On Thursdays, I’ve been meeting with some moms who have a desire to learn what the Bible has to say about child rearing. We talk about how we can each apply God’s Word to our own lives. None of us have all the answers, and it’s most fun when everyone participates in the discussion. We [...]
Filed under: Book Reviews
One of the lessons I want our children to learn is how to choose wise friends. This is not something I believe is a “neutral” foundation. If I wait until my children are junior high or high school to start teaching them about choosing friends, it will be a much more difficult lesson to learn. [...]
Filed under: Getting Along
I’ve often wondered how to communicate our sinfulness to our children. Before they can see their need of salvation, they must understand their hopeless condition. The tendency I’ve heard and seen is to present their depravity to them on a regular basis: make sure to spank, make sure we identify selfishness as sin, make sure [...]
Filed under: Salvation
I’m trying to follow through with my goals from several months ago, so yesterday during breakfast, I read Isaiah 6:3 to the children as they ate. We’ll talk about this verse all week. I decided not to do it before we prayed for our food, because it seems like all they’re thinking about at that [...]
Filed under: Family Devotions
On Saturday, David and I were working on a F-14 Lego set together while Lee was at the hospital. While I was showing him (again) how to follow the instructions, I thought about the necessity of God’s Word for living our lives. So we talked about that as we constructed the landing gear. I’m thankful [...]
Filed under: Discipleship, Uncategorized
After a lot of thought and discussion, I’ve thought of a few things. First, as far as infants go, I think it’s far more important that we ourselves are walking with the Lord and reading His word, than whether we schedule or not, whether we let the baby cry or not, and so on. If [...]
Filed under: Child Development, Uncategorized
The other night we were at a playground nearby and Lee and I were up at the top with Laurel. (Some thoughtful engineer put a bench up there!) I asked David if he could climb up the climbing wall. I’ve learned with him not to make a big deal out of things like that. I [...]
Filed under: Child Development
I’ve been resisting the desire to write about potty training, because it’s such a non-spiritual issue. Or is it? Today, Bethel didn’t want to sit on the potty. I’m certain that the problem is a lack of success, and the perceived difficulty of the task. If I can get her to actually stay on the [...]
Filed under: Potty Training
I’m still thinking about those foundational early months in a child’s first year of life. The challenge is that some conflicting approaches both claim to be the biblical approach. For example, one side believes that having a schedule (even a flexible one) is a part of teaching a child not to be “demanding.” Not picking [...]
Filed under: Child Development
Every so often, I start thinking about the biblical instruction I’m giving (or not) to Laurel. She’s eight months old today, and to be truthful, I’ve never quoted a Bible verse to her. I’ve never (that I can remember) told her that Jesus loves her. I’ve sung songs about God to her, but I don’t [...]
Filed under: Obedience
