What Your Kids Need Most

What Your Kids Need Most - Parenting Like HannahLast week I was in Honduras on a mission trip. Over the course of the week, we worked with probably over six hundred kids and teens. We got to interact and talk with them. We spent time teaching, correcting and loving them.

Looking back on the week, the same theme was repeated that I hear whenever I work with kids in the U.S. or any other country. Kids have some basic needs that go to the very core of their being. No matter how much teachers and volunteers try, they can never meet these core needs the way a parent can.

Your kids need some things from you to be healthy, productive people. They need these things desperately if you want them to be faithful, productive Christians. If you try to cut corners in providing these things to your kids, they will suffer and ultimately so will you.

So what do your kids need from you?
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Steps For Developing a Child’s Heart for Missions

Steps For Developing a Child's Heart For Missions - Parenting Like HannahWhen our daughter was two years old, she went on her first mini mission trip. We were vacationing in Mexico and went for the day to encourage a missionary family we knew in another town. Since then, we have been on numerous full length mission trips to help with a children’s home that was established in that city. Our daughter would move to Mexico in a heartbeat to help with the mission. The worst punishment we could give her would be to lengthen the time between our visits. In fact, we used to joke that one day she would live with her future husband in Mexico as full time missionaries.
Parents often ask me how she became so passionate about any mission work at such a young age. Recently some moms I know, whose children have a heart for missions, were comparing notes with me. I realized we all had followed some of the same basic principles with similar results.

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Thoughts From the Mission Field

Thoughts From the Mission Field - Parenting Like HannahAs I continue my mission trip in Honduras, I thought you might appreciate reading these thoughts one of the missionaries shared with me a few years ago. She has served God in two countries outside of the United States and I think after years in the field, has some valuable insights on preparing your kids to join God in the mission field.

After some thought, she came up with an interesting list:

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Raising Missionaries

Raising Missionaries - Parenting Like Hannah
Preparing for a mission trip

This week, I am actually on a mission trip to the country of Honduras. Our team will be working with several hundred public school children and serving others in the community. This trip is a little bittersweet for me, because it is the first time in many years I have gone on a mission trip to another country without my husband and daughter. This time my husband didn’t have enough vacation time and our daughter is completing her study abroad year in Europe. Our family has always loved our family mission trips and yours can too.

Below is a post I wrote some time ago about things we were doing with the kids in our church to encourage them to do mission work. Many of these things you can do on a smaller scale at home. Prayerfully consider taking your family on a mission trip. Done properly, mission trips can help others and provide opportunities for spiritual growth in your family.

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Giving Christian Kids Roots

Giving Christian Kids Roots - Parenting Like HannahOne of the keys to raising children who grow up to become productive Christians is giving them a strong spiritual foundation. Because I emphasize that so often in my posts, I was interested when given a chance to review Rooted by Banning Liebscher.

Liebscher does an excellent job of presenting the case for allowing God to develop a strong root system in you (and your kids). Although the book is aimed at adults, many of the insights he shares are good things to teach your children.

Although he touches on a lot of different pieces to the puzzle, I think the most valuable is to realize God has a plan for you and your kids. As a part of that plan He will put you and your kids where you need to be to grow and develop the talents, gifts and skills He has given you to serve Him.

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