It’s day 4 of our Backyard Party!
Ready? 🙂
My favorite part of Asa’s pirate party was watching him play with my brother, his Uncle Jason.
The best part of Lydia’s Tangled party was watching moms help their kids paint.
I loved seeing moms and kids color their airplanes together at Asa’s Flying Ace party.
I think God’s perfect plan is to have parents and kids love each other and want to hang out with each other. The world shows us the complete opposite: that kids should be disdainful of their parents while parents are intolerable of their children.
I believe the family is the vehicle for raising and influencing the world. Not the school. Not the sports teams. Not ballet class. Not Beta club. Not even the church.
Parents should be discipling their kids. Siblings should be encouraging each other. Families should be stirring up the gifts God put in each of their members.
I just finished reading a chapter in Mark Batterson’s The Circle Maker about how he is planning a discipleship covenant with his teenage son. This discipleship covenant included a physical, spiritual and intellectual challenge. I heard a story from Pam Ferrell about how they have a family motto that leads their family’s actions. Dave Stone suggests having a Family Mission Statement to guide your family through life.
Another mentor to me in this is Vicki Courtney. She wrote 5 Conversations You Must Have With Your Daughter and 5 Conversations You Must Have With Your Son. I had dinner with her at dotMom (along with some other fabulous ladies) and then heard her speak as a keynote that weekend.
(If you read my Airplane Mom post (doh! more airplanes!!), you’ll remember how fabulous Vicki Courtney is and how much insight she has into the reasons behind our parenting choices.)
I fell in love with her before I even met her as I just love the whole idea of “conversations”. I want to lead my children through conversations that will help them in life. And I want them to expect and desire conversations about life with me!
Conversations, mottos, covenants and all these kinds of ideas are HARD to do! They take time and action and planning. But the rewards are a close-knit family, kids that follow their parents’ lead, parents that know and understand their kids and generations of blessing.
But I want to be a part of that. And I’d like to make this space a place where we can journey through this together–to discover how to be purposeful parents who do hard things to raise our kids for the Lord. (Does that sound exciting or scary? Or both?!)
Two things I do that are purposeful with my son is I PRAY for him and PLAY with him every single day! Would love this book!
Pray and Play. How simple! I love it!
a
I would love this book. I was just thinking today about how some of the deepest conversations I’ve had with my mom occured with just the 2 of us in the car.
Yes! Being alone and quiet does wonders for open conversation. 🙂
a
This is something I struggle with. I want to to have purposeful conversations with my kids, but I often don’t know how to start. I could really use these books!
Exactly, Charis! I want someone to lead me thru it–especially a been-there, done-that mom who had good results! Ha!
a
Oh I NEED this book!
My story is too long to explain.
I NEED THIS BOOK 🙂 I want to have those conversations with my children..it would be helpful to have ideas on how to start. Time goes by to quickly and I often fail but desire to be purposeful in leading my children daily.
i lack in this department.. i either make everything too funny and light or awkward, maybe i’m just the one feeling awkward? i want to purposely do things, but i can’t find anything that sticks around longer then a couple of weeks 🙁 our family motto verses are colossians 3:12-17. I need this book 🙂
I definitely feel like I need to be more intentional since I often feel like I’m floating from one thing to another when it comes to parenting. My husband and I have talked about having a family vision or mission but that’s as far as it’s gotten.
My parents always prayed that I would find a good friend whenever we moved. Being an only child friendships were particularly important for me. I can see now looking back how God was faithful to answer that prayer. I’ve always had wonderful friends.
I NEED THIS BOOK! Lol. I have enjoyed all of the resources you have mentioned on your blog, so I would love to get this as well.
One of the most practical things my parents purposely taught me was how to write checks and keep the checkbook updated and balanced. When I was in my early teens, I was writing the checks for their tithe and all the bills. My dad would check my work as he signed the checks. I even got to place everything in envelopes to mail them off. I learned so much from that experience that I’ll always be able to use!
