impossible. As the single parent, your job is to establish boundaries that are reasonable and firm and then hold your child accountable for staying within those boundaries. It's my guess, as a single mom, you are letting guilt influence a lot of your decisions. Guilt is making you too permissive and, Luetta, you can't let guilt rule your life and then give your daughter carte blanche as far as what she wants to watch on TV.
LUETTA: I'd like to throw this in to help you understand the situation. I've always been a pleaser. I do let my kids have their way because I think that if I don't they won't love me. I know that's not true, but that's how I feel.
RANDY: So you grew up being a pleaser and now that you're a single parent it's obvious that you can't put that pleasing nature and inability to confront on a back burner. You still want people to like you, particularly your daughter. But I think, Luetta, you have to realize, as a parent, your job is to love and discipline your child, not to be liked by your child. There will be times when your daughter won't like you - particularly if you make her change the channel. But your job is to set the boundaries in love and her job is to respect you and obey you. In the long term, you hope that she will love and like you for what you did.
LUETTA: But how do I explain why I don't want her to watch certain programs and movies?
KEVIN: You have to be sure of your own values and stick to your guns. If a program has bad language, just tell her, "Look, I know you hear bad language at school, but that doesn't mean we have to hear it in our home. Let's find another program."
If there's too much violence, just tell her, "This show is too violent. The people who made this program want us to think that killing or hurting people is the way to solve problems."
As for programs that are sexy, this is a great opportunity to share your views about sex, dating, boys, men. Let her know that sex is something wonderful and these programs turn it into something cheap and dirty.
RANDY: The important thing, Luetta, is not to back off. Stand your ground and when in doubt, simply say, "No, we aren't going to watch this or do this because it simply isn't right or good. I love you too much to let you watch or do this." As a single mother who knows she's permissive, you have to keep working at being as authoritative as possible. You have no partner to back you up or provide a balancing style of discipline, so you have to provide that balance yourself. Just hang in there, Luetta; you and your daughter will be okay.
Christian Parenting
GOD - What can I do to make God real to my children on a daily basis?
We have two little boys— Ethan will turn four in June and Elijah was three. Every evening my wife and I try to have a quiet time with the kids. We read from the Bible storybook; then we share what we did throughout the day. And we also pray. We’re trying to teach the kids that the Lord is always with them, every moment of the day. He is not somebody who has to be "officially" approached—"Oh-my-let’s go-before-God!" But I'm still looking for more ways to make God real for my kids.
As for other things you can do, you might occasionally read a story to your boys/girls and then act out the story to apply the message to their lives. And if you read a story about being kind just before going to bed, try to do something nice for someone the very next morning as you remind them,Remember our story last night before bed? Let’s be kind to Uncle next door today, shall we?
Also, one of the best tools you can invest in is a little tape recorder children can have right by their beds so they can play Scripture tapes and Bible stories. And, oh, yes, if you have a DVD player, don't forget the wonderful videos that are available now. Some have biblical settings and others are contemporary stories in which the main characters depend on God to get them out of all kinds of difficulties.
Should quiet time with the children emphasize entertainment? We should certainly make it fun for them, but our primary goal shouldn't be entertainment. Kids are constantly entertained anyway, so what we need are tools and techniques to have them settle down and have some quiet moments with God.
A tape recorder is a great tool for quieting them down because it has a calming effect. And sometimes, if the child is acting up, you can use it as a means of Reality Discipline—just remove the tape recorder for a night or two to let the child know that misbehavior results in losing something he or she really enjoys.
THANKFULNESS - Besides saying grace at meals, how can I teach my child to be thankful?
I've always been big on thanking God throughout the day for my wife, my children, my house, my strength. I exercise three times a week and even while I'm working out I thank God that my body can function as well as it does.
And when I pray with my four-year old son he hears me thank Him for things like that. But because he's only four, I still tend to do most of the leading in prayer time and I basically pray for him when he goes to bed. Sometimes I wonder if anything's getting through.
This is such a special day (asked him before we go to bed). I think we should pray. Ethan, do you want to pray?
And Ethan said,Yep, I just want to thank Jesus for all the things we got for today
That was the best present I got for this whole year, because it showed me something is getting through, and I was so very thankful for that.
I think it is really wonderful when children "catch" you having devotional time with the Lord. It's important for them to see you with your Bible open on your lap. They need to come upon you when you're praying. Perhaps you can invite them to sit by you. Maybe they'll participate in the prayer and maybe they won't, but that's okay, because they have seen you talking to God. They sense your dependence on Him and your thankfulness to Him. That's how God becomes very real to them.
BABYSITTERS - What is the best way to tell a baby-sitter what you expect—your rules and regulations?
No matter who your baby-sitter is, I think it's important to have written rules so she knows what to expect, or at least sit down and talk with her. I prefer leaving a written checklist which I post on the wall. Whenever I try to just tell the sitter what I want, it seems as if it's going in one ear and out the other. Sometimes things don't get done or they're done wrong.
What are your rules like? Read a few of them for us.
My first rule is that if the sitter has any problems or questions, she is to call whatever number I leave where I can be reached. If we're going to a movie, then I give her a backup number of friends who will be home that evening. I also leave emergency numbers, 999 number, plus our own address and phone number and directions to our house if she needs to give these to police or firemen.
