BEST THING WE DID FOR OUR KIDS--by Karen Whiting.
My
five children are grown and now I enjoy 12 grandchildren, including two adopted
as tweens and teens. Looking back I realize the best thing we did for our
family was family devotions. We started when the children were tiny tots. We
combined a variety of activities with scriptures for hands on fun, and to make
scriptures more memorable.
My husband served in the Coast Guard for 22 years, and that often meant doing devotions while he spent time at sea. We
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| Author Karen Whiting |
The
benefits go beyond sharing faith and bonding with being together. It lays a
Biblical worldview and helps them know Jesus and that’s fabulous. It also
develops cognitive skills of a larger vocabulary and reading comprehension. It
helped our children think critically as we discussed Bible stories and
passages. It helped shape their character and decision making skills as we
reflected on the people in the Bible and choices they made.
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Christine asked me to share a little of what you’ll find to do in my new book, 52 Weekly Devotions for Busy Families. First, it’s full of choices and you can choose to do just one or two things in a busy week, or lots of activities in a week where the calendar is more open.
- Each week focuses on a theme stated in a Family Beatitude, such as Happy is the Family who invests time in one another, they will feel accepted.
- That week the theme is T-I-M-E spells love. There is one story of real children and 3-4 activity choices, such as checking out optical illusions or investigating bugs to help overcome fears.
- A Bible story connections section suggests a scripture passage to read and discuss related to the theme.
- Four chat prompts provide scriptures with discussion ideas to help apply the theme in everyday life.
- Then, there are some drawing prompts to fill in a scrapbook each week.
- So, a week on fresh starts and forgiveness suggests drawing bubbles and writing about clean starts and drawing open hearts to rill with encouraging words. At the end of the year a family will have a spiritual memory book.
Make
it family time. If you have a variety of ages like me (14 years from youngest
to oldest), have the older ones help lead the study at times and make sure to
pause and explain words a child may not understand. Enjoy the story and use it
to think of similar stories from your own lives. End time together with a walk
or a dessert or snack where you can continue talking. Use a wall map of Israel
and the Middle East to show where events took place.
Bringing
in an older adopted child can be challenging, especially if they don’t have a
relationship with Christ already. Ease them in with a few simple activities and
a verse. You might want to start with doing something a few times a month
rather than weekly. Choose what will fit your family’s needs.
ABOUT AUTHOR Karen Whiting
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| Karen Whiting at Hershey's Event |
facebook.com/FamilyFaithandFood/
Twitter: @KarenHWhiting
pinterest.com/KarenWhiting/
Scroll down on the left-hand bar to find Kindle link to Karen's excellent parenting book on Family Devotions.
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