Encouraging Your Kids to Use Words That Help

The Bible tells us that the words that come out of our mouths are one of the hardest things for us to control. They are often the thing that hurts others and makes situations more negative and complex than they need to be. When coupled with the lack of general maturity and a pre-frontal cortex that isn’t fully developed, it’s no wonder your children struggle with using words that help rather than hurt a person or a situation.

Communication is necessary for your children to be healthy mentally, academically and spiritually. It’s an important part in having healthy relationships with family and friends. It can also help them get a better education or job or accomplish things that make the world a better place. So the solution is not to tell your kids to just be quiet all of the time. (Although the Bible does tell us to focus on listening more than talking – crucial advice for your children to master.)

If your children have developed bad speech habits – like whining, complaining, lying or cursing – just telling them to stop may work only to a point – if at all. Poor speech needs to have better communication habits ready with which to replace it. Helping your children practice these better communication options for common issues can help them make better choices of words in the moment.

Here are some great replacement types of words to use for common issues.

  1. Instead of curse words, use large “fluffy” words or appropriate idioms (not curse words) from another language. Cursing is often a quick way to show others a strong emotion or to communicate in such a way the speaker believes he or she will actually be heard. What’s more attention getting than a young child spouting a multi-syllabic word or a funny idiom from another language or time period? As an added benefit, they are improving their vocabularies, knowledge of history or another language and culture. Instead of cursing when angry, your kids can say they’re madder than a bear with a sore head or that it’s their bete noire! The ears of others will tune in to the strangeness of it.
  2. Instead of whining, ask what they can do to help change things and make them better for everyone. Whining usually happens when someone is unhappy that things aren’t going “right”. It can be from pure selfishness on the part of the whiner, but sometimes the “responsible” party would love to fix things, but just doesn’t have the resources. Offering to help can take stress off of that person and may also provide what the whiner initially wanted.
  3. Instead of complaining, list three things for which they are grateful or think of/do at least one thing to improve the situation. (Note: This is not about filing a formal complaint to get something fixed, but general non-productive complaining.) Complaining can come from a loss of perspective. Or an unwillingness to make changes to improve the situation. By listing blessings, perspective can be regained. By making a positive change like always placing their backpacks by the front door at night, they will no longer have to complain about not being able to find them in time.
  4. Instead of lying, tell the truth and accept responsibility. This is tough for many children. They know that telling certain truths means consequences will follow, so they lie to avoid those consequences. Help them see that the consequences for lying are much worse, by talking about how trust is destroyed by lies (and the consequences of that) and by giving stricter consequences for lying to avoid getting in trouble.
  5. Instead of saying something unkind, be an encourager and problem solver. Often unkind words (particularly between siblings) are often said out of frustration at something like “loud chewing” or crossing imaginary boundary lines. Instead of saying something hurtful to someone, teach your children to look for something positive to say to the person that will encourage him or her to focus on positive behaviors. Or if someone is annoying them with something like their loud chewing, find a solution, like asking if they can play background music at the table.
  6. Instead of criticizing, seek to know. We live in a critical world. Not critical thinking, but an unspoken belief that by criticizing others, we somehow look better. Often, the people we are criticizing are people we don’t know very well. It’s easy to assume the worst of others. Assuming the best doesn’t mean you are excusing the poor choices others may make, but rather you are seeking to better understand the person, his or her situation and why the person may have made the choice being criticized. Of course, the best antidote for criticism to teach your children is to seek to know others. Be curious. Don’t grill them like a police interrogator, but ask questions designed to help them better understand the person and to find areas of commonality. Those areas of commonality can become building blocks to serving others, sharing their faith and perhaps making a new life long friend.
  7. Instead of yelling angry words, resolve the conflict. Yelling angry words, may feel helpful, but they usually just worsen conflicts. Instead, teach your children a conflict resolution model and help them practice using it. Here is the conflict resolution model from our website.
  8. Instead of gossiping, change the subject. Gossip has a way of getting out of control and spreads lies about people from which they may have a hard time recovering. Your kids may not start the gossiping, but they can stop it by changing the topic of conversation. This allows them to stop it without lecturing their peers.

