Let me start by saying, I got this idea from a friend of mine over at Adventures of a Simple Life .
I was at the park with my kiddos one day and while I was there, I heard my friend gently quote a Bible scripture to her little boy. She was instructing him on doing what he was told to do without complaining. BUT instead of just telling him 'stop complaining' or 'do what you are told' she gently quoted Philippinas 2:14 to him. "Do all things without grumbling or complaining." Later on at the park, she gently quoted another Bible scripture to one of her other children.
The other moms and I were amazed at this concept of using actual Bible scripture to instruct our children and to enforce the character qualities we wanted our children to have and display. Why had I never thought of this before? I am always telling my children, "stop being mean to your brother/sister", "stop whining/complaining", "no yelling" or other things along those lines. Why not back up the point I am trying to get across by telling my kids what the Bible says about it, not just what I have to say about it.
I really want to do this with my own kids. So today, I finally sat down and researched several Bible verses to go along with a few key areas many kids (and parents ;) struggle with and this is what I have come up with so far:
*Complaining/Whining
Do all things without grumbling or complaining. Philippians 2:14
*Yelling
A soft word turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1
*Respect Others
Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31
*Helping Others
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 1 Peter 4:9
*Kindness and Forgiveness
Be kind to one another, forgiving one another as Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32
*Sharing/Giving to Others
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Hebrews 13:16
*Choosing words wisely
The words of the pure are pleasant words. Proverbs 15:26
*Obeying Your Parents
Honor your father and mother. Exodus 20:12
*Good Work
Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men. Colossians 3:23
*Making Good Choices
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing
you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2
There is an obvious amount of training that has to take take place before I can just simply quote a scripture to my kids and expect them to know what it means and to follow through with what it says to do. How do I plan on implementing this? Well, let me gather my thoughts and ideas and I will post my 'plan' in Part 2 and perhaps another interesting twist on things in Part 3.
In the meantime, I would love to hear your favorite verses you use with your children. Perhaps you know of verses that are better suited for these areas than the ones I have written down or verses that are suited for areas I did not address :)
LOVE this post, Pauline! And I have to share a resource with you that I can't recommend highly enough. It's called Wise Words for Moms by Ginger Plowman. It not only gives you Scripture to use with your kids, but also gives you some great heart-probing questions, such as, "Do you think you might have blamed your sister because you were trying to cover up your own sin?" or "Were you purposing in your heart to promote peace or to stir up strife?" It's soooooo wonderful!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOoh girl, Amazon is going to love me! I'm going to have to get this book soon. Thank you for telling me about it :)
ReplyDeleteJust looked up the book... this is just what I need. The work is already done for you :)
ReplyDeleteHi Pauline,
ReplyDeleteI also have "Wise Words For Moms" and LOVE it!!!
There are so many verses but use what fits for your family. I usually start to quote these to the children without explanation at first (but they are young), as they get older to understand, I will explain it to them.
For example, "A soft answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger."
We actually sing a tune to this verse( I can share at co-op) and I will sit and explain what a harsh word is. Then I will demonstrate it ( usually using an example I have heard them doing without saying names) then I will demonstrate a soft answer.
I sometimes will make them quote it and sometimes I do not.
I think the most important thing to do is get to the heart of the issue. Ginger Plowman will help you with this as I would find it hard to come up with my own words and questions to probe the heart issue. BTW, I keep Wise Words next to our "Rod" (spanking tool...in the Bible it says "The rod of correction" so we have always used this term pointing that the Word of God tells us if we love our children we will spank them...if we don't...we hate them...)
We can train our children to obey and do the right things, but if it we don't get to the root it is for no good.
I would share verses, but you will see when you get your order she has a lot laid out for you. I also have a book you can look at and borrow called "Proverbs for Parenting". Until I learned of Plowmans "Wise Words" I used this and the scripture the most.
May you, me, and all of us parents strive to grow in Christ and our duties as parents to honor Christ. It is often not easy, but in the end, will be so worth it!
I look forward to seeing your next posts and learning some ideas from you.
Wow! I think you should write a blog about this ;) You have such wonderful ideas and ways of going about things. I'm going to pass what you said on to Lisa too. She has been trying to implement Scripture with her girls too. Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteHey Pauline,
ReplyDeleteI do not have your e-mail so will you e-,mail it to me? tinalovesaj@gmail.com
I wanted to tell you something.