School starts here in a little over a week. Extra curricular activities will start soon after. In a few weeks, the only “quality time” you may have with your kids is when you are in the car together going from place to place. (And no, I am not a fan, but it is what it is.)
One of my favorite scriptures for Christian parents is Deuteronomy 6:6-7. “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You should impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (NIV) Only today, we may need to add “while in the car along the road”, but I think you get the point.
Kids are funny. We think they are naive and in some ways they are. Most kids though have a keen awareness of when adults want to hear what they want to hear and not the absolute truth. That’s why adults are often shocked when a kid goes “off the rails”. He or she probably had lots of questions and concerns, but didn’t share them with an adult for fear of upsetting that delicate balance.
Yesterday, I shared how brain science helps explain the divisiveness and violence we have seen in our world over the last few months. There is a solution, and it really does start with you and your family. Teaching your children how to have godly empathy and love will make a huge difference. As a bonus, your kids can learn a lot and have fun in the process.
If you have paid any attention to the news lately, you know our world is divided. If that weren’t bad enough, quite a few people are resorting to violence and even murder to try and “win” their arguments with others. It seems hopeless, but you and your family can begin making a difference.
Recently the news cycle has been so depressing, it’s enough to rob anyone of their joy. Sometimes though, it isn’t what happens in the world that robs us of our joy, but what happens in our homes. Maybe your kids have been passing the same virus back and forth for several weeks. Perhaps that much anticipated family vacation dissolved into one non-stop sibling war only to return home to unending laundry. Or it may not be one specific thing, but just the accumulation of a lot of little things over time that has you dragging through your days like you are trying to swim in a mud puddle.