I spend snuggle time with each kid at bedtime most nights. It gives us a chance to talk & I’m amazed at some of the things they talk about.
I try to read the Bible everyday to my kids. I try to snuggle with them every night before bed. I would love this book!
My husband and I sat down at the beginning of the school year (as our oldest, also “Lydia” 🙂 was off to kindergarten. With her in the “real world”, it has been an inspiration and guide for us.
I have intentionally worked through the Hands On Bible reading plan with my older children at bedtime most nights. We read the passage, talk about what they heard that stuck out and prayed blessings over them using the verses we just read or their memory verses. My hope is that they hear the Bible being applied and used in my prayers for them & begin to use the Word as more than something to hear or read, but also to apply in life.
Lately, the most purposeful thing is to allow no games or movies when we’re driving in the van. This allows for conversation to flow. It’s when she doesn’t have to look me right in the eye that I learn the most. And, I’ve learned to that it’s okay to pray aloud while driving. The sweetest thing is to look in the mirror and see her head bowed as I pray for her day.
we have bibles with us everywhere we go! so we can read them all the time!
I try to make time every day for my daughter to sit and talk with me uninterrupted for as long as she needs. She is 17 and I know these days will one day be over or at least change in the frequency that they happen. I would love to have these books to know what conversations I need to be having with her. We spend lots of time laughing too and I think that is SO important.
Actually, my children are grown. BUT I have four grandchildren, and they are the reason I follow oh Amanda. Of course, I like what Amanda shares, too! Sometimes I think grandparents (I flatter myself) influence children as much as their parents do (please don’t hate me). We can teach them things from a different perspective. This book would be a huge stepping stone to reinforcing those conversations my children and their spouses have with the grandchildren, or to beginning conversations between them and me. We plan to take all four grandchildren camping in November, and the drive there and back, or even a long hike would be a perfect time to explore with each other through purposeful conversations. Thanks for all you do!
Something that is purposeful that we do each night is read from the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones with our 3 year old and the The Gospel Story Bible by Marty Machowski with our 6 year old. I read to our younger son and my husband reads to our older son. We used to just read one of those Bible books with them both together, but it was not as effective for them paying attention. Eventually we will be all together again. 🙂 I love these Bible story books. I love the way each story in these Bibles points to Christ. In the Gospel Story Bible, the “Let’s Talk About It” is a great way to talk to your little one about what God’s word is saying. After we read the story that day, we pray together. We pray for them, our family, friends and loved ones. We pray for areas we want God to work on in us. We praise God according to what the story showed us about God, and sometimes they pray too for part of the prayer. Not exactly in that order. This has become a cherished part of the day. 🙂
I love the Jesus Storybook Bible. I feel like every single person EVER should read that book. I don’t have the Gospel Story Bible, tho’. I’ll check it out!
a
Yes! It is such a good one too! When we lived in Louisville our church there used it for the kid’s ministry and that is how we were introduced to it.
One of the things I have purposefully and consistently done is pray with each child before they go to sleep each night.
One purposeful thing I’ve done as a parent to (hopefully) help open up my kids’ eyes to God’s heart for the whole world is have a monthly “international night”. We study the country and make a poster for it and cook a meal representative of that country. Sometimes we learn about missionaries there or other ministries operating within that country and sometimes give financially to certain projects. It’s lots of fun!
I LOVE that! What a cool way to open your kids’ eyes to a world beyond their own!
a
I definitely need these books!! 🙂 I try my hardest to spend just a minute or two (or five) with each one individually before bed, just to go over the day… I mostly ask them what their favorite thing of the day was, but sometimes I try to come up with a more creative approach to get a little deeper.
Need these books! Would love to win them. I try really hard to pray for them, with them, before they go off to school. I also pray for their teachers and their bus driver.
