Thoughts from a Dad

Have you ever thought about simple, everyday practices you as parents can do to shape your child's spiritual future? I'm not talking about time consuming, involved steps. Just simple everyday routines. Below is a post written by an ordinary dad named Walter Petticrew, who chose to comment on a blog called God Hungry. Here are his thoughts...


My wife and I have two children. Our son, and elder child had muscular dystrophy and passed away two years ago, shortly before his 20th birthday. Our daughter, now 19, is getting ready for college. So raising our children was different in many ways. However there are some principles that, looking back, I would say shaped all of us and continue to do so today.

*Spend time with your children. My time was bath time with them. We would spend a minimum of an hour. It gave my wife some well-deserved rest and was the best transition time from work to home. The tradition of the bathtub was for me to make up stories while they played. It got to the point where we had a favorite character, “Oscar the Turkey,” so each night we had a new adventure of what Oscar was up to next.

*Life is not fair; yet in the hand we are dealt, God is with us. We knew this was the case for us, but it becomes even more clear each day now. There is grace and blessing everywhere; but when you are in the thick of it the grace can be hard to see. That leads to….

*Patience. (God’s and our). God knew what we were in and revealed to us all the blessings in the hardships.

*Honesty. It has always been a foundation in our home. We had to be honest with our children and they demanded the same of us. It can be hard. I recall the exact moment when our son, then six, said, “I am going to die because of my disease.” We never gave him a false hope or said “Don’t worry about it.” We told him the truth.

*As a father, I took it upon myself to make sure we had a lot of smiles. My wife is a natural in this category, but I feel that dads need to show kids examples of “good crazy,” such as getting out of the car after work and jumping in the pool with your kids with your clothes on.

*Show appropriate affection to your wife in all matters. They must see you hug and kiss and love. Then invite them in for a group hug and in that hug pray over the family. Family hugs and prayer are meant for each other. Take advantage of that.

*Have night and morning prayer time with your children. My daughter, 19, still will not leave for school or the house without me praying for her before she leaves. Your children want you to pray for them.

*Be in a Bible study and let your children watch you study. I was very fortunate. I have been active in a Monday night Bible study for over 12 years. Each night when I got home and put my son to bed, he would always ask “What did you learn in Bible study?” We would spend a good hour talking about it.

*Be the kind of house and family that will cause your kid’s friends to want to spend time there. One of our regular events (still is) has been the fire pit. It got to the point where on almost every weekend my son’s friends would ask if we could have a fire pit that night. This went on from 4th grade and continues to this day. Even now, some of my son’s friends, even though they are in college, will come and spend a weekend with us. We always had a great mix of laughs and serious dialogue. We earned the trust of the kids in our neighborhood, and it was always a time to invite Christ into their lives.

One last note: If possible make sure they know their grandparents. It is very important for both of them.

Beyond Egg Hunts and the Easter Bunny

Easter is my favorite holiday of the year. It signals the end of winter, warm weather begins to appear, and new life springs out everywhere! Not to mention it's the holiday that sets our beliefs apart from every other religion-Christ's death and resurrection. For us!

There are so many distractions during our holidays that take away from their true meanings. There's Santa Claus and gift giving during Christmas, and egg hunts and the Easter bunny during Easter. Sometimes I wonder how we have strayed so far from the truth of what these events are all about. Now don't get me wrong, I participate in egg hunts and love the holiday traditions as much as the next person. But I want to make sure my focus centers on the truth. For my kids and for myself! 

Go ahead and have an egg hunt. But make it a priority to share with your family the overwhelming reality of Jesus paying for our sins, rising from the dead, and sending His Spirit to live IN us! That's way cooler than the Easter bunny.

It can be as simple as reading and explaining the Bible story to your kids using the Bible or a book. Or you can get a little more complicated and try one of the ideas below. No matter what you do, as we approach Easter I challenge you to center your day around Jesus, not the holiday.

http://www.mommysideabook.com/kids-and-family/fun-ways-to-teach-kids-the-true-meaning-of-easter/

Resurrection Cookies

http://www.songofmyheart.org/2009/03/something-for-easter-resurrection-eggs.html

Resurrection Eggs-Make your own!

And here are a few other ideas taken from Focus on the Family:

Before you hide the eggs or put them in baskets, encircle each one with a colored strip of paper (or place the strip inside plastic eggs) that tells one small part of the Easter story. When the eggs have been found, the children must unscramble the story and put it in the right order.

Instead of decorating the eggs with dye, or in addition to dying them, write one attribute of Jesus on each egg. You can do this by writing on the egg with a crayon before you put it in the dye. If you are using plastic eggs, you can write with a permanent marker or paint pen.

Send kids on a hunt for the eggs that have Jesus' attributes written on them. Instead of just discovering eggs, they will be discovering the wonderful things that make Jesus so special. If the eggs are plastic, fill them with treats to remember how sweet the life of Jesus really is.

