January 26th, 2012
Here’s a fun and simple project to do with your kids. You could make these in class as gifts for a parents or kids could make several at home – just for fun – to use in their own books. Or have your own kids make a set of “grandkid” or “niece and nephew” bookmarks for a grandparent or aunt/uncle.
You will need -
*a picture of the child
*one sheet of cardstock
*clear shelf paper
*ribbon
1. Take a picture of the child with arms raised. In the picture I used, the munchkin was holding on the bar of a playground set.
2. Print a copy of the picture and glue it to cardstock.
3. Lay the picture on a piece of clear shelf paper and then cover with a second sheet of shelf paper.
4. Cut around the picture.
5. Punch holes in the top of the picture and put a ribbon through the holes.
6. Read a great book and use the bookmark!
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January 25th, 2012
I look through a teen girls’ magazine. You know, the kind whose sole focus is on looking good and snagging a guy who looks equally good. The kind that has articles on being a great kisser, the best kind of birth control and how to dress so he notices.
The kind you don’t want your daughter reading, though more than 2 million teen girls DO read it.
I notice the promises made in the ads.
A place in paradise (clothes)
Eternal joy (perfume)
Something to hope for (moisturizer)
Answer to your search (body lotion)
Never worry again (lipstick)
Be confident (nail polish)
I think about the teen girls we parent and the teen girls we teach.
And I shudder at the messages that are communicated in these glossy pages. They can find eternal joy, hope and meaning – just by buying the advertised products?
How do we communicate that true worth comes from the Lord, not from how we look, dress or smell?
—–
At first, this might seem like a disconnect – but stay with me. My thoughts go back to sixth grade Sunday school. At the beginning of the quarter, our teacher announced a contest – anyone who said so many verses, did so many lesson-based activities and showed up every week had the opportunity to earn a cool prize. He even had the prizes there – colorfully-wrapped packages that would appeal to and motivate most any 12-year-old – but he didn’t tell us what was inside the boxes. For weeks, I worked hard to earn one of those prizes – as did most other kids in the class. So, when he announced that I was one of the winners, I was over-the-top excited. I wanted to know what was inside.
Now, as an adult I know that even promised prizes aren’t always that great (think of the animals we win at carnivals – stuffed with pointy straw rather than anything cuddly and soft.) But when you’re 12 and looking at a fun-wrapped package week after week, you think maybe, just maybe, what’s in the box will be the answer to your dreams.
So now the day was here and the teacher handed us the boxes. With enthusiasm we ripped off the ribbon and paper – to find a set of the Captain Daley’s Crew books: The Missing House Boat; The Long-Eared Taxi Cab, etc.
“Cool,” said a friend. He picked up one of the books and opened the front cover. “Wow,” the author even signed them.”
Puzzled, I looked at my teacher. I wondered what thoughts were running through his brain as he waited for my response to the prize.
“Thanks,” I finally said and class began.
But still I was puzzled and remain puzzled until this day.
Did he really think I needed a complete set of Captain Daley books?
My father wrote those books. (And the teacher knew that. My dad was his pastor.)
I had my own set at home – not with my father’s formal name scrawled across the title page, but autographed with the words “Love, Dad.”
I had read the books before they were even printed. We had boxes of them in the storeroom and I could get one whenever I wanted. If I had wanted to give one to every kid in my class at school, my dad would’ve let me.
Why did my Sunday school teacher give me something he knew my own father had authored?
And what does this sixth-grade story have to do with perfume and lipstick?
The world is offering our teens eternal joy, hope and meaning. All the teens have to do is buy the product and their quest for satisfaction will be filled. Yet, let’s be honest. Even if those products DO offer momentary pleasure – that feeling will last only a few minutes – until the next product comes along.
But our teens (if they have trusted Christ as Savior) already have all the eternal joy, hope and meaning that they could possibly want. They are the daughters of a Heavenly Father. Out of love, He sent His only Son to earth to die for our sins; – looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Just like I didn’t have to earn the points to get books my father had written (I had an unlimited supply), so we don’t have to buy into the world’s culture to earn all the good gifts our Heavenly Father has already given us as His children. They are ours (and we have an unlimited supply).
I didn’t need the books. I was the daughter of the author.
Teens don’t need the world’s empty promises of eternal joy, hope and meaning.
Their Heavenly Father’s autograph is already on their lives.
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January 22nd, 2012
Gallup Poll says:
Americans say they have an average of 9 close (unrelated) friends.
45% say they have more than 6.
39% say they have between 3 and 5.
14% say they have 1 or 2
2% say they don’t have any friends.
– But over all 33.3% report fewer friends than 20 years ago.
Statistics indicate that people are becoming more isolated.
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January 19th, 2012
Truthfully 
– I can’t find even one.
But not everyone agrees. Recently a mom-blogger wrote a post about why she lies to her kids.
Reasons ranged from: Not having time to tell the truth, not knowing the real answer to her child’s questions, wanting to keep childhood magic alive and determining that lying is often easier than telling the truth. She had a few other justifications listed as well.
