Author: Thereasa Winnett

Thereasa Winnett is the founder of Teach One Reach One and blogger at Parenting Like Hannah. She holds a BA in education from the College of William and Mary. She has served in all areas of ministry to children and teens for more than thirty years and regularly leads workshops for ministries and churches. She has conducted numerous workshops, including sessions at Points of Light’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service, the National Urban Ministry Conference, Pepperdine Bible Lectures, and Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration. Thereasa lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband Greg, where she enjoys reading, knitting, traveling and cooking.

Christian Kids and Margin

Christian Kids and Margin - Parenting Like Hannah Someone has taken the concept of idle hands being the devil’s workshop and decided children and teens should not have a spare moment of unscheduled time. Schools are pressured to give lots of homework and keep kids at the building for as many hours as possible. Extra curricular activities often demand young people practice or perform six to seven days a week – all year. We run our kids from activity to activity, coming home in time for them to do homework and get inadequate amounts of sleep. If our kids do have a rare free moment, all they have the energy to do is zone out in front of a screen – watching videos or playing games.

While all of that constant activity may indeed keep most kids out of terrible trouble (trust me if they want to find it, they will still get in trouble), it is also robbing our kids of some things that could help them grow to be strong Christian adults. To develop an active, living faith takes time and more importantly time to do nothing but read the Bible, pray and think. While those things can all be done on the run, it just doesn’t have the same effect as when those activities are done in the still of margin time.

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Fun Way to Teach Kids Gratitude

Fun Ways to Teach Kids Gratitude - Parenting Like Hannah I’m declaring November the “Month of Gratitude”. Granted I don’t think I actually have the power to make it official, but I encourage you and your family to join me. The Bible is full of verses like this one in Psalms “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 107:1) I’m sure you have taught your kids to thank God when they pray, but have you ever encouraged your children to fully embrace the idea of a grateful heart?

The best thing about teaching kids to be grateful is that it can have a lot of side benefits. Helping your kids see God’s gifts can also help them begin to notice God actively working in their lives. Teaching them to be thankful for even the most basic things in life can erase the idea of being entitled to good things, because your kids have learned they are special gifts to be appreciated. Helping your kids appreciate everyone who does anything for them will help them begin to see them as people with souls who need to be served and to learn about God.

Like anything, having an attitude of gratitude as they say may mean you and your kids need to break some bad habits. What better way than substituting better attitudes and habits – and have some fun in the process? Declare this November the “Month of Gratitude” in your house. Try to do something with your kids every day to practice gratitude. Use some of the ideas below or get creative and come up with your own. (I would love to hear your comments on the things you did so others can join the fun.)

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Christian Kids and Conflict Resolution

Christian Kids and Conflict Resolution - Parenting Like Hannah It happened again today. An article in a popular women’s magazine was counseling parents about how to manage sibling conflict. What was the number one suggestion? Let them figure it out on their own without intervening. Are you kidding me?!

It never ceases to amaze me the same people who have us baby proofing everything within five miles of our kids and spending hours with them driving in circles around a parking lot, also tell us to allow children to teach themselves conflict resolution. No wonder our world is filled with people who yell, scream and hit when they are angry. They are using the same conflict resolution skills they “figured out for themselves” at age four or five!

Suddenly when people join the business world or marry as adults, they are expected to have the conflict resolution skills of a top attorney. If they are Christian, people expect them to resolve conflict with the same skills Jesus possessed. Adults who were told to figure things out on their own for the previous couple of decades and now have to learn actual conflict management skills have made a lot of people who write books and conduct seminars very wealthy.

Please don’t put your children in a position to ruin relationships, careers and even tear apart churches because you never taught them how to resolve conflict in godly ways. Teach them how God wants us to resolve conflict. If you struggle with handling conflict yourself, here are some basic tips to begin teaching your kids whenever a conflict arises:

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Teaching Kids Words Matter

Teaching Kids Words Matter - Parenting LIke Hanna This summer I spent a lot of time doing empathy workshops with teens and adults. Every group I work with lists empathy workshops as their number one need in training volunteers. I thought it had to do with empathy issues, but it turns out one of the main problems people who serve others have is the words that volunteers say to the people they are supposed to be serving.

When adults discuss how children and teens speak to each other, the topic of bullying often arises. For children being raised in a Christian home, how they use their words goes way beyond bullying in the positive and negative effects they can have on people. We often forget Jesus tied serving others and sharing his faith together. Serving was a way to point people to God. Serving their felt needs meant they would be able to hear what Jesus had to say, because their pain, hunger or fears had subsided.

You’ve hopefully taught your kids not to overtly bully others or threaten them. I would imagine most of the time they are kind when speaking to their friends. In fact, once they reach the teen years they may have long wonderful conversations with close friends. Have you taught them though to always be kind, loving and supportive with their words with other people? Have you taught them how to use their words to point others to God? Have you taught them that a seemingly innocent (for a kid) comment like “You don’t smell good” can have life long consequences for the person to whom it is said?

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