Be honest. Even if you didn’t say that out loud, you’ve thought it at least once! Yet, the primary “care-giver” really does have the need to leave home, leave town, and leave their child behind from time to time. Perhaps we need to leave our child behind (not in the sense that they’re taking off…
Splink 1: Power to Go Run a relay to introduce the idea of Paul and Barnabas being sent out to share the gospel. Send everybody to gather three items they would bring if they were going on a trip. Put these on a table. Place an opened suitcase on the floor on the other…
Splink 1: Forgiving Even When It’s Hard Watch a 2.44-minute video of Amin, a boy from Iran who was faithful to the Gospel even after being persecuted. http://www.kidsofcourage.com/?p=8096 Talk about it: How do you think you would have felt if you were Amin? What does it mean to be persecuted? (Treated badly because of…
Raising a daughter is one of the scariest endeavors I’ve ever faced. Once we got past the toddler phase with our son, I had a fairly good idea of what to do; we played catch, we talked about sports and we laughed at body noises. I made my share of mistakes raising our son, but…
Imagine a parent of a child you know approaching you. “Can (insert their child’s name) and I speak with you and (insert your child’s name) privately for a minute?” Maybe this kind of “confrontational” conversation raises your blood pressure? I know it raises mine. Thoughts spiral and I become anxious: “What did my child do?”…
The first few days and weeks of school are a big deal for kindergarteners and their parents. It may feel like nothing has changed since preschool (because the last year flew by in the blink of an eye), but 5 and 6-year-olds are actually entering into a completely new phase. This is the phase…
Splink 1: Something Good Bake some cookies to help kids understand that God is so great He can take even the bad things that happen to us and make something good out of them. Gather the ingredients and let the kids taste each individual ingredient—baking soda, baking powder, salt, flour, butter, etc. How do those…
Splink 1: Can You? Let kids try each one to see if it is easy or hard. Is it easy or hard to: rub your belly and pat your head touch your nose with your tongue kiss your elbow make a human tripod (balance your body with only your head and two hands on the…
Sometimes it’s hard to know where to put my focus on the parenting buffet. There is so much on the table, so many choices, so many categories, so much to teach and so little time. I have to confess, sometimes my parenting is motivated by what I call The Daughter-in-Law Factor. I prioritize so I…
*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on CNN. Dead bodies. Bloodied faces. Tears. Terror. Those are just some of the things that children see when they view news coverage of violent events. Screen violence — which includes violence in video games, television shows and movies — is associated with aggressive behavior,…