In addition, I want the sitter to be sure all doors and sliders are locked and to draw all the drapes at night. I don't want someone looking in, watching my children and the sitter and realizing they're home alone. Also, she should be sure the front gate door is closed. If any food is taken out, it should be returned to the refrigerator in the proper container.
Some other points on my list are being sure the kids' dirty clothes are put in the laundry hamper, and that all the damp towels and wet washcloths are hung up to dry. And another one I really like is to check to make sure the kids haven't taken the receiver off the hook. Sometimes parents try to call home and the line is busy, and when they ask about it later, the sitter tells them, "Oh, the kids must have left the receiver off the hook." But if you leave them strict instructions to be sure this hasn't happened, then you can pretty well know why the line is busy if you try to call - it's the sitter talking to a boyfriend or girlfriend, or whoever.
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What is the best age to potty train my child?
From the standpoint of readiness, the usual age for potty training is the mid-twos. Children are generally not prepared until they're right around two and a half because they just argent able to control that function in their body before that time. Some moms who have attempted to potty train their children much earlier have found that they had dismal success because their kids just weren't ready.
WETTING - What is a good way to handle a child who wets his pants during the day?
ALISHA [a parent]: My six year old has been potty trained for over three years, but he still wets his pants quite often, especially when he's out playing. Any suggestions?
KEVIN [Dr. Kevin]: The Reality Discipline "standard order of procedure" is to give the child one pair of underwear a day. If he gets them wet, he comes in and the end of his day draws nigh, no matter what time it might be. He puts on his pajamas or his robe and he is to stay in the house. The idea is not to be punitive but you firmly but gently tell him his day has come to an end.
RANDY [Randy]: The one pair of underwear a day approach often works, but not always. Some friends of ours had a child who would wet his pants during the day, particularly when he got excited at school. They tried Reality Discipline and gave him only one pair of underwear a day. He didn't like that, but it still didn't change his total pattern. He'd still wet his pants fairly often.
So, they took him to a pediatrician who checked him out for any neurological impairment, which often is tied to lack of bladder control. There wasn't any, but then the doctor suggested that they look at any stress the boy might have in his life. They pinpointed his routine at school and made an agreement with their son's teacher that he be permitted to take regular breaks during the school day to use the rest room. This helped the problem, at least while he was in school.
Another thing the doctor suggested was to try to have their son hold more urine in his bladder before going to the bathroom. In this way he could stretch the bladder so that it would actually hold more and he'd have a greater sense of control. The bottom line is that their child is simply going through a stage. They have learned to take it in stride and the problem has decreased quite a bit.
KEVIN: I've also counseled kids who continued to wet their pants, even though the one pair of pants a day rule was invoked. But I still think that's the place to start. Then, if they need to change their routine, for example going to the rest room more often during the day, that's great, but the point is, they are becoming responsible for their own problem.
BEDWETTING - What are the causes?
KEVIN [Dr. Kevin]: The truth is, nobody knows the exact cause or causes. We do know that statistics show that bed wetting often runs in the family. Seventy-five percent of the kids who wet the bed have a close biological relative who bed wets or has in the past. But it's a big mystery as to why. All we can come up with are "predisposing factors." For example, sometimes slower muscle or neurological development can make bladder control more difficult for some kids. In other cases, some kids just have too small a bladder to hold a whole night's quantity of urine. Another factor may be delayed or lax potty training.
But maybe the biggest one of all is psychological stress. For example, a child may be hospitalized between the ages of two and four and this can cause bed wetting later. Sometimes when a child enters school he starts wetting the bed. Another common cause of stress is when a new baby brother or sister arrives to take the attention off the firstborn.
RANDY [Randy]: One of the things we hear from many parents is that kids who wet the bed are often deep sleepers. Parents can't even wake them up through the night to go to the bathroom because they're just too far gone into dreamland.
KEVIN: That's another thing—dreams. Sometimes a kid may wet the bed during his rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep because he's dreaming he's going to the bathroom and that's exactly what happens - in his bed! But, Randy, I'm wondering if, in some cases, the child isn't subconsciously depending on his parents instead of assuming personal responsibility for controlling his bladder?
You see, I'm from the old school, and I believe parents should keep the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the child as much as possible. I don't mean ridicule him or pressure him, but simply leave it with him. It's his problem. He's the one who has to learn - and he will learn. As the statistics point out, ninety-nine out of a hundred stop by the time they are old enough to get married. Children do learn to control their bladders.
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NOT LISTENING - What do I do with two little boys who never seem to hear what I tell them?
BETH (a parent, asks): I've got two sons who are seven and five, and the only way I can get them to follow through and obey what I have asked them to do is stop them, look directly into their eyes, tell them what I want, and have them repeat back to me what I've said. This takes a lot of time, and I'm wondering if its the only thing I can do. Do you have any other ideas?
KEVIN (Dr. Kevin): You could ask almost any kid in America how many times does your mom have to call you for dinner? Most American children will say, "Three times. The first time is just sort of a general alert. The second time Mom raises her voice, and I know its getting close to being serious. The third time, she adds my middle name and that's when I know I better get home fast." With that kind of routine, parents train their kids not to listen.
