Teaching Kids to “Be Still and Know That I Am God”

Teaching Kids to "Be Still and Know That I Am God" - Parenting Like HannahKids today are busy. Not just “I need to run from class to practice” busy, but the kind of busy that used to be reserved for high powered executives. I have teen after teen tell me of regularly living on three to four hours sleep a night. After all of their activities and classes, the remainder of their time is spent doing homework – leaving little time for anything other than catching a couple of hours of sleep. Even the youngest of children have similar schedules.

We wonder why so many young people either don’t believe in God or aren’t totally sure they buy into the whole “God thing”! Perhaps it is because they don’t have any time in their lives to think, much less the kind of thinking required to make decisions about God.

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When Your Child Dates Someone You Don’t Like

When Your Child Dates Someone You Don't Like - Parenting Like HannahThrough the contact me feature on the Parenting Like Hannah website, I sometimes get questions parents want me to discuss. One of the most common questions is some variation of “What do I do when my child wants to date someone of whom I don’t approve?”

I have struggled with how to best answer the question, because what the person means can vary from “the other person is married” to “I don’t like the way she wears her hair.” Evidently, one is of much more spiritual importance than the other.

If your child is dating someone who is pulling them quickly away from God or is causing them to break God’s commands merely by being in the relationship, I urge you to get help from a minister or Christian counselor. You can give them more details and they can act as mediators between you and your child if necessary.

If the spiritual danger is more tenuous or is more a matter of personal preferences or taste, the following suggestions may help you:

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Your Child:Free-Spirited or Rebellious?

Your Child:Free Spirited or Rebellious - Parenting Like HannahAsk anyone who has worked retail for very long. There are parents whose children totally destroy everything in a store and they never correct them. These parents allow their kids to roam around leaving everything in disarray without expecting them to put things back. Sometimes, these same parents will look at the poor retail person (who must now spend the next thirty minutes restoring her store) with eyes or even words that say “Isn’t he/she adorable? Such a free spirit!”

Now don’t get me wrong, I have a strong free spirit streak myself. A true free spirit is one who doesn’t allow what people think of her art or charity work or whatever to stop her from doing what she knows is right. Unfortunately, the term free spirit has been taken by a group of people and changed into someone who does not follow rules. The rules of anyone. Even God.

In God’s language, that type of free-spiritedness is rebellion. Rebellion against God is a sin. Period. God is full of grace, but He also expects complete obedience. To disobey God is rebellion. To defiantly rebel against God’s commands never ends well. There are quite a few people in the Bible who could have testified to that in their own lives.

If you have a child whom you consider free spirited, please examine what behaviors and more importantly heart attitudes you are allowing that child to have. If it is allowing her to wear clashing clothes when she goes shopping with you, allow your child the freedom to be her color-clashing self. If however, you told her to wear a specific outfit and she shows up wearing something else, that is rebellion and must be corrected.

Be careful though, that the rules you make are ones which need to exist. Don’t set up a situation where you dictate something which your child should be allowed to choose freely. Allow him or her to express individuality in areas that don’t disobey God’s commands or principles and are age appropriate.

Addressing your child’s rebellion instead of allowing it to continue under the excuse of  your child being “free-spirited” will ultimately make your parenting job much easier. And when your child has to make decisions between obeying God or rebelling against God’s commands, he may be much more likely to make a good choice.

Teaching Kids About Opportunists

Teaching Kids About OpportunistsRecently, I was conducting a workshop for an urban ministry. As I looked around the space, I noticed a white board with the heading “Watch Out For Opportunists”. Under the heading, someone had listed people like drug dealers, shady employers, and several more. I asked someone about the list and they said the list was part of a discussion from Proverbs with older kids.

As I thought about it later, I realized all of our children are exposed to opportunists. The list of opportunists our children may encounter could be slightly different or exactly the same. Jesus told the Apostles as he sent them out to teach, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16 NIV) In today’s world, I think this verse applies to all Christians as much as it did to the Apostles.

We desperately need to train our children how to recognize and avoid those opportunistic wolves in life. How do we do that though, without making them anxious and untrusting of everyone they meet? What if they become so cautious, they are afraid to serve others and share their faith?

The good news is you can train your kids to be cautious without making them anxious around everyone. The trick is to teach them to observe carefully everyone they meet. If they see these warning signs of an opportunist, they need to be very careful about what they say and do around them. Caution them to check anything someone says against what the Bible says. If the two conclusions are different, teach your kids to not follow the advice of the opportunist.

So what are the qualities of an opportunist? There are probably plenty, but here are some that would be easy for your children to notice:

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Mom Advice:Godly Wisdom or Meddling?

Mom Advice:Godly Wisdom or Meddling - Parenting Like HannahWhen our daughter was a baby, she was gifted at removing her socks. And shoes. Actually anything on her feet. Give her two seconds and they were gone. For some reason, this bothered women over the age of sixty. You would have thought a barefoot baby…in a stroller…indoors was the definition of child neglect. The lectures I got were unbelievable. I am sure they meant well, but honestly socks on a baby’s feet (or mine either for that matter) were never a high priority.

It is easy to understand why after months of pregnancy and childbirth advice and then well meaning but sometimes strange baby advice, many moms get angry at anyone giving them any advice. The sad thing is there are godly women out there who could make our parenting journey a lot easier and more successful if we would ask for, listen to and take their advice. The question becomes to whose advice should I listen and when is it safe to do my own thing?

There is no absolute answer, but the next time someone gives you parenting advice here are some things to consider before ignoring it:

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