Chances are you grew up hearing stories from some older relative who made mud pies or dolls from sticks because they were poor. The Great Depression and World War II taught many of our grandparents and great-grandparents how to make something out of nothing. The relative prosperity in our lifetimes has eroded the skill set our ancestors had developed.
In my last post, I talked about the need for teaching our children to be good stewards of God’s world. One easy way to do that is to reduce the amount of things thrown into garbage dumps. There is a fun project you can do that will not only teach your children how to actively think about good stewardship but also give your kids some practice being creative and clean your house at the same time!
The unfortunate thing about the current “green” movement is they have radicalized it politically to the point many Christians reject anything to do with taking care of the world God gave us. Yet, God commands us to be good stewards. Although he doesn’t give us a list of the precise things he expects us to steward, I think it is safe to assume He expects us to care for any gifts He has given us. In my book, His creation is one of those gifts.
A couple of decades ago “experts” decided the problems in society were caused because children had poor self-esteem. If you have read a magazine or newspaper in the last decade, you are aware of all of the backlash issues self-esteem education has created for our kids and our society. Now, experts wrestle with how to right the unfortunate shift they have created in child rearing practices. As usual, the Bible often has the answers society struggles to find.
I will never forget the first time I learned something in Church before I learned it in school. It was such a fun feeling to already know the history and geography the teacher was explaining because I had learned it from the Bible years earlier. Many other Christians have shared a similar reaction in their school experiences. On some level, it adds a sense of awe and “coolness” to the Bible. (Not that it isn’t cool enough on its own – but that’s another topic for another day!)
Does your teen read her Bible? Does he even know where his Bible is? If you are like many parents of teens, the subject of independent Bible study is rarely mentioned. There seems to be an unwritten fear that if a parent mentions reading the Bible, the teen in question will never open a Bible again. Yet, it doesn’t have to be that way.