BETH: You know, there's a difference between talking to your children and at your children. If I just walk by and say to one of my kids, "Time to pick up your toys, "he just doesn't hear me.
But if I turn around, look him right in the face and say, "Mother wants you to pick up your toys, now what did I just ask you to do?" then he will say, "Pick up my toys." And then I say, "Do I want you to do it now or in ten minutes?" And he’ll say, "You want me to do it now," and he does.
RANDY (Randy): All this takes time, Beth, but its just part of parenting this age level. Its amazing how children can go through screening at school for vision and hearing and come home and simply be totally deaf and blind as far as seeing the mess on the floor and hearing what Mom wants done with it.
We have two little boys— Ethan will turn four in June and Elijah was three. Every evening my wife and I try to have a quiet time with the kids. We read from the Bible storybook; then we share what we did throughout the day. And we also pray. We’re trying to teach the kids that the Lord is always with them, every moment of the day. He is not somebody who has to be "officially" approached—"Oh-my-let’s go-before-God!" But I'm still looking for more ways to make God real for my kids.
As for other things you can do, you might occasionally read a story to your boys/girls and then act out the story to apply the message to their lives. And if you read a story about being kind just before going to bed, try to do something nice for someone the very next morning as you remind them,Remember our story last night before bed? Let’s be kind to Uncle next door today, shall we?
Also, one of the best tools you can invest in is a little tape recorder children can have right by their beds so they can play Scripture tapes and Bible stories. And, oh, yes, if you have a DVD player, don't forget the wonderful videos that are available now. Some have biblical settings and others are contemporary stories in which the main characters depend on God to get them out of all kinds of difficulties.
Should quiet time with the children emphasize entertainment? We should certainly make it fun for them, but our primary goal shouldn't be entertainment. Kids are constantly entertained anyway, so what we need are tools and techniques to have them settle down and have some quiet moments with God.
A tape recorder is a great tool for quieting them down because it has a calming effect. And sometimes, if the child is acting up, you can use it as a means of Reality Discipline—just remove the tape recorder for a night or two to let the child know that misbehavior results in losing something he or she really enjoys.
THANKFULNESS - Besides saying grace at meals, how can I teach my child to be thankful?
I've always been big on thanking God throughout the day for my wife, my children, my house, my strength. I exercise three times a week and even while I'm working out I thank God that my body can function as well as it does.
And when I pray with my four-year old son he hears me thank Him for things like that. But because he's only four, I still tend to do most of the leading in prayer time and I basically pray for him when he goes to bed. Sometimes I wonder if anything's getting through.
This is such a special day (asked him before we go to bed). I think we should pray. Ethan, do you want to pray?
And Ethan said,Yep, I just want to thank Jesus for all the things we got for today
That was the best present I got for this whole year, because it showed me something is getting through, and I was so very thankful for that.
I think it is really wonderful when children "catch" you having devotional time with the Lord. It's important for them to see you with your Bible open on your lap. They need to come upon you when you're praying. Perhaps you can invite them to sit by you. Maybe they'll participate in the prayer and maybe they won't, but that's okay, because they have seen you talking to God. They sense your dependence on Him and your thankfulness to Him. That's how God becomes very real to them.
BABYSITTERS - What is the best way to tell a baby-sitter what you expect—your rules and regulations?
No matter who your baby-sitter is, I think it's important to have written rules so she knows what to expect, or at least sit down and talk with her. I prefer leaving a written checklist which I post on the wall. Whenever I try to just tell the sitter what I want, it seems as if it's going in one ear and out the other. Sometimes things don't get done or they're done wrong.
What are your rules like? Read a few of them for us.
My first rule is that if the sitter has any problems or questions, she is to call whatever number I leave where I can be reached. If we're going to a movie, then I give her a backup number of friends who will be home that evening. I also leave emergency numbers, 999 number, plus our own address and phone number and directions to our house if she needs to give these to police or firemen.
In addition, I want the sitter to be sure all doors and sliders are locked and to draw all the drapes at night. I don't want someone looking in, watching my children and the sitter and realizing they're home alone. Also, she should be sure the front gate door is closed. If any food is taken out, it should be returned to the refrigerator in the proper container.
Some other points on my list are being sure the kids' dirty clothes are put in the laundry hamper, and that all the damp towels and wet washcloths are hung up to dry. And another one I really like is to check to make sure the kids haven't taken the receiver off the hook. Sometimes parents try to call home and the line is busy, and when they ask about it later, the sitter tells them, "Oh, the kids must have left the receiver off the hook." But if you leave them strict instructions to be sure this hasn't happened, then you can pretty well know why the line is busy if you try to call - it's the sitter talking to a boyfriend or girlfriend, or whoever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What is the best age to potty train my child?
From the standpoint of readiness, the usual age for potty training is the mid-twos. Children are generally not prepared until they're right around two and a half because they just argent able to control that function in their body before that time. Some moms who have attempted to potty train their children much earlier have found that they had dismal success because their kids just weren't ready.
WETTING - What is a good way to handle a child who wets his pants during the day?
ALISHA [a parent]: My six year old has been potty trained for over three years, but he still wets his pants quite often, especially when he's out playing. Any suggestions?
