Kids, Labels and God

Kids, Labels and God - Parenting Like HannahIf you are like me, clothing care labels are more confusing than helpful. Many of those international symbols are not quite as clear as I am sure their designers had hoped. Attempting to place labels on people can cause confusion and a lot of unintended problems as well.

Think about it. What labels have you been given over the years? Daughter, wife and mother are probably on your list (unless you are a dad!). Were you ever told you were slow or difficult or fat? What about gifted, beautiful or smart? Now dig even deeper. What, if anything, did those labels do to define you and what you were or weren’t capable of being or doing? Or how you believe others see you? Or if you are capable of being considered lovable by others or even God?

I recently listened to a speaker trying to explain the reason so many young people aren’t following God. We were then subjected to a solid twenty minutes or more of detailed explanations about the various generations and their labels. You’ve probably heard it. Baby boomers like XYZ. Millennials hate ABC. If you just do 123, GenX people will return to Church.

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Theme Bible Verses for Kids

Theme Bible Verses for Kids - Parenting Like HannahBack in the times of the Bible, the names given to children were meaningful. Not just that the names had an original meaning which may or may not have been considered. Children were often named for the hopes their parents had for their future or unfortunately for some (poor Jabez! I Chronicles 4:9) what they put their mothers through in labor and delivery.

When we were pregnant with our daughter, I had a name I loved. When we did the ultrasound and she waved…well let’s just say, Katrina (and the Waves for music fans) was a natural fit. We loved both of our daughter’s names meant purity. We even gave her a theme song “Walking On Sunshine” by of course, Katrina and the Waves.

I don’t know why we didn’t think of giving her a theme verse as well. The other day, a guy I went to church with as a child was celebrating the birthday of one of his kids. His wife posted their child’s theme verse as part of the celebration on Facebook. I absolutely love that idea. The idea of having a verse of scripture as a part of your identity from the very start.

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Fun Ways to Teach Kids To Be Patient With Others

Fun Ways to Teach Your Kids Patience 2 - Parenting Like HannahIn Fun Ways to Teach Kids Patience, I gave you activities to do to help your kids develop patience while waiting on God to fulfill His promises or while waiting on God’s perfect timing. Today, I want to give you some things you can do to help your kids develop the other type of patience – keeping their cool when someone or something is getting on their “last nerve”.

This is the kind of patience God requires us to give to others. Not because we are waiting for them to do something good for us, but because we want to treat them as we would wish to be treated. It’s the type of patience so rare in our world today. Just by having it, your children will stand out in a way that will make people want to listen when they share their faith.

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Fun Ways to Teach Kids Patience

Fun Ways to Teach Kids Patience - Parenting Like HannahPatience is one of the fruits of the Spirit. God expects His people to be patient while waiting for His perfect timing in life. He also expects us to be patient with others – as in the ever popular, slow to anger.

Although we aren’t quite sure how the Holy Spirit helps us with the fruit of the Spirit, it’s never too early to help your kids practice patience. And as “unfun” as that sounds, there are plenty of fun ways to teach kids how to be more patient.

Let’s focus on the first kind of patience God expects from His people – the ability to wait patiently for God to fulfill His promises and to wait for the things for which your kids prayed and for which God is making them wait.

There are a lot of fun things you can do with your kids to help them practice and learn this concept. The trick is to give them the promise of a reward, but one for which they must wait. I believe scripture also gives us examples of God expecting people to do certain things while they wait for Him from time to time, so throwing in that aspect to your activity isn’t a stretch either. (The trick is making sure your kids understand that even if God wants them to do something while they wait, the eventual blessing is still from God and not themselves.)

Here are a few of my favorites:

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Creative Ways to Thank Others During Your Family Gratitude Month

Creative Ways to Thank Others - Parenting Like HannahSo, you have decided to join the family gratitude month challenge. The first couple of days were easy enough, but now it’s starting to seem more like a chore. Introducing a little fun into the challenge can help your family show their thankfulness for the entire thirty days of November.

As always, Pinterest is your friend. Don’t feel like you have to get caught up in that Elf On The Shelf type competitive madness though, for your family month of gratitude. If you and your kids are having fun writing notes or making cookies for the entire month – go for it.

If you want some new ideas though, here are a few I have used or seen over the years (my apologies to the original creative people – I have no idea of the original source of any of these):

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