Monthly Archives: November 2016

How to Explain Christmas to Children

Christmas gifts, counseling, parenting, Raising kids

Train up a child…

 

How to Explain Christmas to Children

 

It is easy to get so caught up in the “busyness” of Christmas and forget to take the time to sit down with children and explain why we have the observance. In addition, some adults feel incapable of coming up with the right words and explaining its meaning so children will understand. Here is a suggested way to tell children the basics of what all should know about Christmas. It may be told in one’s own words or simply read to children.

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When the world was created, Jesus was with God. Jesus is God’s son. God made Adam and Eve and they began to have children. Soon there were many people on earth and God told the people what he wanted them to do to worship him. He gave the Ten Commandments. He also required them to sacrifice animals to him.

The people sinned a lot. They did not follow the instructions God had given them. God decided to send his only son, Jesus, to earth to live with people and teach them the right way to live. John 3:16 in the Bible says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Jesus came as a little baby. He was born in a stable because there was no room for Mary, his mother, and Joseph, His earthly father, anyplace else. Christmas is for celebrating the birthday of Jesus.

God sent angels to shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus. When Jesus was about two years old, some wise men saw a strange star and followed it to Jesus. They took gold, frankincense, and myrrh as gifts to him. On the way, they stopped to see King Herod who was jealous of Jesus because he had heard that Jesus was going to be a king. He wanted to kill Jesus, so he asked the wise men to come back and tell him where Jesus was. They didn’t do it. Herod ordered all little boys under the age of two killed. Joseph and Mary took Jesus to Egypt to protect him.

When the danger was over, Joseph and Mary went home. Jesus grew up helping Joseph in Joseph’s carpenter’s shop. When He was about twelve years old, he was teaching in the temple. When he was about 30 years old, he began his ministry. He told many stories to teach us the right way to live, and he healed many people. When he was about 33 years old, some people got angry with him and decided to try to do away with him. He was crucified on a cross. After three days, he came back alive. We celebrate Easter to remember his crucifixion and his coming back to life. Jesus was the last sacrifice and people didn’t have to sacrifice animals any more.

Jesus stayed on earth for a while; then, he went up to heaven. He is still alive and wants us all to believe in him and be saved. If we truly believe in him, are really sorry for our sins, and ask him to save us, he will send the Holy Spirit into our hearts, and when we die, we can live with him forever.

 

 

Knowing about the Past can Help Children with the Future

parenting, Raising kids, ,

Train up a child…

 

Knowing About the Past Can Help Children with the Future

 

It is unfortunate that many children are growing up with little or no knowledge of the past. If children are knowledgeable about the past, they are more apt to appreciate what they now enjoy. In addition, parents and grandparents can be drawn closer to children as the children learn to better understand those older folks. Learning about the resourcefulness and sacrifices of the past motivates children to become more resourceful and less demanding of conveniences. The Thanksgiving season provides a good opportunity to delve into the past as we teach children about the pilgrims, the first Thanksgiving, and the early lifestyles of parents and grandparents.

Grandparents can play an important role in assisting parents tell stories from their childhood. Unfortunately, many older people seem to feel that their job is done and do not make the effort to help bring up children. Grandparents need to tell children of their happy times as well as the sad times they have experienced.

Many older grandparents lived during the Great Depression. Personally, I remember seeing a soup truck come to our little town, Verona, MO, and people line up behind it for a bowl of soup. I remember the rationing stamps we had for sugar, gas, and other things. Many children find it hard to believe that we could not have bubble gum because all the rubber was needed for tires for war equipment. Children bought saving stamps to help fund WWII. The blackout nights when everyone had to turn off their lights at a certain time for fear that enemy planes could see them and drop bombs were scary times that should be related to children.

Children find it amazing that older folks did not have computers, cell phones, and many other things they take for granted. They need to know how older folks survived without running water, electricity, and indoor plumbing. It was in my dad’s lifetime that automobiles were invented. To imagine living without these conveniences is an exercise in creative thinking.

One very important subject to cover is the role of our military in securing our freedom. We are fortunate to live in an area where much attention is paid to our men and women who have fought for us. The Veteran’s Museum is an excellent place to take children.

