Parenting Like Hannah

Fun With Kids and Work

Fun With Kids and Work - Parenting Like Hannah Christianity is actually an interesting mix of grace and work. Step outside of any preconceived ideas and take a look at the New Testament with fresh eyes. When you do, it becomes obvious we cannot save ourselves and we are saved only by and through the grace of God.

On the other hand, Jesus and the disciples worked like crazy. Yes, they attended the occasional dinner party and fished from time to time, but they also worked hard. They were constantly traveling from place to place teaching, healing and serving others. The Apostle Paul even continued to run his tent making business while he preached. Even the early Christians were so busy working deacons were created to help handle some of the work load that had fallen on the elders.

The problem in life is that most people ride the pendulum. If they believed work was required too much when growing up, then they preach only grace – Christians can sit back and have fun – no work expected. If you grew up in an environment with too much grace, then your pendulum probably swung the other way. The truth lies in the balance. We are saved by God’s grace, but God wants and expects us to work in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons – for our own good and the good of the Kingdom.

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Great Prayer Craft

Great Prayer Craft - Parenting Like Hannah Kids love secrets. There is something fun about a little mystery in life. That’s probably why detective series have been hits in children’s literature for decades. What if you could encourage your child’s prayer life by helping them make a “secret” place for their prayers?

This is a really simple craft, yet it kept a group of five to ten year olds engaged for a long period of time. You need a used mint container (preferably the metal ones) for each child. If you are doing this with a large group, we were able to find a company that sold unused tins for less than a dollar each. You will also need scrap pretty papers (scrapbooking paper, gift wrap, etc.), scraps of lace, ribbon, rick rack and/or fabric, golf pencils (if you don’t know golfers, office supply stores sell these by the gross), glue, scissors and markers.

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Helping Kids Avoid Life’s Big Mistakes

If you have ever watched a horror movie, you know not to go into that dark basement when you hear a scary noise. Something bad always happens. Yet even though everyone watching the movie is screaming for what is coming next, the character blindly walks into disaster – sometimes more than once in the same movie. I think Dr. Phil calls it “doubling down on stupid”? You know the person who keeps making the same mistake over and over while everyone around them is practically screaming “Don’t do it!”?

Doesn’t sound very kind, but the truth is we can get stuck in life because we are not learning an important lesson and making changes. Those who don’t, live a life making the same mistakes over and over. What if you could help your friends and family get unstuck? What if you could unstick your own life? What if you could teach your kids those lessons and they could learn them before making some big mistakes?

I am a big fan of the work of Dr. Henry Cloud, so I was interested when I learned he had a new book Never Go Back: 10 Things You’ll Never Do Again. As usual, Dr. Cloud doesn’t disappoint. The premise of this book is that there are ten basic mistakes people tend to make. The successful people in life only make them once – they learn their lesson, make changes and succeed because of it. The rest get stuck making the same mistake over and over again.

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The Little Things in Christian Parenting

The Little Things in Christian Parenting - Parenting Like Hannah I moved a lot during my twenties. Packing boxes is a pain. Then you either have to tape them closed or struggle to get them to do that criss-cross fold that keeps them shut. Imagine my excitement the other day when a store gave me this box! Some genius (worthy of a major prize or patent in my mind) came up with the idea of notching one flap. That’s it. Something really simple, but it makes a world of difference if you need to temporarily close a lot of boxes.

Christian parenting is the same way. We can get overwhelmed with the weight of the task and basically give up on even putting any effort into it. I can’t tell you how many blogs and posts I see from people who don’t want anyone to suggest a better way of doing anything – especially parenting. Those who have tips to make our job easier and the results better are obviously just judging us. Evidently, it is now even “cool” to be mediocre – those putting a lot of effort into almost anything are portrayed as uptight or neurotic and definitely worthy of scorn from those of us who are “average” and are happy to stay that way. Better to continue just taking our kids to church from time to time and hope it “sticks” like it seems to have with us than to put in extra effort and appear prudish, nerdy or judgmental.

Unfortunately, God makes it absolutely clear that is not at all what He expects from parents. Check out Deuteronomy 6:7 and Deuteronomy 11:19 if you don’t believe me. The sad part is many children will walk away from God because their parents didn’t put in that extra effort. And the good news is that it really isn’t all that hard. Just making a few tiny changes, can make a huge difference in the spiritual development of your child.

So what are some quick, simple things you can do to start your child in life with a well grounded faith? There are probably hundreds of things you can do, but try a few of these for starters:

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A Fun Way to Remind Kids to Read the Bible

A Fun Way to Remind Kids to Read the Bible - Parenting Like Hannah Remember the old string tied around the finger? Back when I was growing up, whenever we saw a string tied around a finger, we knew someone was supposed to remember something important every time they saw the string.

We want our children to read their Bibles regularly. We may not want to nag in an effort to avoid having the Bible seem like another chore for our kids instead of something they should treasure. So how about a fun memory jogger like the string?

Recently, we taught a group of children how God’s Words are sometimes referred to as honey (Psalm 119:103) or milk (I Peter 2:2) in the Bible. We explained honey meant God’s words are so special we should be as excited to read them as if someone gave us something sweet to eat like honey. The scripture in I Peter mentions how important milk is to a new little baby. God’s Words should be as important to us as milk is to a tiny baby.

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