A thankful heart is a heart that is ready to obey. It’s so easy for children to be unaware of the many ways their parents serve them. We need to help them learn to be thankful. Sit down with your children and make a list of all the ways their daddy serves your family. Talk together, ask them leading questions, and give them some suggestions. Assign one of the children […]
Read More →Category: Positive character building
Good News!
You’ve seen it… Two children are playing. Child No. 1 sets down his toy to pick up a new one, and suddenly Child No. 2 is discontent. He no longer wants what he already has. He wants what the other child has. He reaches out for the toy and yells when he can’t have it. He fusses and cries, and seeks to get his way. He’s coveting. Next time you’re […]
Read More →Sharing for Jesus’ Sake
When it comes to teaching our children to share, there is no simple “follow-these-five-easy-steps-and-you’ll-have-a-child-who-shares” formula. Children are born with old sin natures; they inherited them from us. We shouldn’t be surprised when they don’t want to share. Instead, we should thank God for the opportunity to help our children understand and appreciate what Jesus has done for them – and us. Scripture is full of commands that we and our […]
Read More →Honoring One Another
It’s Wednesday night and I just spent a couple hours working on a post, only to watch my computer eat up the entire document, letter by letter. It looked like a video game where some little animal was gobbling down a string of words as fast as he could. The the cursor sat there quivering, like it was giggling over its great trick. It was actually kind of funny. It […]
Read More →A Thankful Heart Is a Generous Heart
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess. 5:18). Sharing has two sides: 1. Lettings others enjoy the things we have 2. Being content with what we have Several weeks ago we started a series of posts about teaching children to share. So far we have addressed the following topics in previous posts: We as parents need to be willing […]
Read More →Helping Our Children Run the Race – Setting Goals
“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:15). We’re running a race. So are our children. The beginning of a new year is a good time to reevaluate our goals. Are we running in the right direction or are we distracted by lots of good and not-so-good things along the way? New Year’s has traditionally been the time […]
Read More →Giving More than We Receive
“It is more blessed to give than to receive…” (Acts 20:35) Children can easily become very focused on getting during the Christmas season. If we want our children to be blessed, and if it is truly more blessed to give than to receive, we need to teach our children to give. Try this simple activity to encourage your children to give more than they receive throughout the day. Not only […]
Read More →Sailing with the Pilgrims!
I’m looking forward to eating dinner on the “Mayflower” again someday. Instead of our own six children, it will be their children that huddle with me in the dark and pretend they are on the Mayflower, eating hardtack and dried meat while the winds blow and the ship pitches on the waves. Help your children appreciate the risks the Pilgrims took to come to the New World where they could […]
Read More →Heroes for Our Children
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 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 is set […]
Read More →What to Do with “I Want It Now!”
If you have more than one child, you’ve had to help your children learn to share. Most household sharing problems start when one child decides he wants something another child has – now. Both children in this situation need to be instructed. One needs to learn to be content. The other needs to learn to share. Let’s focus on the first child today. It can be challenging to teach young […]
Read More →