Parenting Like Hannah

Kids, Kidding, and God

“April Fools!” One of the fun parts of childhood is playing practical jokes on your parents on April Fools Day. Kids love “knock knock” jokes and enjoy learning jokes that were already old when their oldest relatives learned them as children.

Sometimes though, kidding around starts to take an ugly turn. Often society accepts downright meanness as “humor”. I even hear adults defend mean humor, teasing and hurtful kidding as a necessary part of toughening up children for the real world.

What really is appropriate for kids to do in the name of humor? What about parents? Are adults allowed to be mean in their humor when directing it towards other adults?

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Christian Conversation Starters

One of the most effective ways to teach your children God’s principles and concepts is through casual, but planned conversations. Some parents call them teachable moments. A teachable moment is when another child almost darts into the street and then a car whizzes by. The parent uses what just happened to reinforce or introduce the concept of “that is why you don’t run into the street without looking, because he could have been killed!”

Teachable moments are different than lectures. There is almost a “we are in this together” tone to the conversation. The conversation mentions the rule or the principle but focuses more on the natural consequences of not obeying the rule or principle. (As opposed to the more lecture oriented “If I ever catch you, I will ____” consequence!)

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What A Son Needs From His Mom

Growing up, I had a younger brother and lots of guy neighbors and friends. I wasn’t exactly a tomboy, but I could kick a football barefooted and knew enough about sports to impress my buddies. I was very comfortable hanging out with guys and imagined if I ever had a son, raising him would be somewhat intuitive.

Having a daughter has kept me immersed in the world of tea parties, dress buying and girl things for the last sixteen years. I have hesitated to comment much on raising boys in case things have changed since my childhood. Until recently, my search for solid books on raising boys has not been very successful.

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Using Every Day Things to Impress God’s Words

I don’t know why, but many people think having scriptures on various items is a cheesy way to decorate. Yet in the Old Testament, God told the people to have scriptures on at least a couple of places around the house – the door post and the gate.

Why did God want scriptures where people had to see them entering their yards and their houses? The Bible never says specifically, but my guess is that it reminded them every time they came home and every time they left, “whose they are”.

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Lies Satan Tells Moms (and Dads)

I have to give Satan his props. He is tricky and bold. Look back at the story of Adam and Eve. As far as we can tell, the only rule they had was that they were not to eat or even touch the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (apples aren’t mentioned anywhere!). God wanted to make sure they understood, so He added a warning, “Or you will die.”

Now I don’t know about you, but when my mother taught me not to drink drain cleaner and added, “Because you could die”, I took her very seriously. In fact to this day, I am not even tempted to drink drain cleaner. Yet, for Adam and Eve something didn’t click.

I think there is something we can’t pick up on easily in the story. I am not sure what the serpent looked like or what he sounded like, but there was something in the way he said his temptation that convinced them they wouldn’t really die and would even get benefits from disobeying God.

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