I don’t think the lady’s revelation is any big surprise to us. We see and hear parents lie to their children all the time. As we walk through the grocery store we’re “serenaded” by a screaming mom “If you don’t put that CANDY BAR back RIGHT now, we are leaving the store.” The screamer is not even OUR mom, but we know that she’s not leaving the store any time in the near future and that the child WILL get the candy bar if he’s persistent enough. Her lies come packaged in empty threats.
Or how about the high school kid who told me, “My dad’s not at church today. He said he had a headache and was heading back to bed, but I know he’s going golfing. I heard him talk on his cell to his friend last night.”
We are all sinners and I don’t think any of us would say that a lie has never escaped our lips, but many of us truly do desire to speak truth to our children.
Which bring us to: GOOD REASONS FOR PARENTS TO TELL THE TRUTH
1. Christ is the very personification of truth. Remember John 14:6? Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Christ is truth. Other verses tell us that not only is He truth, but His Word is truth. We teach this to our children. What Christian parent doesn’t want his child to believe in the truth of the Bible?
So, why then are we so quick to lie to our children? We are their earthly authority figures, the people we want them to uphold and respect. As Christian parents, we are the representatives of their Heavenly Father. To them, if we (their earthly authorities) lie, then God (the divine authority) could also lie.
2. Christ commands us to speak the truth. In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, he explained to them how they should live as “new creations” in Christ. One of his first instructions is: Therefore, putting away lying,“ Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor.” (Ephesians 4:25) Our children are the neighbors right in our own house. Doesn’t get much clearer than this.
3. We are examples (patterns of how one should live) to those around us – including our kids. Many verses talk about the importance of believers being examples – Philippians 3:17; 2 Thessalonians 3:9; 1 Timothy 4:12. Kids are watching us. If they see us lie – they will lie.
Best example ever. A lady asked to speak to my husband (a pastor) about her teen’s habitual lying. We knew the daughter and had been lied to many times ourselves, so we understood this was a problem.
The lady came for counseling and my husband listened as she told story after story of how her daughter would say she was going one place (the library) and actually be at another (a friend’s party). My husband patiently guided her through some steps to what she could do. At the end of the session, they walked out into the hallway and I joined them to say good-bye. The lady thanked my husband for his time and then looked at us and said, “Please don’t tell Janie that I’ve been here to talk to you. I told her I was going to a friend’s house because I didn’t want her to know I was getting help.”
Enough said.
We need to put away lying and speak the truth to our children.
And to that blogger who has several “justifiable” reasons for lying to her children?
I disagree.
Truthfully – I can’t find even one.
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January 15th, 2012
From Discovery Health
1. The divorce rate of second marriages is higher than that of first marriages.
2. Couples who live together before marriage have a higher divorce rate than those who don’t.
3. Children of divorce often deal with the ramifications years into the future.
4. Couples with children have only a slightly lower rate of divorce than couples without children.
5. Children do better in troubled (this does not include abusive) marriages than they do if parents divorce.
6. Children of divorce parents have higher divorce rates themselves.
7. Children in single parent homes often do better than those children in stepfamilies.
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January 9th, 2012
First thing Monday morning and I had already messed up.
I knew I had a meeting (at least I got that part straight) and I knew it was offsite (got that straight, too).
But when I showed up at 9:00, no one was there. Didn’t take me long to figure out that the meeting was actually at 10:00 If it had been IN the office, that would’ve been fine, but it wasn’t and I was at the offsite location.
Took me about 15 seconds to figure out what to do. I was at a quiet place, no interruptions. I could write. I settled back in the chair and my mess-up was forgotten as my bad timing became something profitable.
Isn’t it interesting how quickly we overlook our own mistakes, but make mountains out of the molehills of our children’s mistakes?
When we spill our tea or water, we laugh. When our kids spill their milk or juice, we scream.
When we forget something, we make some comment like: “Sometimes I think I’d forget my head if it wasn’t fastened to my neck.”
When our kids forget something, we explode with a lecture about responsibility and doubt whether our child will ever graduate from high school, college or find a meaningful career – not to mention whether or not he’ll make it out of kindergarten.
Now, I’m not talking about habitual irresponsibility or outright disobedience. (”Emma, please move your glass away from the table. You’ll spill your juice. Emma … I told you to move your glass … Emma, for the seventh time … EMMA! YOU CLEAN IT UP!)
I’m talking about those little, everyday, we’re-not-perfect-people mistakes.
Someone could label me as irresponsible because I got to the meeting at the wrong time, but I know it wasn’t so much irresponsibility as having multi-tasking overload lately. Someone screaming at me wouldn’t have done anything but make me feel worse about something I already knew I had messed up.
Ephesians 4:2 says that to walk the Christian walk we are to show patience to one another, we are to bear with one another in love.
And remember the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit? Patience? Gentleness? Peace? Goodness?
Sometimes we’re good about remembering those qualities – when we’re dealing with our neighbor, our grandmother, our friends, our employees, our …
But our kids? No way.
Our kids deserve a lecture. Our kids deserve to be reminded of their mistake time and again. Our kids need to hear us scream for awhile. Our kids need to be grounded for the next year.
