Author: Thereasa Winnett

Thereasa Winnett is the founder of Teach One Reach One and blogger at Parenting Like Hannah. She holds a BA in education from the College of William and Mary. She has served in all areas of ministry to children and teens for more than thirty years and regularly leads workshops for ministries and churches. She has conducted numerous workshops, including sessions at Points of Light’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service, the National Urban Ministry Conference, Pepperdine Bible Lectures, and Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration. Thereasa lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband Greg, where she enjoys reading, knitting, traveling and cooking.

Teaching Kids About Opportunists

Teaching Kids About Opportunists Recently, 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 Hannah When 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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When Mom Needs Those Wings Like Eagles

When Mom Needs Those Wings Like Eagles - Parenting Like Hannah Don’t you just love Isaiah 40:31? “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (NIV) As a Christian mom, there are days when I need to hear that verse multiple times.

God wants us to be productive Christians. He calls us to be involved moms, training and loving our children. I don’t recall though any verses where He called us to burn-out. Exhaustion from time to time perhaps, but not that complete utter burn-out.

Recently, I was given an opportunity to review the book Your Sacred Yes: Trading Life-Draining Obligation for Freedom, Passion, and Joy, by Susie Larson. Larson understands how easy it is to overcommit, confuse busyness with productiveness and the host of other choices that can cause Christians and Christian moms to burn-out.

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Exposing Teens to Fun Christians

Exposing Teens to Fun Christians - Parenting Like Hannah Walk into most youth centers. Listen to the testimonies given by adults. They are often sad stories of consequences from disobeying God. While those stories have a place in youth ministry, often these testimonies are ignored by the very teens for whom they are given.

Teens often feel almost invincible. Of course those adults had problems, they obviously weren’t very bright anyway. Teens know they can “have fun”, disobey a selected few of God’s laws for several years and escape unscathed.

Probe a little deeper and there is actually just a wee bit more to the story. Ask a few more questions and you will often find the teen is terrified of living the obviously dull and boring life that is the fate of every Christian. I mean look at their parents!

What those teens and frankly, I am beginning to think their youth ministers and the vast majority of the people in the Church no longer realize is that you can have the most exciting, fulfilling, adventurous life possible and still keep the “big three” commands of the teen and college years (no getting drunk, using drugs or sex before marriage). In fact, you may even be surprised at the adventures some of the people in your congregation had and are still having. They just don’t talk about it in church.

Start asking people at church about some of the adventures they have had in their lives. Ask them if they had to sin to have those adventures. If not, invite them to share their stories with your teens and possibly the teens in your church. Make it as clear as you can that it is absolutely possible to have a ton of fun (with none of those nasty consequences) and obey God at the same time.

Changing your child’s world view of the ability of Christians to have fun and still be godly, may just increase the likelihood of them doing the same themselves. I think that’s a legacy any family and any church would love to have!

Teaching Kids About the Bible and Context

Teaching Kids About the Bible and Context - Parenting Like Hannah One of the easiest ways for a false teaching to gain traction is to quote a scripture out of context or make up an entire context that isn’t even there. Yet, we rarely teach kids and teens how to use context to help them understand the scriptures better.

Teaching kids about context is something a parent can easily do at home with even upper elementary aged kids. Train your children to never accept one Bible verse as “proof” of anything. Often a verse is only a piece of a much larger puzzle God puts together over numerous verses, chapters and even books of the Bible.

Encourage your children to look at least at the few verses before and after a verse they are given. Some Bibles have an almost paragraph format to the chapters now. Encourage older kids and teens to read the entire “paragraph” or even the entire chapter. Really difficult passages to understand may require reading the chapter before and after the chapter in which the original verse is contained.

Practice with your child thinking about what information those extra verses add to the original verse. Does it tell us more about what was happening when the verse was said? Does knowing what was happening add additional meaning or change their understanding of the original verse a little? What was the purpose of the entire chapter and not just that one verse? Does what your child was told that verse “proved” fit in with the meaning of the entire chapter?

The other danger with context is something that has cropped up in the last few decades. it is an attempt to totally discount entire, very clearly written scriptures under the guise of some made up context not included in the verse, chapter or even book. You may have even heard someone say, “Of God didn’t mean that for us. It was because thus and so weird thing was happening in that city.” Where they get their information from is never quite clear as it definitely is never in those scriptures or any nearby scripture. Teach your children to not let things quite possibly entirely made up by someone, trick them into disobeying a very clear scripture. Remind them Satan is the father of lies, so be wary of anything not backed up by the Bible.

Taking a little extra time to teach your kids about the Bible and context can protect them from being tricked by false teachings – whether the motives of the teacher or pure or not. It’s just another tool you can give your kids to help make it easier for them to stay on God’s path.