KEVIN [Dr. Kevin]: The Reality Discipline "standard order of procedure" is to give the child one pair of underwear a day. If he gets them wet, he comes in and the end of his day draws nigh, no matter what time it might be. He puts on his pajamas or his robe and he is to stay in the house. The idea is not to be punitive but you firmly but gently tell him his day has come to an end.
RANDY [Randy]: The one pair of underwear a day approach often works, but not always. Some friends of ours had a child who would wet his pants during the day, particularly when he got excited at school. They tried Reality Discipline and gave him only one pair of underwear a day. He didn't like that, but it still didn't change his total pattern. He'd still wet his pants fairly often.
So, they took him to a pediatrician who checked him out for any neurological impairment, which often is tied to lack of bladder control. There wasn't any, but then the doctor suggested that they look at any stress the boy might have in his life. They pinpointed his routine at school and made an agreement with their son's teacher that he be permitted to take regular breaks during the school day to use the rest room. This helped the problem, at least while he was in school.
Another thing the doctor suggested was to try to have their son hold more urine in his bladder before going to the bathroom. In this way he could stretch the bladder so that it would actually hold more and he'd have a greater sense of control. The bottom line is that their child is simply going through a stage. They have learned to take it in stride and the problem has decreased quite a bit.
KEVIN: I've also counseled kids who continued to wet their pants, even though the one pair of pants a day rule was invoked. But I still think that's the place to start. Then, if they need to change their routine, for example going to the rest room more often during the day, that's great, but the point is, they are becoming responsible for their own problem.
BEDWETTING - What are the causes?
KEVIN [Dr. Kevin]: The truth is, nobody knows the exact cause or causes. We do know that statistics show that bed wetting often runs in the family. Seventy-five percent of the kids who wet the bed have a close biological relative who bed wets or has in the past. But it's a big mystery as to why. All we can come up with are "predisposing factors." For example, sometimes slower muscle or neurological development can make bladder control more difficult for some kids. In other cases, some kids just have too small a bladder to hold a whole night's quantity of urine. Another factor may be delayed or lax potty training.
But maybe the biggest one of all is psychological stress. For example, a child may be hospitalized between the ages of two and four and this can cause bed wetting later. Sometimes when a child enters school he starts wetting the bed. Another common cause of stress is when a new baby brother or sister arrives to take the attention off the firstborn.
RANDY [Randy]: One of the things we hear from many parents is that kids who wet the bed are often deep sleepers. Parents can't even wake them up through the night to go to the bathroom because they're just too far gone into dreamland.
KEVIN: That's another thing—dreams. Sometimes a kid may wet the bed during his rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep because he's dreaming he's going to the bathroom and that's exactly what happens - in his bed! But, Randy, I'm wondering if, in some cases, the child isn't subconsciously depending on his parents instead of assuming personal responsibility for controlling his bladder?
You see, I'm from the old school, and I believe parents should keep the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the child as much as possible. I don't mean ridicule him or pressure him, but simply leave it with him. It's his problem. He's the one who has to learn - and he will learn. As the statistics point out, ninety-nine out of a hundred stop by the time they are old enough to get married. Children do learn to control their bladders.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOT LISTENING - What do I do with two little boys who never seem to hear what I tell them?
BETH (a parent, asks): I've got two sons who are seven and five, and the only way I can get them to follow through and obey what I have asked them to do is stop them, look directly into their eyes, tell them what I want, and have them repeat back to me what I've said. This takes a lot of time, and I'm wondering if its the only thing I can do. Do you have any other ideas?
KEVIN (Dr. Kevin): You could ask almost any kid in America how many times does your mom have to call you for dinner? Most American children will say, "Three times. The first time is just sort of a general alert. The second time Mom raises her voice, and I know its getting close to being serious. The third time, she adds my middle name and that's when I know I better get home fast." With that kind of routine, parents train their kids not to listen.
BETH: You know, there's a difference between talking to your children and at your children. If I just walk by and say to one of my kids, "Time to pick up your toys, "he just doesn't hear me.
But if I turn around, look him right in the face and say, "Mother wants you to pick up your toys, now what did I just ask you to do?" then he will say, "Pick up my toys." And then I say, "Do I want you to do it now or in ten minutes?" And he’ll say, "You want me to do it now," and he does.
RANDY (Randy): All this takes time, Beth, but its just part of parenting this age level. Its amazing how children can go through screening at school for vision and hearing and come home and simply be totally deaf and blind as far as seeing the mess on the floor and hearing what Mom wants done with it.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
How To Live The Christian Life
BELIEVE
Believe the record of the Bible, which is God's Word, that through Christ you have received eternal life (1 John 5:10-13). Then, by faith, walk in newness of life (2 Corinthians 5:17). Remember that you are now a living testimony of the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ and that the new, resurrection life of Christ is being manifested in you forever, the believer.
READ
Read and study your Bible, memorizing portions that are helpful and blessed to you. Give special attention to the promises of God to believers. Meditate on these and they will be food for your soul (1 Peter 2:2). Remember that the Word of God is the light to your pathway (Psalm 119:115) and the weapon of your warfare (Ephesians 6:17).
