Using Books for Family Devotionals

Using Books for Family Devotionals - Parenting Like HannahI am a huge fan of family devotionals. To me, it’s not the formality of it that’s important, but rather the subtle and not so subtle messages having regular family devotionals give to your kids. If you didn’t grow up having devotionals in your home, you may be a bit intimated by the idea. Perhaps you feel you don’t know enough yourself to be teaching your kids about the Bible. I am confident you can do it, but I totally understand wanting the reassurance a family devotional book can give.

Since I am always on the lookout for resources to help you on your Christian parenting journey, I was excited when given the opportunity to review a new book of family devotionals. Kingdom Family Devotional by Tony and Jonathan Evans has a format that I really appreciate. Not only does it contain enough devotionals to last an entire year, but each week has a theme and within each week there is a devotional for five different days.

I love the idea that each week your family can focus on one topic. So for example, one week your family can focus on self-control and another week spend the week reflecting on what it looks like to be a godly woman or a godly man. It encourages the readers to spend time outside of the actual family devotional time talking about and thinking about the topic for the week. I would think it could be a great motivator for parents to take advantage of the teachable moments that week a little more intentionally.

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4 Important Principles to Teach Kids When God Says “No”

4 Important Things to Teach Kids When God Says "No" - Parenting Like HannahA few months ago, my husband was encouraged to interview for a promotion. He wasn’t sure getting it would be the best for our family or his ministry, but he went through the process. When someone else got the job, he wasn’t too disappointed and honestly, I forgot all about it. Until the other day. The man who got the promotion instead of my husband was laid off after years of loyal service. The entire level of management was gone and those people no longer had jobs.

What we could have viewed initially as a disappointment, we now realized was actually God’s way of protecting us from a season of unemployment. It wasn’t God trying to deny us a blessing of higher pay or more power, but rather loving protection of our family.

Your children will be disappointed in life. If they view God as some giant Santa Claus or magic genie in the sky, they may transfer that disappointment to God. It’s extremely important you teach them four important principles about God and disappointment.

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Fun Activity to Teach Your Kids the Importance of Spiritual Disciplines

Fun Activity to Teach Kids the Importance of teh Spiritual Disciplines - Parenting Like HannahA little sad isn’t it? I couldn’t find a parsley plant, so I decided to grow my own from seed. After weeks, this is what I have. I’m thinking at this point I could grow a redwood tree faster. As I thought about this experience though, I realized it makes a good practical activity for your kids.

Find some seeds of a plant your children would enjoy. It can be flowers or food, just something that makes them excited about what the plant will eventually produce. You can get a cheap pot and use dirt from your yard. I splurged a bit and used the “good” dirt you can purchase at gardening stores.

As you plant the seeds, tell them the parable of the soils in Luke 8:4-21 (if you are truly ambitious, you can get four pots and try to reproduce the soils of the parable). Talk about how at this point in their lives their faith is like the seeds you are planting. Their hearts are the soil. Even though this parable doesn’t go into these details, I think it is very biblical to talk about everything the plants need to grow. Light, moisture and nutrients can be compared to things that will help them grow spiritually.

If they neglect to water the seeds or you have cloudy weather for several days, your kids may see what happens when plants are deprived of what they need to grow. Help them understand when they don’t read the Bible, pray, fellowship with Christians, etc. their faith will suffer just like the seeds.  Sometimes an object lesson is one that will stay with your kids long after it is over.

Fun Way to Create Local Extended Family at Church

Fun way to Create Extended Family at Church - Parenting Like HannahYears ago, most people lived their entire lives within a few miles of where they were born. If they did move, often one or more members of their extended family would travel with them. Parents had the support of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and others in raising their children. The important role wasn’t back up child care, but reinforcing family values.

At times, your children are going to internally or externally question something you teach them. They may hear from peers or on social media that others are allowed to do things their Christian parents won’t allow. They might want a second opinion from someone they love and respect. When tensions rise at home, a loving older relative can often smooth the waters. Yet for many of us most or all of our extended family live miles and even states away.

Parents are suffering from the lack of extended family support and yet Christian parents have a great source of substitute extended family right at their fingertips. We often call congregations our church family, but have you ever taken the term seriously? We have with our child (and my parents even go to church with us).

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The Most Important Thing to Teach Your Children About Modesty

The Most Important Thing to Teach Your Kids About Modesty - Parenting Like Hannah
Colonial Laundry

“Play not the Peacock, looking everywhere about you to see if you be well deck’t.” Unless you are a huge history fan, you probably didn’t know George Washington had a list of rules to live by that he shared with others. (This was rule #54!) He was known for his humility or modesty and thought it was an important quality of well bred people.

In modern society, modesty has come to mean how much of the naked body a female exposes to the world. I remember vividly having to measure the distance between the bottom of my shorts and my knees in order to attend summer Bible camp. While we don’t want our kids to have clothing that exposes private areas, I always bristled at the idea that it was somehow my fault if a man lusted after me. I had been in urban areas enough times to have men catcall in the middle of winter when everything was covered but my eyes. I wasn’t convinced an extra inch of covered leg would matter to those men.

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