This list isn’t all inclusive, but you get the idea. For any negative speech you believe is ungodly or hurting them in some way, help them find a replacement speech that accomplishes their goals in a more productive way. In fact, some of those good speech habits, they may want to incorporate more even when not needing a substitute for poor word choices. Help your kids listen well and speak so people want to listen to them.

Fun Ongoing Activity to Help Your Kids Grow Character

Naaman is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. You see, Naaman was a wealthy, powerful man in his world. There was only one problem. He had contracted leprosy, which meant being ostracized from society. His wife’s servant had heard of the prophet Elisha’s ability to do miracles. Fast forward and Naaman is told by Elisha that to be healed he merely needs to wash in the Jordan River seven times. Simple, right?

Naaman was…. appalled! The Jordan River was not a mighty, beautiful river. It couldn’t possibly be the answer. The problem is that too many of us are like Naaman. The simple solution seems too plain… too dirty. Why do that when we can wash in fancier or more expensive water? Yet, those fancy things wouldn’t cure Naaman. Only obeying God and washing in the muddy Jordan would heal him.

Christian parenting can be like that. We want to be able to spend money or do something fancy to ensure our kids will grow up to be strong, faithful, productive Christians. Unfortunately, there is no magic, fancy, pretty solution. Christian parenting is successful when parents do those simple every day things with their children – like family devotionals, prayer and regular worship attendance. It comes from consistent serving of others and sharing your faith.

And it comes from the daily shaping of their character and hearts. Want a simple ongoing, fun activity that can help shape your children’s character? It’s not fancy. Or expensive. It won’t work immediately. You will have to do it with your kids – at least at first. Over time though, it can help your children develop perseverance, patience, a strong work ethic, problem solving abilities and much more.

So what is one of the Jordan Rivers of Christian parenting? Jigsaw puzzles! Yes, jigsaw puzzles. Find a card table you can leave up all of the time and start a jigsaw puzzle. If you sit and work on it for a time, your kids will likely join you (assuming you enforce device free time in your home). Have fun with it. The puzzles should be challenging, but not too frustrating – especially if they have never done one before. Be excited by the idea of finishing it and they will catch your excitement. As time goes on and the puzzles get harder and take longer to solve, you may just find they are improving their character as well.

Helping Your Kids Make New Year’s Resolutions All Year

Our holiday celebrations have done us a disservice. We have unknowingly come to believe that decisions to change are best made on New Year’s Day. Which is fine if it’s only a couple of days away, but not so great if it is another 364 days from now.

Your children need to believe they can initiate needed changes – especially with God’s help – at any point in time. In fact, that is one of the huge beliefs underpinning Christianity – that we can change and make godly choices, becoming who God wants us to be. Don’t let a little thing like New Year’s undermine your children’s ability to repent and change course whenever it is needed.

You can lead by example – announcing a change you want to make at some random time and asking them to encourage you and hold you accountable. You can also create little random times of setting goals for positive change. A mom I know said that they would each write down something in their lives they wanted to get rid of (like a bad habit) and throw the piece of paper into the fire to symbolize the change they were working towards. You could have a “Goal of the Month” for the family or each person. Create space on birthdays, holidays, family vacations and at other times when a little reflection and goal setting would add to the experience.

While hopefully some of the goals will be spiritual, it’s okay to have some fun goals too. There’s nothing wrong with everybody saving money together so you can go on a special vacation. Or finally climbing that nearby mountain together. Your kids will still learn something from the process of how to set and achieve goals in life that can translate to spiritual goals as well.

Don’t believe the cultural hype that goal setting is for stressed out perfectionists. God has always asked His people to continue to grow spiritually and that’s a lot easier to accomplish if your kids learn how to set and reach spiritual goals.