Movie Review-Hugo

Rating: PG for mild thematic material, some action/peril and smoking

Moral Rating: Good

Primary Audience: Kids Family Teens Adults

Genre: Family Adventure Mystery Adaptation 3D

Length: 2 hr. 7 min.

Year of Release: 2011

Hugo is based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

Hugo is a young boy whose mother is dead. He is being raised by his father who is a clockmaker. His father works at a museum in Paris and finds a wonderful old mechanical piece. It is an automaton (self-operating machine) man. It is broken, but the boy and his father begin to fix it.

One day, Hugo receives a surprise visit from his drunk Uncle Claude who tells him there was a fire at the museum. His father is dead, and he is to come live at the train station and work with his uncle as a clock apprentice. The only item Hugo takes is the automaton.

After a while, his uncle does not come home, and Hugo secretly continues to care for the clocks in the train station. He is constantly stealing food to feed himself, while keeping out of the way of the Station Inspector. He also steals parts from the toy shop run by Georges Méliès and befriends his goddaughter, Isabelle. Eventually, Georges catches Hugo stealing parts and makes him work at the toy store as repayment. Hugo never gives up his quest to repair the broken automaton, in the hopes that it will reveal a message from his father. When he finally repairs it, it leads him back to the unlikeliest source.

For parents to consider

Hugo is rated PG for mild thematic material, some action/peril and smoking. In a quick flashback, Hugo's father is shown dying in a fire. Throughout the film, Hugo references the absence of his father and the hurt he feels as a result of it. Hugo steals toys and food at the beginning of the film. There are several intense actions sequences involving Hugo running from a policeman. Because of the setting, 1930s Paris, people smoke throughout the film, but not the children.

-Taken from Christianity Today and Christiananswer.net (Patty Moliterno)

Outdoor Fun!

In honor of this beautiful weather, here are a few fun ideas you can do with your kids as the weather starts to turn warmer. At least I hope so! Have fun!


Chalk Spray



Supplies:

1 tsp washable tempura paint
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup cornstarch
squirt of dishwashing liquid
1 squirt bottle

1. Add cornstarch to one cup of hot water whisking to mix so there are no clumps.
2. Add one teaspoon tempura paint and a squirt of dishwashing liquid. Mix well.
3. Pour it into your squirt bottles and shake well.

Watch your kids enjoy making pictures and designs on the driveway. Spray down your driveway when you are done. After you let it sit for awhile your spray will start to separate. Shake it really well before each use.

Outdoor Color Match

For a fun time, put paint chip cards of different colors on a binder ring, and punch a large hole in each shade. Go outside and try to match all the colors!!

Ballooon and Noodle Aggression

Blow up balloons, give kids pool noodles and let the fun begin! For more challenge, place a laundry basket on the ground and see if they can bat the balloons into the basket.

Tin Can Stilts

Punch a hole in two large soup/coffee cans, run some sturdy string through the holes and you have stilts! I used to have these when I was a kids and LOVED them! To make the cans "pretty", just use spray paint.

For beginners, use tuna cans or some other small type of can.

Pick one of these activities to do tomorrow-it's going to be a fantastic outdoor day!

Love and Conviction

Here's what's happening in kidSPACE this March!

Preschool:

March is the month of love in preschool. Kids will continually hear that “Jesus loves everyone.” He does. He loves us even when we feel like nobody else does as He shows the woman at the well. He loves us even when we’ve made some very poor choices like Zacchaeus. Jesus loves us. Wow! Think about how the little hearts of our preschoolers can be impacted by that information. Even when we mess up, He still loves us. And, Zacchaeus shows us that accepting His love can transform us.

Later in the month, we will introduce the idea that because Jesus loves us, we should spread His love through  the story of the Good Samaritan. This is a favorite story among the preschool set (because of the Band-Aids I think), and such a great lesson for them. The love of Jesus needs to be shared. Our final week encourages them to go and tell others about Jesus’ great love. What an amazing month!

Elementary:

Over 2000 years ago Jesus came to Earth and He lived a perfect life. When the right thing meant hanging out with tax collectors, Jesus did it. When the right thing meant blessing the little children, Jesus did it. When the right thing meant forgiving someone who had done wrong, Jesus did it.

The right choice wasn’t always easy, and it wasn’t always popular. In fact, doing the right thing often made Jesus stand apart from some of the rich and powerful people of His time. But Jesus never let the crowd persuade Him to go against His Father’s will. Even when it meant going to the cross to die, Jesus knew that it was the right thing, and He did it. People with conviction have a clear sense of God’s will and what their decisions could mean in the future.

Jesus was able to live with conviction because He knew the will of His Father, and that gave Him strength and courage. In the same way, God has given us the ability to know what is right and the ability to do it. You see, when we are fueled by the character of God, we will stand up for the things that matter to God.

Most of the time when we choose not to do the right thing, it’s not because we didn’t know better, it’s because we just didn’t want to. But doing the right thing is important to God. Proverbs 21:3 says, “To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (NIV) It’s important not to be led astray, but to keep doing what God has asked us to do because God’s way is the best way and because by doing the right thing, you are pleasing your God who loves you. Conviction!