Buddy Scott

Falling for retirement’s tempting, open arms
People frequently ask me if I am about to retire from His Love Counseling Services. I actually could retire now if I were to be frugal and fall back a bit on my second career. And, hmm, I now hold a free pass to all of America’s national parks.
November 21, 2009

Predators shouldn't be glorified
Predatory humans in America maim, molest and kill more helpless victims than do predatory animals in jungles. Aren’t we tired of living in fear for our children and grandchildren?
November 14, 2009

Helping ‘different’ kids thrive
As a wee boy, I crawled into an oversized doghouse to dognap puppies. I did it knowing that the smell of droppings would be ever so horrid. One by one, I handed the little guys through the doorway. I squirmed out after them into the fresh country air. Yea! I could play with them all day!
November 07, 2009

Show compassion, respect to all creatures
My love for animals came from my parents. Mother was compassionate toward all living things — except pests. Dad didn’t kill anything he didn’t intend to eat, except for venomous varmints.
October 31, 2009

Prayer invites God to lead us each day
From 1960s street wisdom, we have the saying, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” It means, of course, that our future is in our hands (i.e., in our choices), and with each day’s dawn comes a new beginning.
October 24, 2009

Finding happiness takes work
In this my fourth and final column of a series, I continue to compare the guidance in the Holy Bible to the findings of modern psychological research as noted in Carlin Flora’s article “Do Your Happiness Homework.” Her piece is in the February 2009 issue of Psychology Today. Flora continues with point 10:
October 17, 2009

Passages present path toward happiness
Essential to understanding happiness are the following points: 1. “Comprehend that some people are born happy.” I add: All people can be reborn happy through the new birth of salvation.
October 10, 2009

Take time to be mindful, have devotions
Mindfulness is “a mental state of relaxed awareness of the present moment, marked by openness and curiosity toward your feelings rather than judgments of them,” writes Carlin Flora, author of “Happiness, how to turn it on. What works. What doesn’t.” She wrote the article in the February 2009 issue of Psychology Today.
October 03, 2009

Scripture provides insight into happiness
Excavating in my need-to-read file this week, I noticed the February 2009 issue of Psychology Today magazine. A lead article on the front cover caught my attention: “Happiness, how to turn it on. What works. What doesn’t.”
September 26, 2009

Parents less influential forming values
And I’ve learned through counseling preadolescents and adolescents that parents have become less influential in the forming of life’s values in children, while TV shows, the movies, video rentals, lyrics, the Internet, peers and other influences have increased in influence. Parents now can’t afford to be like my parents and not become aware that their kids are being raised in “saloons.”
September 19, 2009

Dysfunctional families serve important needs
For as long as I can remember, I’ve heard the phrase, “Oh, that family has problems.” Modern psychology categorizes such families as dysfunctional families — and it’s considered abnormal to be one of those.
September 12, 2009

Any family can be dysfunctional
Reminiscing, I realize I always have been attracted to dysfunctional families. All through my young years I enjoyed being with them, and I enjoyed doing whatever a kid could do for them.
September 05, 2009

Vacation marked by fellowship
Last week, Dr. K.C. “Buck” Pennington and I enjoyed a vacation in Montana. We flew to Bozeman, via a layover in Denver. From Houston to Denver, I had the privilege of sitting beside a 90-something, African-American minister.
August 29, 2009

Parents should keep faith in troubled youths
As I’ve written before, I say to parents, “I don’t know that I’ve seen a young child in counseling who had more problems than I did. I made it, and your child can make it as well.” My struggles and blunders are a reason I am patient with children.
August 15, 2009

Learn to be fair when disciplining children
Mother taught me all my pre-school life that I should share with other children. Then in the second grade, I shared the money she had given me for lunch with my little friends at school. I bought a round of ice cream for everyone.
August 08, 2009

True friends don’t lose each other over tiffs
When I was in the sixth grade, we moved into a beautiful new elementary school, and I had a lovely young teacher named Mrs. Hazlett. She liked me, and I adored her.
August 01, 2009

Students, teachers somtimes not compatible
In the fifth grade, I was desperately afraid of a boy who bullied me. Too bad Irby was the favorite student of my teacher, Mrs. Dimples. He could get away with anything.
July 18, 2009

Be understanding of kids who don’t fit system
I’m using the downside of my elementary school experiences as illustrations for effectively mentoring children and students. Last Saturday, I wrote about getting swats from he principal for lying to him. This week I’m writing about not being shortsighted toward kids who don’t do as well in school as other students.
July 11, 2009

Discipline lying kids within reason
George Washington’s father asked him if he knew who hacked at his prized cherry tree. George, with hatchet still in hand, replied, “I cannot tell a lie, Father. I did cut it with my little hatchet.”
July 04, 2009

Punish defiance from children, not mistakes
We who are older can remember when there was no air conditioning. Sheldon Elementary School, between Houston and the San Jacinto River, in each classroom had large open windows and one industrial-sized fan on a stand. I came in from recess so sweaty that I lay papers under my arm and the heel of my palm so that I wouldn’t soil the paper on which I wrote my assignments.
June 27, 2009