PRAY
Pray often to God, your heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God for all things (Ephesians 5:20); praise Him for His blessings (Philippians 4:6). Ask for victory over sin and weakness (1 John 1:9). Pray for the needs of others also when praying for your own needs. A vital prayer life will keep you spiritually strong and growing.
CONFESS
Confess the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior as a witness of your faith. (Romans 10:9-11). All who have believed in their hearts "unto salvation" will then be able to give confession of that inner reality before others. The Christian is an ambassador for Christ before a lost world (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
AVOID
Avoid temptations. The Bible tells us that they will regularly come, but we must be careful not to walk in their path (Psalm 1:1). It is also important to avoid those things that we know will hinder our Christian testimony or cause us to stumble (1 Thessalonians 5:22). When temptations arise, remember that God has promised a way of escape for those who faithfully serve and obey Him (1 Corinthians 10:13).
WITNESS
Witness to others about the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 1 :8) . So many are without the Savior who else will tell them? (Romans 10:13-14). The believer's greatest joy is the privilege of telling the good news. There is nothing more important we could possibly do for others than to tell them of His power to save. Make the Gospel known to those who are lost (Romans 1:16)!
SERVE
Serve the Lord with gladness (Psalm 100:2). God has a ministry for every believer (1 Corinthians 12:12-21). Join a Bible-believing, fundamental, independent, separated, non-charismatic local church. You need the pastoral care, worship, instruction and fellowship of others of like precious faith and the church needs you as well. (Hebrews 10:25). Invest your time, talents and money for eternity (Colossians 3:1-3).
STAND
Stand firmly on the Word of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). Beware of false teachers and false doctrines (2 Peter 2:1-3). Test everything by the Word of God, not by experience (Isaiah 8:20). Remember that God has promised the victory to those who honor Him and His Holy Word (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Halleluya!
Believe the record of the Bible, which is God's Word, that through Christ you have received eternal life (1 John 5:10-13). Then, by faith, walk in newness of life (2 Corinthians 5:17). Remember that you are now a living testimony of the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ and that the new, resurrection life of Christ is being manifested in you forever, the believer.
READ
Read and study your Bible, memorizing portions that are helpful and blessed to you. Give special attention to the promises of God to believers. Meditate on these and they will be food for your soul (1 Peter 2:2). Remember that the Word of God is the light to your pathway (Psalm 119:115) and the weapon of your warfare (Ephesians 6:17).
PRAY
Pray often to God, your heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God for all things (Ephesians 5:20); praise Him for His blessings (Philippians 4:6). Ask for victory over sin and weakness (1 John 1:9). Pray for the needs of others also when praying for your own needs. A vital prayer life will keep you spiritually strong and growing.
CONFESS
Confess the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior as a witness of your faith. (Romans 10:9-11). All who have believed in their hearts "unto salvation" will then be able to give confession of that inner reality before others. The Christian is an ambassador for Christ before a lost world (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
AVOID
Avoid temptations. The Bible tells us that they will regularly come, but we must be careful not to walk in their path (Psalm 1:1). It is also important to avoid those things that we know will hinder our Christian testimony or cause us to stumble (1 Thessalonians 5:22). When temptations arise, remember that God has promised a way of escape for those who faithfully serve and obey Him (1 Corinthians 10:13).
WITNESS
Witness to others about the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 1 :8) . So many are without the Savior who else will tell them? (Romans 10:13-14). The believer's greatest joy is the privilege of telling the good news. There is nothing more important we could possibly do for others than to tell them of His power to save. Make the Gospel known to those who are lost (Romans 1:16)!
SERVE
Serve the Lord with gladness (Psalm 100:2). God has a ministry for every believer (1 Corinthians 12:12-21). Join a Bible-believing, fundamental, independent, separated, non-charismatic local church. You need the pastoral care, worship, instruction and fellowship of others of like precious faith and the church needs you as well. (Hebrews 10:25). Invest your time, talents and money for eternity (Colossians 3:1-3).
STAND
Stand firmly on the Word of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). Beware of false teachers and false doctrines (2 Peter 2:1-3). Test everything by the Word of God, not by experience (Isaiah 8:20). Remember that God has promised the victory to those who honor Him and His Holy Word (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Halleluya!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Fear OR Faith ?
"If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). Ultimately, there are only two motivating factors in life: fear or faith. Until we truly know that God is for us, loves us, cares about us personally and hasn't forgotten us, we will base our life's decisions on fear. All fear and worry stems from a lack of faith in God. You may not think you are walking in fear, but if you aren't walking in faith, you are. Stress is a form of fear. Worry is a form of fear. Worldly ambition is rooted in a fear of being overlooked--of being a failure. Many relationships are based on the fear of being alone. Vanity is based on a fear of being unattractive and unloved. Greed is based on a fear of poverty. Even anger and rage are based on the fear that there is no justice, no escape, no hope. Fear breeds selfishness, which is the exact opposite of God's character. Selfishness breeds pride and indifference to others. All of these are sin and must be dealt with accordingly. Stress arises when we try to serve both ourselves (our fears), and God at the same time (which is impossible to do). "Unless the Lord builds the house, it's builders labor in vain...In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat." (Psalm 127:1-2).
