Category Archives: Play

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Kid Friendly Homes

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“I want our house to be the house where our children’s friends want to hang out.”

I can remember saying that when our children were young. Yet to be that kind of house doesn’t just happen when our children become teenagers.

Oh, no. It starts way before that – when our children are around 5 or six years old. We set the tone early on and it lives on throughout our child’s teenage years, even into adulthood. Is our home a friendly, nurturing place? Do children feel welcome? Do we ask them about themselves and LISTEN when they answer?

Since we wanted a kid friendly home, it meant that I had to tolerate mess, noise, and consumption of large amounts of food. (of course that was normal life when just our four were home) Now looking back I can honestly say I really did enjoy having our children’s friends over. I got to know them as indiviudals and observed how our children acted around their friends.

I am NOT a perfectionist when it comes to house cleaning.

OK, I am not CLOSE to a perfectionist – I dust once a month whether it needs it or not! At one point in time when our children were young, the bathtub in our upstairs bathroom didn’t work. When I cleaned upstairs I would put all the random items in the bathtub and pull the shower curtain shut.
“Out of sight, out of mind.” (I know some of you are cringing right now!)

Yet I enjoy having people over and have always felt that people are more important than my house. I have great memories of our children’s friends playing with the Fisher-Price toys, or making baseball diamonds in the field behind our house. That was before they paved paradise and put in a parking lot.

To ensure that our homes are kid friendly means that we must plan ahead. A few helpful guidelines will make it a pleasant experience for all:
* Put the valuable breakables on high shelves or out of sight.
* It is ok to have places in our homes that are off limits like dad’s office, a sewing room, or
anywhere that children could hurt themselves or others.
* Clearly communicate “house rules” – such as – no hitting, no calling names, taking turns, etc.
* Supervise at all times – know where all children are and keep yourself engaged with them.
* If children are using media, know what it is – or turn it off!
* Play outside whenever possible – less mess to clean up!
* If conflicts break out (should I say when?) redirect. Read a story or play a group game.
* Smile and laugh with the children! Have fun. Your own children will be blessed.

Jesus went out of His way to welcome children.

Mark 9:36-38 (NLT)

36 Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”

When we welcome our children’s friends into our homes, we are welcoming Jesus!

That is the way God wants us to see it. Hopefully our children’s friends will see Jesus in us.

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Seasons of Change

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Fall is in the air!

There is excitement because of the changing weather, the changing leaves, a changing wardrobe, even changes in the food we eat. I don’t make chili in the summer, it just doesn’t seem appetitzing to me -but I love it on a cold day!

Those of you with young children face many changes as well such as:
* It gets dark earlier – bed times may change.
* You switch out the clothes, usually getting out bigger sizes of sweaters and sweatshirts.
* Wash loads are bigger – jeans and sweaters take up more space than shorts/t-shirts.
* Leaf piles to play in instead of slip and slides.
* Kites are fun to get out when it’s windy, put away the kiddy pool!
* Runny noses 😦
* Rosey cheeks 🙂

I like the seasonal changes. It is a blessing to see the world change around us, totally beyond our control. God demonstrates His order of things through seasons. Folks who live in tropical climates after living in the more temperate zones often miss the changing seasons. Our daughter who lived in Hawaii said that she really missed fall each year. (poor baby!!!!!)

The changing seasons are a reminder of God’s order that He established in creation.

Genesis 1:14-18 says –

14 Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. 15 Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. 16 God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, 18 to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
The order God established during Creation reminds us of His faithfulness. We do not live in a random universe, but instead changes happen in sequence and patterns demonstrate God’s divine plan.

There are seasons in our lives as mothers.

Once a baby is born, we become a mother. We will always be mothers even when our children die before we do. Those precious lives may no longer be here with us on earth, but they live on in our hearts!

Our roles change as mothers – but the fact of being a mother does not. Some aspects of active mothering are easy to give up:
* changing diapers
* cleaning up throw up
* waking to crying in the middle of the night

Other roles we fill in active mothering are greatly missed:
* reading bedtime stories
* braiding a daughter’s hair
* saying nighttime prayers together
* cuddling together on a chilly evening

As grandparents our roles will change. Pop and Nana used to be the “big deal”. Now as we leave the homes of our grandchildren there is no crying, sometimes just a “see ya!” as they are busy playing.
That is just as it should be because as our grandchildren age, they realize we will return – our leaving is not forever.

There are seasons in our spiritual lives as well. There are seasons when God wants us to learn to trust as we go through difficult times. There are seasons we must trust because things are going well and we KNOW it is not because we deserve it.

There are seasons when our children are suffering and we wonder when a change will come.

No matter the season or the changes we face in life – God is faithful.

Paul wrote this to encourage the Christians in Phillipi.

Phillipians 4:10-15

10 How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. 11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. 14 Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.Seasons will change – God is always faithful!

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No Excuses

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Teach high school students and you will hear the most amazing excuses. I am almost awed by the creativity that some students use to explain their lack of responsibility. The operative word is almost. Having had four children navigate the precarious waters of high school has caused me to be a bit hardened to the myriad reasons that a class assignment is not complete or cannot be found to turn in for a grade.

We had a family birthday celebration this weekend and there were two situations with our grandchildren which caused me to realize that they are not that far removed from adolescent reasoning – or should I say adolescent lack of reasoning. Two year olds act without thinking. Fourteen year olds act without thinking. As a teacher and a parent I have found myself asking in a tone of frustration – “What were you thinking?” The truth is ….they weren’t thinking.

God has created us with an amazing capacity to think and understand. Yet it is not automatic. All healthy children are born with the potential to think.  Yet we know from recent brain reasearch that the reasoning capacity of humans is developing as they mature and in many individuals the ability to recognize cause and effect is not fully formed until a person is in their twenties. (Please don’t give in to depression!) That is why God designed families and why children have parents. Children need adults in their lives to set boundaries and explain the cause and effect of certain decisions. Humans are not like snakes or spiders who slither and crawl away soon after birth to fend for themselves. (If they didn’t, their parent might eat them!)

I am so blessed when I see parents of young children limit screen time. It is the rare child who will do this on their own. Once children get outside it is fun to see them play with Tonka trucks and climb trees. They use those large motor skills and gain strength in muscles besides their thumbs.

As children play outside and interact with the world around them they will start to see God’s power and divine nature expressed in creation. Don’t take excuses for not playing outside…unless the weather would lead to adverse cause and effect. As we train our children to think and reason, we are demonstrating God’s nature.

Romans 1:02

20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made,so that people are without excuse.

In God’s plan there are no excuses.