Can you believe September starts next week? The weather will begin changing soon for many of us. Apples are beginning to ripen – which means homemade apple butter in our house. In a couple of weeks, we will be six months into our COVID experience. How well are you and your family coping? You may want to search past blog posts for ideas to help. Here are our social media challenges for this week.
Monday: This was Joshua’s family motto. What’s yours? You might not have it on the wall of your home. You may never tell your kids “This is our family motto”, but they know. They know what you value more than anything. Why not be intentional? Pick a scripture. Talk about it frequently. Find ways to live it out as a family. Center your family around God.
Tuesday: Do your kids know they can have fun and obey God at the same time? That disobeying God is about meeting our selfish desires and not about any higher purpose? The world will tell them God is a meanie who doesn’t want them to have fun or to do what they want to do. They will hear over and over that disobeying God is the enlightened thing to do. That rejecting God and His commands will make them happier. Teach them the truth and show them the results of the lies.
Wednesday: Even if your kids are involved in distance learning, they still have things that happen they will need your help processing. If your kids are in some form of “regular” school, they also need help processing life. Get in the habit at the end of each day of everyone sharing something – a blessing, a question or a concern. Some days they may struggle coming up with something – especially if you haven’t encouraged them to talk about their day before. If you and your spouse share when they get stuck, it can help. Once they realize you will really listen, they may begin opening up a lot. (So avoid doing it right at bedtime if you want to stay on schedule.) Getting your kids to open up to you will make it easier for you to give them the support and guidance they need.
Thursday: Toasties and chips? Sammies and fries? Different cultures use different words or have different meanings for the same words. Your kids are in a different culture than you because of the age difference. You need to understand the words they use. You don’t need to necessarily use their slang (it really annoys some teens), but you must understand it. Ask, google do what you need to do to stay fluent in their language. It changes rapidly but can cover all sorts of issues your kids or their friends may be having. Understanding what your kids are saying can be an important parenting tool.
Friday: Art is a great way to help kids process their emotions or for you to learn about their heart for God. Go to Parenting Like Hannah (.com) for recent blog posts on the real emotions behind anger and using art to find out more about your child’s heart for God.