The Bible says that when everything else is stripped away, only three things remain: faith, hope, and love--and that love is the greatest of the three. Love is the force that drives out our fear. "There is no fear in love but perfect love drives out fear, for fear has a torment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18). The only way we can get rid of our anxieties is to look them in the eye and deal with them at the root. If we desire for God to make us perfect in love, we will have to repent of every bit of fear and worry that we have clung to instead of Him. We may not like to face some of those things that are in us, but we must if we are ever to be free from them. If we are not merciless with our sin, it will be merciless on us. It will drive us like the most wicked of slavemasters. Worst of all, it will keep us from communion with God.
Paraphrasing the Lord's words in Luke 10:41-42, Jesus is saying to each one of us, "You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Choose what is better and it will not be taken from you." Isn't it wonderful that the only thing that cannot ever be taken from us, is the only thing we really need anyway? Choose to sit at the Lord's feet and listen to His words and learn from Him. By so doing, you are putting a deposit of true riches into your heart, if you guard those words and put them into practice. If you are not daily spending time with Him and reading His Word, you are opening the door of your heart to the birds of the air who will steal the seeds of life deposited there, and leave worry in their place. As for our material needs, they will be taken care of when we seek Jesus first. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things will be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow will take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Matthew 6:33.
God has blessed us with a most powerful tool; His Living Word, the Bible. If used properly, it is a spiritual sword; separating our faith from our fear, drawing a clean line between the holy and the vile, cutting away the excess and bringing forth the repentance which leads to life. Stress merely indicates an area of our life where our flesh is still on the throne. The life that is totally submitted to God is marked by the trust born out of a thankful heart.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27 (KJV).
The Bible says that when everything else is stripped away, only three things remain: faith, hope, and love--and that love is the greatest of the three. Love is the force that drives out our fear. "There is no fear in love but perfect love drives out fear, for fear has a torment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18). The only way we can get rid of our anxieties is to look them in the eye and deal with them at the root. If we desire for God to make us perfect in love, we will have to repent of every bit of fear and worry that we have clung to instead of Him. We may not like to face some of those things that are in us, but we must if we are ever to be free from them. If we are not merciless with our sin, it will be merciless on us. It will drive us like the most wicked of slavemasters. Worst of all, it will keep us from communion with God.
Paraphrasing the Lord's words in Luke 10:41-42, Jesus is saying to each one of us, "You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Choose what is better and it will not be taken from you." Isn't it wonderful that the only thing that cannot ever be taken from us, is the only thing we really need anyway? Choose to sit at the Lord's feet and listen to His words and learn from Him. By so doing, you are putting a deposit of true riches into your heart, if you guard those words and put them into practice. If you are not daily spending time with Him and reading His Word, you are opening the door of your heart to the birds of the air who will steal the seeds of life deposited there, and leave worry in their place. As for our material needs, they will be taken care of when we seek Jesus first. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things will be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow will take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Matthew 6:33.
God has blessed us with a most powerful tool; His Living Word, the Bible. If used properly, it is a spiritual sword; separating our faith from our fear, drawing a clean line between the holy and the vile, cutting away the excess and bringing forth the repentance which leads to life. Stress merely indicates an area of our life where our flesh is still on the throne. The life that is totally submitted to God is marked by the trust born out of a thankful heart.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27 (KJV).
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Kenyah Badeng migration story
The majority of Kenyah people - about thirty thousand - live on the Usun Apau or Apau Kayan, an isolated plateau in East Kalimantan, while the remaining ten thousand are situated mainly on the Baram and Balui rivers in Sarawak, Malaysia.
Divided into a number of sub-groups with fairly distinct dialects,
the Kenyah are hierarchical in that they share similar ideas about the
constitution and signification of rank; furthermore, each sub-group is perceived,
by both themselves and others, as having a distinct status. The largest
and most sedentary settlements tend to be those of elite status, often
exercising regional political power.
The Kenyah Badeng are an interesting, somewhat anomalous group in
this context: large in number, with settlements often numbering up to
three thousand (3000) people, they are nevertheless low in status and fairly
migratory.
Two large groups of Badeng lived in the interior of Sarawak during the
nineteenth century. They grew rice, but their descendants now claim
that swiddens were smaller and less productive then: people were 'too
afraid' to work in distant fields for fear of attacked by the enemies (Ayau - during the head hunter period)and consequently farmed secondary forest which had not been bare for a long enough period, and labour resources were affected by the occasional
depletion of male labour: some men stayed to guard the longhouse while others
acted as guards rather than working in the fields (jaga' oma/muko' oma').
It is likely, therefore, that the Badeng were more dependent on non-rice
starchy cultigens, particularly cassava and sago, during that time.
Like most other Central Borneo societies, they attempted to obtain salt, and
to a lesser extent, cloth by exchanging jungle produce with Chinese and Malay
traders; they were not, apparently, interested in obtaining other valuables which
signified status and rank such as gongs, guns or trading beads. This is a
reflection, not simply of the lack of Badeng status, but of their lack
of interest in questions of identity at that time. But obtaining even
salt, sugar and cloth was difficult. Since they lived in a fairly isolated
region in hostile times, trading links were irregular and attenuated.
