Home Archive by category "Parenting" (Page 10)

Category: Parenting

Seek and Ye Shall Find…

So how do Daddy and Son survive in the store when Mommy is shopping forever? Why, we play hide n seek, of course! I love hunting for my son, and I love how his giggles give him away, or how he is oblivious with his feet sticking out. And I love the look of pure joy on his face and how it lights up when I find him! We both hide from Mommy every night at bedtime, and it’s a challenge to find a new stop where a grown man and a boy can hide from Mommy, but we do pretty good, and while sometimes she plays along, sometimes we fool her pretty good. The goal is always to hear, “That was a good one!” But the truth is, there aren’t too many places to hide a little boy, and he’s pretty easy to find if you look. That’s the nice thing about our Heavenly Father too. God has good things for us, and if we are willing to look, He hides them pretty easy too. After all, didn’t He say, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”…

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Just Thinking About Kids… and Behavior

Children get enough discouragement from adults telling them constantly what they are doing is wrong or needs to be better. They need to hear more often how they are loved, forgiven and believed in. They need to be encouraged and reminded that while their behavior may not always be good, their value and worth is good beyond description! They are good kids in God’s eyes because He made them and whatever God made IS good! After all, every day of creation God finished by saying, “It is good.” As we shepherd the children in our ministries it is critical that we focus on their hearts more than their behavior. When we see bad behavior, our impulse needs to be not to correct the behavior, but to mold the heart that determined the behavior. There are plenty of techniques out there that can shape children’s behavior, but if we only succeed in changing behavior, we will have only created little Pharisees who know how to behave at church. But it will be unlikely that we will impact much how they behave at home and even less how they behave at school and after they outgrow children’s ministry. But if we reach…

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Daddy, Let Me Push You

Today, when I took my son to the park I had an experience that got me thinking. You see, my five year old LOVES to swing, and he’ll have me push him for a very long time – and it’s O.K. – I’ll use that time to talk to him, or sometimes just think as he swings and swings and swings. I’ve tried working with him on pumping his legs so he can swing himself, but it’s no use. He’d rather have his daddy push him still. So I do. And I try to just push until he says, “I’m done Daddy.” Then today after only a few minutes he said, “Daddy, let me push you.” I was a little worried I’d clobber him on one of the return swings, but he did O.K. But then, after only a minute he got tired of pushing and said, “Why don’t you try pumping with your legs, Dad, I think you can probably do it on your own.” And walked away! Just like that! After all the visits to the park where I’d pushed him for loooong periods of time, never stopping until he was done, being such a patient and long…

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Leadership Lesson from Mushing

Today was a VERY exciting day for my little boy! For he got to go MUSHING! It was an exciting day for ME, because I got to drive my family on a sled across the snowly plains with mountains on all sides of me! What a thrill it was indeed! Luke got to see some dogs, which he LOVES but can’t own due to daddy’s alergies (and no e-mails about allergy-proof dogs, we aren’t going there, been there, tried that!) Here’s proof that I LIKED the dogs, just ain’t gonna OWN one! But mushing was a BLAST! And being on the sled with my wife and son inside was a really cool feeling! (Quite literally too) I realize those dogs were in more control than me – but I since another guest DID wipe out (woman driver, ha!) there was some steering to it! And I was the only one that got to do some downhill driving, though it was mostly level the whole way. We never got over 15 MPH, but it was very windy and snowing, so not sure I’d want to go faster…. nah… I wish I could have, just not with the family on board! But…

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What I’m Giving My Son For EASTER.

What am I giving my son for Easter? Of course he will get up and wonder where we have hidden his Easter Basket – and we will play our annual “Hot and Cold” game, just as my father and mother played with me and my sisters. “Your so cold your toes are gonna freeze and fall off!” “Getting warmer!” “Getting HOT!” “OUCH! You’d better put your shoes on you’re so hot!” “Oh, My! You need a pot holder you’re so HOT!” Soon the basket full of candy and goodies has been discovered, only to be told, “Oh, no! We gotta get ready for church! Hurry up! Where has the time gone!” But along with the candy and little toys, there was always a gift of spiritual significance. Something to return some meaning to all the secular hoopla and manages to sneak into our Christian holidays now-a-days. And this year, I am so excited that DiscipleLand has JUST the thing for young learners! It’s a brand new Bible Story Book – but it’s more than just a beautiful re-telling of Bible stories, it a parenting tool that helps intentional parents talk to their kids about the character traits our our Amazing…

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