Whoa! We need to ask God to give us the self-control to treat our kids with patience when they make an occasional mistake … the same patience we allow ourselves.
After all, a soft answer dispels anger.
And me?
About that extra hour?
Well, it inspired this blog post.
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January 4th, 2012
1. I love you.
2. Let’s go to the grocery store and buy some food for the food bank – then we’ll stop by and drop it off.
3. You did a great job on ………………………………
4. Ten minutes before supper is done – let’s take the time to go over your verses for Awana.
5. I thank the Lord for the privilege of being your parent every day.
6. If you could spend an hour doing anything you wanted, what would that be? (Is it something you could actually DO with your child?)
7. You are a valuable part of this family.
8. My favorite verse is …………. because …………………….. What is your favorite verse?
9. Let’s call Grandpa (aunt, uncle, cousin, friend). We haven’t talked to him/her in a long while. (For younger children, you may want to discuss some topics for conversation so the child doesn’t simply stand there, nodding to the phone.)
10. If someone wrote a book about your life, what would you title it? Why?
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January 3rd, 2012
Are you teaching your kids to be gracious?
Only 31% of parents require their kids to send thank-you notes. (More than half of those who let their kids skip the thank-yous are parents under age 30)
42% say they sometimes require their kids to write notes.
28% never require it.
17% of adults say that they are only poor-fair is showing proper etiquette themselves.
USA Today
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December 22nd, 2011
I first posted this two Christmases ago – but it’s so fun, I thought I’d post it again.
Here’s a fun craft to do with your kids – you can use it as a craft at Awana or have your own kinds make the snowmen as place cards for a family dinner.
First we wrapped each Hershey bar in beautiful, sparkly wrapping paper.
Then we covered it was a plain piece of paper that was imprinted with a snowman face and buttons. (You could draw your own and individualize each snowman.) I also made labels on the computer that said “Happy New Year” to fasten the back of the snowman paper.
Next we took a small piece of polar fleece and made several cuts in it that were about 2.5 inches long. (We made four or five cuts.)
Next – we made a 3/4″ fold on one end and glued it to make a hat brim.
We wrapped the folded end around the snowman’s head and glued it.
Then we tied a small piece of ribbon at the base of your “fringe” to form the shape of a hat.
We added a snowflake sticker to the hat. (You could also add a bell.)
For a final touch, wrap a polar fleece strip around the middle of the snowman for a scarf.
And we had our table decorations.
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December 20th, 2011
You watch with trepidation as your child opens a gift from Great Uncle Harold or that sweet shut-in down the street. As you observe, you silently pray that your child will receive whatever it is with grace and kindness (even if it’s a pair of hand-knitted socks or a flowery handkerchief).
We are in the Christmas season, a time of year when a lot of gifts are given and received. No matter how much we stress the true meaning of Christmas, kids still get overly excited about what they’re GETTING! Excitement can cause them to say things without thinking. Sometimes those spontaneous words are funny – but other times they’re rude.
Christmas is about the greatest gift ever given – God sending His Son to earth so that we can have eternal life (John 3:16).
Christmas is also about showing our love to those around us. Yet, we often teach our kids the joy of giving but neglect to teach them the graciousness of receiving.
The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) includes characteristics that help us be good gift receivers, such as:
love (loving the other person and thinking about her feelings)
joy (contentment)
patience (with someone else’s choices)
kindness (not making rude comments)
No matter what the gift.
Teach your kids that whenever they open a gift, they need to express thankfulness. If the person is present, the child needs to pause, look at the person and say a sincere thank you.
Teach your children that even if they don’t like the gift, they can appreciate that the person took the time to purchase and wrap it and sincerely appreciate that.
If it’s a family situation, you may want to teach younger children to walk over to the person who gave the gift and give her a hug. (Use your judgment, but it’s often a good thing to do.)
If the person isn’t present, children need to immediately write thank-you notes. Even young children can draw thank-you pictures.
Prepare your children for awkward situations, too.
A duplicate of something they already have.
The gift is something they truly don’t like. (Your 14-year-old receives a brown and purple sweater dotted with green squirrels.)
The gift for the wrong age. (Your 12-year-old gets a preschool coloring book.)
The gift is inappropriate. (You might not like your child having toys or apparel promoting a certain TV or cartoon character, but Aunt Jane doesn’t know that.)
Of course, the best thing we can do is model gracious receiving. We don’t like every gift we receive, and we sometimes receive duplicates of things we already have (and our kids are aware of that). Our response goes a long way toward teaching our kids graciousness.
When everyone is gone, it’s OK for the 12-year-old (and the rest of the family, too) to giggle about the brown and purple sweater. But don’t allow your children to say mean things about the giver herself. Instead, talk about the effort someone put into buying and wrapping the gift (and maybe in the case of the sweater, putting long hours into making it).
You could also talk about kids who don’t have warm clothes and would appreciate the sweater – squirrels and all. Is there a children’s shelter in town where you could donate some slightly worn clothes? Better yet, could your older children go to the shelter for the afternoon and entertain the younger kids?
Be intentional about teaching your kids gracious receiving – and this year, have a thankful Christmas.
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