4 Unusual Things I Do With My Children
Did you know that there are things that you do that are unique to you and your family?
You may struggle to think of them since they come so naturally to you, or have been passed on from your own childhood and seem ordinary. But they’re not. They’re special, and meaningful, and beautiful!
I truly believe that when you realise just how special your family is, and how the Lord is blessing your marriage and your children during these years, your heart will overflow in thankfulness to Him. Every good and perfect gift is from above (James 1:17), which includes the gifts of family traditions, united vision, and the little everyday sparkles that make your family an original and precious masterpiece.
Following are 4 unusual things I do with my children:
I sing my prayers
Each night as I put my children to bed, I sing a prayer. Now, believe me, I am no Celine Dion, so thankfully a gorgeous voice with faultless pitch are not requirements. All you actually need for this mesmerizing practice are two virtual props:
- Words you’d normally pray, and
- A familiar tune – I’ve been known to put my prayers to the tunes of Titanic, 80’s hits, and Eensy Weensy Spider! Just pick one and pray away :-).
(Funnily enough, I was babysitting a friend’s children recently, and prayer-sang to them when they went to bed. Apparently for days after the fact, they were begging their parents to sing their bedtime prayers to them :-))
Car Dates
I try to take each of my children out on a date regularly. I go out once a week with our 14 year old after her piano lesson as she needs this time with me, while I space the younger ones out more (fortnightly or monthly).
My first stop with my son or daughter is our local supermarket. I give the child a budget and let them loose to choose all the goodies that their sweet heart desires, as long as they stay within their budget. (They’ve had a lifetime of brainwashing that they should always choose the healthier options, so while a chocolate is almost always among their chosen treats, the other items are usually pretty nutritious).
Stop 2, we drive to a special spot (or alternate between a few) where we sit in our parked car, eat the yummies and talk to our hearts’ content. I make a point of parking in a place with a lovely pastoral view, which isn’t hard to come by where we live in New Zealand. The children love it, and there are so many advantages, such as knowing how much we’ll spend each week, not having to rush out of a café because it’s closing, laughing and crying as loudly as we want, among others.
Plan For the Day
Each evening, I prepare for the next day (one of the incredibly helpful tips I learned from the Make Over Your Mornings Online Course – super highly recommended!)
As part of this process, I write the following, as an example, on a white board in our kitchen for the children to check when the get up:
Breakfast
Oatmeal
Morning Tea
Fruit kebabs
Lunch
Pumpkin soup and home baked bread
Afternoon Tea
Popcorn
Dinotion (Dinner + Devotion)
Roast beef, mashed potatoes and salad
Plan
1:30pm Drama
4:45pm Aviel goes to Dr. Morton
7:30pm Home Group at our place
I can’t put into words just how much more relaxed and peaceful our children are when they know what to expect (especially since their primary love language is food :-))
I know it looks as if they have five meals a day, but actually they only have one meal (continuous) :-).
Of course, our children know that they need to stay flexible throughout the day and realise by now that unforeseen events will come up. But on the whole, having this framework helps them, and certainly helps me stay on track, too!
‘Good’ versus ‘Godly’
There is one phrase we never use with our children, and that is to ‘be good’. ‘Be good’ is simply not a part of our vocabulary as parents. Instead, we encourage them to ‘be godly.’ Tweet that
While being ‘good’ is an external and visible state of behavior, being ‘godly’ encapsulates everything my husband and I have ever taught them about living righteous lives in the Lord. It spans being obedient to honouring, patient to polite, humble to holy, and everything in between!
The blessing in this is that when (not if :-)) they were not godly during the day, we are able to target their hearts rather than their behavior. We would tell them that their hearts could have been more submissive to their parents which would have resulted in more respect, or that it would have been a better witness to others around them at the potluck lunch if they were more generous, rather than greedy.
If you think about it, if all you’re using is the ‘be good’ requirement, there’s only one way to go – be better… and teaching moments for biblical content become instantly more limited and often lost.
So, my friend, these are just some of the more uncommon activities that are characteristic of our family.
I would absolutely love to hear yours! Please post them in the comments below so that we can all learn and possibly borrow some wisdom 🙂.