There are many things that my parents did that was purposeful. One that I loved was that they would regularly talk about what God was teaching them and then ask how God was speaking to us. It created an anticipation of hearing HIS voice and a desire to go deeper with God.
With my kids, we love to take “God talk walks” where we take turns talking to God – praising him for his beautiful creation, asking Him questions or interceding for the needs around us… I will usually do this one-on-one which makes them extra special.
I love both those ideas, Heather. The thing about expecting God to speak to you is so good. It’s easy to get into “this is what God DID for us” and not focus on what God IS doing or WILL do. LOVE it!
a
I am purposefully praying for my son.
Oh, I need this book! I try, try, try to have meaningful conversations with my kids, but get stuck all too often.
~Jessica
I NEED THIS BOOK! :0) I just started the daughter one and would LOVE to read the son one too!!!
I need this book! I am trying to have ethereal year old conversations 🙂 I have a 3 year old boy and 2 year old girl… I would love some ideas on how to begin talking with them!
Two sons!!! I desperately need this book!!!
I need those books! It’s an answer of my lasts prayers! Hope to win 😉
i try to be intentional about both getting involved with my girls at their level (usually playing or crafts) and getting them involved on my level (usually helping me in the kitchen) i actually took a cell phone picture of this book years ago when my first daughter was a baby because i figured i’d really need it at some point so i would love to win!
We purposefully pray scripture over our kids 🙂
I have had the 5 Conversations You Should Have With Your Daughter book on my wishlist for awhile!
I am not super skilled at finding creative ways to nurture omy kids’ relationships with God, so I just make it a point to use EVERY OPPORTUNITY that presents itself to initiate open honest discussion.
I am also intentional about praising their good qualities. I want them to know their worth.
Also, I NEED THESE BOOKS!
I believe that parenthood is the highest calling — I would love to read these books to be more purposeful in my conversations.
Fantastic question. I aim to stay so intentional with my time with my kids. It’s all such an undeserved blessing, and I don’t want to waste it. Looking directly in my children’s faces when they’re talking to me or playing with me (hopefully) lets them know I’m here, I care, and I’m listening.
My daughter is 20 months old and one of my favorite things to do with her is read!
I have enjoyed the Secret Keeper Girl website as my oldest is 8 (8!!!) and I’m feeling overwhelmed with what is to come. And thank you for surrounding me with bible verses that I can pray for my children. I started with you, but now am following other Godly mommy blogs. It is invaluable to see what others are doing when you weren’t necessarily raised with an intentional direction to follow God.
My husband and I are in the process of becoming foster parents, in part, to give our children a tangible example of the Gospel and to engage our family in ministry that we can do together. Learning to love, learning to serve, learning to give of ourselves!
I NEED these books! What a great resourece to start meaningful conversations. One thing I try to do daily is to gather my children before school and read the bible with a devotional. I yearn for them to fall in love with Jesus more and more and more!
I have been purposeful in praying a blessing over my kids each morning as they leave for school. It recently occurred to me that I don’t do it in the summer though and next year will have to change that.
We read from one of my daughters many toddler/kids bibles every night and pray together at night as well. I would love to win this book! 🙂
Can I say that’s hard to answer? I try to make each day full of purposeful times – whether it’s praying, training, disciplining, playing, reading… I’m sure I fail most of the time, but my intent is to live each day with my kids with purpose.
I need these books! Also, I pray with my kids everyday!
I need this book!! I think that we all try and BE all that our kids need and mostly my job is to direct them to God and His plan for their life rather than controlling it myself. Thanks for all the great ideas and resources!! I sure appreciate you! 😉
We have morning prayer as we are on our way to school in the car. We also have stop light prayers. ps. I like your new blog set up…good stuff. thanks Amanda, for your inspiration to moms.
My family loves reading together.
The books about conversations sound so good. Intentional times to engage your heart with your kids’ hearts.
thanks for an opportunity to read them, and for the encouragement.
Erin