When my daughter was younger, I loved when she would have those long vacations from school. We would sleep in a bit and have lots of adventures. Inevitably though, at some point the dreaded words “I’m bored” were uttered. Of course, the go-to parental response is to offer all sorts of fun chores. If you find the boredoms are hitting your home daily though, you may want to be a little more intentional about providing activities for your children.
The good news is you can keep your children occupied while reinforcing Bible lessons and principles and having them practice academic concepts. In fact, our new partnering website Teach One Reach One is regularly adding free activity ideas for you to use. Even though these activities were designed to be used in Bible classrooms and faith based tutoring programs, they can easily be adapted to use with your own children at home.
So look around the website and find some activities your children might like. Grab the needed materials and enjoy the activities with them. When you do things together, you create precious memories your children will carry with them for the rest of their lives. After you have tried your activities, I would love to hear from you. Send me photos and tell me what your kids enjoyed and what was a challenge. You will help us refine our resources and we may even feature your photos on our website (with your permission of course.).
Let’s be honest. There are times when caffeine can be a mother’s best friend. Inevitably, the night you have to stay up all night with a sick child ends the same morning your other child has to be at an early morning practice – and you are responsible for bringing breakfast. That cup of tea or coffee (or chocolate bar) might get you through a day like that, but you can barely survive if the routine continues that way for days and weeks on end. To reach your “mom potential” and truly thrive, you have got to get a good night’s sleep on a semi-regular basis.
If you are the parent of a young child, the word most often uttered by your child is quite possibly “Why?” Children are naturally curious. They are hardwired to ask questions, because the answers help them learn more about the world around them than they can easily discover with their senses.
One of the Bible stories that fascinated me as a child was the story of Gideon. It was amazing to me that how a man drank water from a stream determined whether or not God would use him in an important battle. Or that a young boy’s lunch not only fed 5,000 people, but became an example of how God can take our little things and make them into something amazing.
When our daughter was little, she would wave forlornly as her dad drove off to work. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to spend time with me or that we weren’t going to have any fun without daddy. It was that children want and need both of their parents to be fully engaged with them. Our daughter knew when daddy drove away, he would be unavailable to spend time with her for several hours.
published by the American Bible Society is a textured paperback in the Good News Translation. While not my favorite translation, this particular Bible has a lot of additional study aids that make it worthwhile. (You can always look up passages in another version if you prefer.)