Fun Way to Help Your Kids Communicate Better

James was right. Most of us could benefit from being quick to listen and slow to speak. If you think about it, many of the problems we encounter are due (at least in part) to poor communication. Either someone isn’t listening well or someone is unable to clearly communicate their ideas. As a result, frustration increases and conflicts begin. Remember, the frustration with poor communication was so strong at the Tower of Babel that the people scattered all over the earth!

There’s a fun activity you can do with your kids to help them work on their communication skills. You will need plain sheets of paper and pencils, crayons, markers, etc.

Call your kids together and ask them to think of times in the Bible when there were problems with communication. They may mention the Tower of Babel, Balaam’s talking donkey or one of the times Peter spoke too quickly. Read them James 1:19. Explain that it takes a lot of practice to be a good listener and an effective communicator. Good communication is about the words used, but also tone of voice, attitude, body language and more.

Give everyone a sheet of paper and crayons, pencils or markers. Choose one person to be “It”. That person shields his or her paper from view and begins creating a simple drawing. Using only words that describe the lines to be drawn and each new line or shape’s position in relation to previously drawn lines or the paper itself (as opposed to “draw a house with two windows”), “It” should describe the lines and shapes to be drawn as he or she is drawing. When the picture is complete, have everyone share their finished drawings. Who came closest to matching the original? What made it more difficult or easier at times? How can the next person communicate more clearly or the others listen better to get better results?

Regularly make time to work on listening skills with your children. Remind them to give equal talking time to others in a conversation (This is more difficult for extroverts.) Teach them how to both listen and speak with empathy. Strong communication skills will make living the Christian life easier for them.

Are You Raising Virtuous Children?

A large part of living the Christian life is having godly character traits. The New Testament has several lists of traits that God wants your children to have as well as some God does not want them to exhibit. There is one trait listed that is a word I doubt many of us use regularly or for which we could give a solid definition – virtue. 2 Peter 1:5a reads, “supplement your faith with virtue”. What is virtue and how can we instill it in our children?

Looking at the dictionary definition of virtue/virtuous helps, but still doesn’t make it crystal clear from a parenting standpoint. Webster defines virtue as “moral excellence, value, merit, worth, integrity of character, purity of soul, performance of duty, energy, strength, temperance (self control), service/charity and chastity”. That’s a lot to unpack! It’s almost as if Peter were trying to package every character trait mentioned in the New Testament into one word – virtue.

Although he is in theory promoting stoicism (true stoicism has some aspects in common with Christianity – mainly valuing some similar character traits), author Ryan Holiday in his book, Discipline is Destiny, does a great job in breaking the idea of virtue into an organized list of character traits. He believes virtue is composed of character traits that fall into one of four categories that are consistent in many religions – courage/fortitude (we would probably say perseverance)/sacrifice, self control/moderation/balance, justice/service/fellowship/goodness/kindness and wisdom/knowledge/truth/peace. Notice that the words in each category aren’t necessarily synonyms, but paint a clearer picture of that particular category of virtue. (Note: It’s important to remember that anyone can stumble across one or more of God’s Truths without believing in or obeying God. This inclusion of some Truth does not mean their religion or philosophy is Truth as a whole.)

The problem is that the world around us no longer values virtue. It sees many, if not most, of these traits as archaic, stifling and oppressive. Yet the opposite is true. Living a life of virtue as a Christian ultimately means not only obeying God’s commands but also shaping our character to be more like His image. It may not always be fun, but it provides the richest, most fulfilling – and I would argue – most joyful life possible in this fallen world.

Your children aren’t born virtuous, nor will they become it over night. Becoming virtuous requires hard work and can only be truly reached with the help of God. Those who don’t value virtue will try to convince your children that the process is perfectionism at its worst and will ultimately destroy them. Or that it will take all of the fun out of life. Or that by striving to be virtuous, thy are attempting to earn their way into Heaven (Sadly, those who call themselves Christians can at times discourage others from living a virtuous life). As your children get older, pursuing godly Christian virtue may cost them friends and romantic relationships. They won’t make it if you don’t instill in them an almost stubborn desire to become who God created them to be – His virtuous servant.

Should you be raising virtuous children? Absolutely! The world will be a better place if you succeed.