Moms and the Gift of Friendship

Moms and the Gift of Friendship - Parenting Like HannahMoms are almost always surrounded by people. In fact, if you have little ones, you probably don’t even get to go to the bathroom alone. Yet talk to many moms- especially moms with young children – and most will admit they suffer from loneliness.

Our world is full of acquaintances we have convinced ourselves are friends. They are there to chat with while waiting for your kids or online exchanging stories of the fun things their kids are doing. Yet what most of us moms are longing for are those friends who know all of our quirks, but love us anyway. Who love us enough to hold us accountable when we aren’t being who God wants us to be. Who will walk with us down this motherhood path.

I was interested when offered a chance to review The Gift of Friendship: Stories That Celebrate the Beauty of Shared Moments by Dawn Camp. The book contains very short stories written by a variety of moms about friendship. Some I knew were somewhat “famous” in Christian circles and others I don’t know at all. Yet each of their stories rang true.

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Teaching Kids to Make Godly Choices

Teaching Kids to Make Godly Choices - Parenting LIke HannahHave you ever given your child a dollar to spend at a dollar store? It is amazing how much time and thought a child can put into a decision about exactly how to spend that dollar. Yet that same child may be faced with a decision that can have lasting consequences and make it with little or no thought at all.

Good, godly decision making must be taught to kids. Making your children’s’ decisions for them may seem like the best path, but it really isn’t at all. A parent who controls almost every decision a child can make is robbing that child of learning the skills for making a good choice.

Sometimes that learning process also involves learning the consequences of making a not-so-great choice. Unless those consequences have long-term negative effects, sometimes it really is best to allow your child to fail a bit in order to grow.

You can keep those failures to a minimum though, by teaching your child the basic steps for making a good choice:

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Service Project for Kids to Serve Those in Disaster Prone Areas

Service Project for Kids to Help Those Living in Disaster Prone Areas - Parenting Like HannahIt seems like every few weeks some area of the world is hit with an earthquake, tornado, hurricane or other natural disaster. Even in highly developed areas like the United States, it can sometimes take days or weeks to get help to affected areas. In countries with a high level of poverty, those few days can mean the difference between surviving and dying. What if your kids could do a survive project that would help people living in areas that regularly have natural disasters?

Before beginning this project, find a missionary or program that is interested and willing to make sure your finished kits get to the people who may need them the most. Start the project by telling students about life in the area you have chosen to serve. Describe the natural disasters that happen regularly and the hardships they cause.

Tell students they are going to put together disaster kits to help people in the area be prepared for disasters. Explain that because of poverty, these people cannot afford the extra expense of buying things they may not use constantly. When disaster strikes, it can leave them vulnerable to injury, hunger and exposure to weather conditions. You can have the kids design fliers and collect enough materials to do this on a large basis, or just buy enough materials to make a couple of kits. If you live in a part of the country that gets a lot of hurricanes or tornados, people in poverty in your own town might even appreciate these kits.

So what items should go in a disaster kit? Your kit doesn’t have to include all of these items, but here is what is in a lot of kits:

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Great Resource for Helping Kids Focus on Missions

Great Resource for Helping Kids Focus on Missions - Parenting Like HannahThe world of a child is very small in some ways. Even if your family travels a lot, chances are your children are focused on what happens within the few feet around them throughout the day. A few older kids and teens may have a vague awareness of current events in the news, but I would imagine very few have any concept of what the world is like for Christians in every country around the world.

In order for your kids to become passionate about spreading the gospel, they need to understand on a practical basis how important the task is to many people around the world. They need to grasp the enormity of how many people still need to hear about Jesus. They need to comprehend what Christians in many countries must endure in order to worship God or share their faith. They must begin to realize because the harvest is plenty and the workers are few, they personally have a responsibility to do their part.

I was interested when offered the opportunity to review An Insider’s Guide to Praying for the World by Brian Stiller. The book covers about forty countries as well as several specific ministries and people. Personally, I wish they had omitted the chapters focusing on specific people and their ministries. Partially because I believe there is always a danger in holding up any person as a model, particularly of Christianity.

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Helping Kids Understand the Bible

Helping Kids Understand the Bible - Parenting Like HannahHow many hours do you think you have spent reading to your child? How many library books have you had in your house? How much time have you spent listening to your child practice reading with materials sent from school? How many conversations have you had with your child’s school teachers over the years about reading levels, comprehension and more?

“Good” parents spend lots of time and money helping their children learn to read and understand secular material. We know being able to read well can affect everything from grades to what they end up doing for a living as adults. Yet somehow, we just assume our kids will automatically know how to read and understand the Bible without much, if any, help from us.

Unfortunately, many kids struggle with their first attempts at Bible reading. Often, they become so discouraged they don’t attempt reading the Bible on their own again for many years – if ever. In fact, you may have had that experience yourself and still shudder a bit at the idea of reading the Bible without a preacher or Bible class teacher by your side helping you understand it.

It doesn’t need to be that way for your children though. There are some simple things you can do to help your kids actually feel comfortable reading the Bible and understanding what they read (as much as any human can!).

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