Great books are available in local libraries to read to children about Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, many schools are not including much about how this country got started. Teachers are so pressed to cover certain things that they often do not have the time to adequately cover this topic.

Making sure that children are taken to places to learn about the past and telling stories from the past go a long way in developing understanding and right attitudes in children. The attitude of gratitude and resourcefulness become bricks in the foundation that children need to face the future.

Fostering an Attitude of Gratitude

counseling, parenting, Raising kids, , ,

Train up a child…

 

Fostering an Attitude of Gratitude

 

It is not easy to get children to experience a genuine attitude of gratitude. Many children do not know what it means to do without things they need or want. Even though some children in poverty do not have as much as others, they often pick up an attitude of entitlement from parents or others. Unfortunately, that attitude of entitlement seems to permeate our current society. Rather than be thankful for what they have, people often become angry that someone else doesn’t see to it that they have more.

We need to start with children to help them be truly thankful for what they have. Will telling them to be thankful cause them to be thankful? Probably not. As with most of the things we teach children, experience is the best teacher. I can still hear my mom saying, “We never miss the water ‘til the well runs dry.” How true! In light of this truth, we may need to institute what may seem to be some drastic measures to help children appreciate what they have. However, these activities can be games that the family plays and be fun experiences that will be remembered for years. Here are some suggestions for one or more activities as needed:

  • Choose a day when there are no important trips that have to be made. Pretend that the family vehicles will not start, so that there is no way to travel by automobile. Everyone must either stay home or walk. No one is allowed to car pool.
  • It will not hurt the family to go a day without food unless there are

medical situations requiring they not do so. Some families have

been known to schedule a day of fasting each week and give the

money that would have been spent on food to charity.

  • Take away all means of communication with the outside. No cell phones may be used and other phones can be hidden.
  • Turn off the electricity for a day or so. (Some have already experienced this during ice storms.)
  • If you have a fireplace, on a cold day turn off the furnace. Use only the fireplace for heat.
  • Make arrangements for teens to go on mission trips to a foreign country with a church group. Teens who do this are never the same again.

None of these activities will really hurt the children and will help them to truly appreciate the things they had to do without. Of course, health situations may prevent the use of some of the ideas, but perhaps others can be substituted. Perhaps none of them or just one of them is needed to help children learn to appreciate. Parents can be very creative in getting the point across that we need to be thankful for what we have.

What to Tell Kids about Elections

counseling, parenting, Raising kids,

Train up a child…

What to Tell Kids About Elections

When elections come around, it seems there is always talk about untruthfulness. There are many derogatory remarks from some candidates about others. It seems to happen in all elections, but some are worse than others. What do we tell our children when they hear these things and even worse things about people under investigation for breaking the law, while they are telling us to uphold the law? It certainly presents a challenge! We try to teach our children to be good citizens while our officials are not showing proper examples.
We should always tell our children the truth. In some cases, we may need to limit what is told, but whatever is told should be the truth. Following is what I might tell my children if they were still young:

Our country was founded on Biblical principles. Our constitution and laws are based on the Ten Commandments. There is even a relief of Moses bringing the Ten Commandments down from the mountain on the front of our Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. We have a constitution that we can be proud of and God has blessed our country for more than 200 years.
Our country has some problems. Those problems are not because of our constitution, but because some of our elected people haven’t followed the constitution and laws. When we go vote, we should do our best to vote for the people who we believe will follow our constitution. It is hard to know the right ones and some times there may be none that are really what we would want. In those cases, we do our best to find out all we can and vote for the one who is better, but still not perfect.
One of the nice things about our constitution is that it was set up with checks and balances. Our founding fathers designed it so that no one person has too much power. We have three branches of the government. The president is in the executive branch. The congress, made up of the Senate and House of Representatives, is the legislative branch. The courts and law enforcement is the judicial branch. Each has ways of checking the power of the others, This way, if one does something wrong, the others can do things to correct the wrong.
In being a good citizen, as in all things, we each are responsible for doing the best we can do. In the end, we are not judged by how the actions of others have affected us, but rather whether we did right or wrong. We are supposed to respect those in office, but we don’t have to agree with them. What the Bible says is more important than what any person says or does.