Teaching Kids How to Help Others In Crisis

Teaching Kids How to Help Others In Crisis - Parenting Like HannahIf you volunteer in your child’s school, Church Bible classes or even their extracurricular activities, you have probably realized there are entirely too many children living in crisis. Often, these children will never turn to an adult for help. Instead, they will share their concerns, fears and problems with a peer.

If your children are loving, kind and supportive in their interactions with other kids, they may be the ones to whom these hurting children turn. Unfortunately, no matter how mature and godly your kids may be, they just don’t have the training and life experience to handle this vital task fully.

You can however, teach your kids some important Christian Life Skills that will help them step in and give their peers some hope and direction while facing life’s problems. So what are the skills most children should be able to handle when trying to help a peer? Here are some of my favorites.

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5 Reasons Your Child May Be Delaying Baptism

5 Reasons Your Child May Be Delaying Baptism - Parenting Like HannahWe all know the “age of accountability” for baptism (and thereby becoming a Christian) probably varies slightly from child to child. For years I have watched as the first children in a class study with their parents, decide they want to be baptized and dedicate their lives to Christ. The parents of the other children in their grade start looking forward to the day when their child decides to become a Christian, too.

Many of those children will probably become Christians at some point over the next few years. As the remaining children enter high school, the looks of anticipation can gradually turn to panic. Parents wonder if their child will reject God entirely. Many are afraid to talk about baptism or ask questions for fear of frightening a child who must be on the borderline of rejecting God. After all, what parent wants to ask the question or make the comment that is the final straw in their child’s faith life?

Surprisingly, there are 5 very common misconceptions young people have about becoming a Christian. Accepting one of these as truth can delay a decision and commitment to God for months and even years. Yet many of them could be easily corrected and encourage your child to make the most important decision of his/her life.

So what are the most common reasons young people might delay baptism?

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Fun Ways to Use Jigsaw Puzzles to Teach Kids About God

Fun Ways to Use Jigsaw Puzzles to Teach Kids About God - Parenting Like HannahIf your young child attends Sunday School, you have probably seen jigsaw puzzles depicting various stories in the Bible. There are a lot of other ways to use almost any jigsaw puzzle to teach your kids about God, His principles and/or His commands.

The best puzzles to use are often those with 50 or less pieces – especially floor puzzles. The pieces are larger in a floor puzzle, but if you can write small and your children can read fairly well, a regular sized puzzle piece will work just as well. (I would avoid those mini-puzzles for most of these activities.) The “picture” side of the puzzle is not extremely important, but I do prefer photographs of beautiful things or “Bible” puzzles. Although it’s not crucial, I just tend to stay away from cartoon and fictional characters if I can because of my goal of instilling the truth (versus fictional) position of the Bible.

Here are some of my favorite ways to use jigsaw puzzles in faith training:

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Fun Activity to Teach Your Kids About Peer Pressure and God

Fun Activity to Teach Your Kids About Peer Pressure and God - Parenting Like HannahWant a fun family devotional that will also give your kids some tools to stand up to negative peer pressure? Grab some large sheets of white paper, some paper lunch bags and markers. Gather your family and tell the story of Joseph and his brothers found in Genesis 37:12-36 or the story of Samson found in Judges. Discuss the times in the story when someone wanted to do something, but was pressured into making a different decision by someone else.

Ask your children if they know the term for when you are pressured by others to say or do something you don’t want to do. See if they can give you examples of positive and negative peer pressure. The story of Joseph, for example, would have ended in his death instead of being sold into slavery if Reuben had not pressured them into changing their minds.

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Kids, Ecology and God

Kids, Ecology and God - Parenting Like HannahGlobal warming. Pollution. Renewable energy. Recycling. If you are like many, those words create a strong reaction in you. It may be positive or negative, but what does God have to say on the subject of ecology? What should you be teaching your kids? What, if anything, should you be doing with your kids to care for the earth?

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Genesis 1:26 (NIV) Inevitably, when talking to Christians about ecology, this is the verse that is first quoted. Ironically, I have heard it interpreted in two basically opposite ways – “dominion/rule also implies caring for something” OR “rule means we can do whatever we want – use it up/destroy it, etc”.

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