The choice of when to make trading journeys (tai peselai majan) was determined
by the demands of farming and whether relations with other groups were
hostile or friendly; groups of Badeng men, mostly unmarried (de manai) and under
the leadership of a few elders, chose to travel with allies because of
the vulnerability to attack during these lengthy journeys.
Epidemic diseases, such as smallpox (probably the chickenpox), were another deterrent to trade in the nineteenth century.
Usun Apau - Sarawak
The Badeng migrated across the border into East Kalimantan during the
first decade of the twentieth century. The Apau Kayan, a remote
plateau at the headwaters of the Kayan river in East Kalimantan, was
populated by approximately ten Kenyah settlements, two Kayan
settlements and a few nomadic hunter-gatherer groups at that time.
Compared to the regional elite - the Kenyah Lepo Tau - the Badeng were
seen as lacking in refinement: their dialect was rough, their baby carriers(Ba')
were plain and unadorned, and they were not tattooed. They were, furthermore,
materially impoverished even by indigenous standards; most wore bark cloth,
for instance, while the Kenyah Lepo Tau people used cotton clothing.
Apau Kayan - East Kalimantan
The Badeng lived on the Apau Kayan for about sixty years(60), eventually
settling at Long Betaoh which is very close to the Sarawak border.
During that time, they deliberately and self-consciously set out to
beautify their own, rather elementary, status symbols by copying or
acquiring Kenyah Lepo Tau artwork, beadwork and carvings, and with easier
access to the trading centres of Sarawak, the Badeng gradually
acquired more manufactured commodities. Salt and cloth were the most
desirable items during the 1940s, although many men brought back
other, smaller, items such as combs, hair oil, kerosene lamps or tiny
beads used to decorate baby carriers.
Long Betaoh - East Kalimantan
Most of the Long Betaoh Badeng (about 1200) migrated into Sarawak
during 1956, while a hundred or so remained in Kalimantan. This move
was attributable to both the impelling forces of economic gain and political conflict: the events of the Indonesian Confrontation with Malaysia (1963-66), for example, left an unpleasant impression on many Badeng who were then easily persuaded to move to Sarawak where life seemed to be so much more promising.
Long Busang - Back to Sarawak again
They did not move a great distance, just across a mountain range called 'sawak Iran' to a place called Long Busang, now the furthest settlement up the Balui river.
Chinese traders(Temagu and Temegaw or Tamen Igau) from Belaga, eager to profit from a new market, flooded Long Busang and the Badeng had the opportunity to buy a whole
range of goods without having to leave the settlement. A primary
school was built in the late 1970s and a flying doctor service visited
the settlement about once a month. But Long Busang was still too
isolated for some and after ten years another migration occurred; this
time, internal conflict over leadership at Long Busang provided the
catalyst to leave a place which many describe as being too far from
the clinic and secondary schools and without wage-earning possibilities.
The above mentioned story is not 100% correct as not all of the Kenyah Badeng migratedto East Kalimantan as some of them came from District Baram to Belaga District.
Long Dungan - 15KM from Belaga town
The desire for a 'good life', then, has been an important part of
these successive moves downriver and the Long Dungan
people seemed to achieve this within a short period of time.
By 1988, ten years after arriving in the area, the Badeng were regarded
as exemplary by local government officials because they immediately began
selling vegetables in the Belaga marketplace and eventually supplied most of
the rice for sale in the Belaga small town. The first was taken as evidence of
entrepreneurial spirit, the second as proof of successful farming;
They said the Badeng had become more 'developed' and 'prosperous' since moving downriver.
Indeed, the Long Dungan community was regarded as a role model which other communities might need to follow.
The majority of the Long Dungan moved again in 1986 to the Ulu Kakus river
in the neighbouring Fourth Division (Bintulu) due to lack of land for algriculture.
Now they are living in a more isolated area but that has not diminished the
entrepreneurial Badeng spirit to achieve greatest heights;
Data Kakus Highlands or Apau Data Plateau - upstream Kakus river
This place is now well known by many people and most of the Kenyah Badeng from
Bintulu district are originally from Data Kakus. A primary school was built in 1987 and a flying doctor service also visited this area about once a month although they have built a clinic in this isolated area. And again another episode of migration started in the midst of 1998 where about ~50 families from Data Kakus moved to Long Beyak about 4 - 5 hours downriver.
As usual, again this migration is due to internal leadership conflict. At the present thing seems to be settled down and everybody is happy where they are and we never know what will happen in the near future to this small community.
Divided into a number of sub-groups with fairly distinct dialects,
the Kenyah are hierarchical in that they share similar ideas about the
constitution and signification of rank; furthermore, each sub-group is perceived,
by both themselves and others, as having a distinct status. The largest
and most sedentary settlements tend to be those of elite status, often
exercising regional political power.
The Kenyah Badeng are an interesting, somewhat anomalous group in
this context: large in number, with settlements often numbering up to
three thousand (3000) people, they are nevertheless low in status and fairly
migratory.
Two large groups of Badeng lived in the interior of Sarawak during the
nineteenth century. They grew rice, but their descendants now claim
that swiddens were smaller and less productive then: people were 'too
afraid' to work in distant fields for fear of attacked by the enemies (Ayau - during the head hunter period)and consequently farmed secondary forest which had not been bare for a long enough period, and labour resources were affected by the occasional
depletion of male labour: some men stayed to guard the longhouse while others
acted as guards rather than working in the fields (jaga' oma/muko' oma').
It is likely, therefore, that the Badeng were more dependent on non-rice
starchy cultigens, particularly cassava and sago, during that time.
Like most other Central Borneo societies, they attempted to obtain salt, and
to a lesser extent, cloth by exchanging jungle produce with Chinese and Malay
traders; they were not, apparently, interested in obtaining other valuables which
signified status and rank such as gongs, guns or trading beads. This is a
reflection, not simply of the lack of Badeng status, but of their lack
of interest in questions of identity at that time. But obtaining even
salt, sugar and cloth was difficult. Since they lived in a fairly isolated
region in hostile times, trading links were irregular and attenuated.
The choice of when to make trading journeys (tai peselai majan) was determined
by the demands of farming and whether relations with other groups were
hostile or friendly; groups of Badeng men, mostly unmarried (de manai) and under
the leadership of a few elders, chose to travel with allies because of
the vulnerability to attack during these lengthy journeys.
Epidemic diseases, such as smallpox (probably the chickenpox), were another deterrent to trade in the nineteenth century.
Usun Apau - Sarawak
The Badeng migrated across the border into East Kalimantan during the
first decade of the twentieth century. The Apau Kayan, a remote
plateau at the headwaters of the Kayan river in East Kalimantan, was
populated by approximately ten Kenyah settlements, two Kayan
settlements and a few nomadic hunter-gatherer groups at that time.
Compared to the regional elite - the Kenyah Lepo Tau - the Badeng were
seen as lacking in refinement: their dialect was rough, their baby carriers(Ba')
were plain and unadorned, and they were not tattooed. They were, furthermore,
materially impoverished even by indigenous standards; most wore bark cloth,
for instance, while the Kenyah Lepo Tau people used cotton clothing.
Apau Kayan - East Kalimantan
The Badeng lived on the Apau Kayan for about sixty years(60), eventually
settling at Long Betaoh which is very close to the Sarawak border.
During that time, they deliberately and self-consciously set out to
beautify their own, rather elementary, status symbols by copying or
acquiring Kenyah Lepo Tau artwork, beadwork and carvings, and with easier
access to the trading centres of Sarawak, the Badeng gradually
acquired more manufactured commodities. Salt and cloth were the most
desirable items during the 1940s, although many men brought back
other, smaller, items such as combs, hair oil, kerosene lamps or tiny
beads used to decorate baby carriers.
Long Betaoh - East Kalimantan
Most of the Long Betaoh Badeng (about 1200) migrated into Sarawak
during 1956, while a hundred or so remained in Kalimantan. This move
was attributable to both the impelling forces of economic gain and political conflict: the events of the Indonesian Confrontation with Malaysia (1963-66), for example, left an unpleasant impression on many Badeng who were then easily persuaded to move to Sarawak where life seemed to be so much more promising.
Long Busang - Back to Sarawak again
They did not move a great distance, just across a mountain range called 'sawak Iran' to a place called Long Busang, now the furthest settlement up the Balui river.
Chinese traders(Temagu and Temegaw or Tamen Igau) from Belaga, eager to profit from a new market, flooded Long Busang and the Badeng had the opportunity to buy a whole
range of goods without having to leave the settlement. A primary
school was built in the late 1970s and a flying doctor service visited
the settlement about once a month. But Long Busang was still too
isolated for some and after ten years another migration occurred; this
time, internal conflict over leadership at Long Busang provided the
catalyst to leave a place which many describe as being too far from
the clinic and secondary schools and without wage-earning possibilities.
The above mentioned story is not 100% correct as not all of the Kenyah Badeng migratedto East Kalimantan as some of them came from District Baram to Belaga District.
Long Dungan - 15KM from Belaga town
The desire for a 'good life', then, has been an important part of
these successive moves downriver and the Long Dungan
people seemed to achieve this within a short period of time.
By 1988, ten years after arriving in the area, the Badeng were regarded
as exemplary by local government officials because they immediately began
selling vegetables in the Belaga marketplace and eventually supplied most of
the rice for sale in the Belaga small town. The first was taken as evidence of
entrepreneurial spirit, the second as proof of successful farming;
They said the Badeng had become more 'developed' and 'prosperous' since moving downriver.
Indeed, the Long Dungan community was regarded as a role model which other communities might need to follow.
The majority of the Long Dungan moved again in 1986 to the Ulu Kakus river
in the neighbouring Fourth Division (Bintulu) due to lack of land for algriculture.
Now they are living in a more isolated area but that has not diminished the
entrepreneurial Badeng spirit to achieve greatest heights;
Data Kakus Highlands or Apau Data Plateau - upstream Kakus river
This place is now well known by many people and most of the Kenyah Badeng from
Bintulu district are originally from Data Kakus. A primary school was built in 1987 and a flying doctor service also visited this area about once a month although they have built a clinic in this isolated area. And again another episode of migration started in the midst of 1998 where about ~50 families from Data Kakus moved to Long Beyak about 4 - 5 hours downriver.
As usual, again this migration is due to internal leadership conflict. At the present thing seems to be settled down and everybody is happy where they are and we never know what will happen in the near future to this small community.
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