FAMILY WEB

http://family.webshots.com/album/337868616isfPfW

Kids Christian Wallpaper for Your Child's (Or the family's!) Computer!

JUST FOR FUN - TRAVELING!!!

Okay, this blog is not a biblical blog, but a good one for any parent!!!

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Time flies when you’re having fun - The miles fly by too! You can make a long family car trip seem a lot shorter if you have fun with your kids along the way. Plan ahead with a few car activities, and making the journey can be as much fun as the destination!

Here are a few ideas to get you started.

---Make a Trip-Journal or Scrapbook
Give everyone a big spiral bound sketchpad and a box of crayons or markers. Each day of the trip or for each event along the way, draw a picture of what you did that day, or draw a map of where you went, and write about it. You can also paste in souvenirs.

---Get a Good Songbook With All the Lyrics
It surprising how many songs you think you know, but you don't really know all the words. Have a singing marathon and learn the old classics by heart!

---Give Your Kids an Allowance for the Day
Tell them that this money is for snacks, treats, souvenirs etc. Help them learn to budget their money and make good choices.

---Let Your Children Have a Map
Give your kids their own copy of a map of where you are going. Show them how far you have come, how much further there is to go and let them mark it with a crayon. Every time someone asks "How much further?” let them see for themselves. You might also like to get a compass and show them how it works along with the map!

---Have Bubble Gum Blowing Contests
The weirder the gum the better. Get it at the rest areas and try all the different flavors.

---Magnetic Board Games
Do your children know how to play classic board games like Chess, Backgammon, Checkers, or Chinese Checkers? What better time to learn than in the car to pass the time! The magnetic car versions of these games are nice because they are small and compact, and have easy ways to store the pieces so they don't get lost.

---Counting Cows
Count the cows you see on your side of the car. If you pass a cemetery on your side of the car, you lose all your cows. The one with the most cows wins. I LOVE THIS ONE!!! ;)

---Read Out Loud
This passes the time quickly in the car for the reader and for the family members who are listening.

---Play Favorites
Have everyone think of different "favorite" questions for the group. What's your favorite... movie, flavor of ice cream, song, game, toy, place to visit, restaurant, book, animal, fish, etc. Be creative and don't forget to ask the driver too!

---Aluminum Art
Give everyone a sheet of aluminum foil. Have them mold it into anything they want: animal shapes, Frisbees, balls, jewelry, crowns, headband, necklaces and masks. Be creative. It’s inexpensive fun and easy to clean up. Toddlers love this one too!

Remember that it's sometimes nice to sit in the back of the van with your kids while Dad is doing the driving and play some games right along side them. You might be surprised at how much fun you have too. Happy travels!

Molding Your Children To Be Self-Disciplined

Self-Discipline - it's a BIGGIE!!! I'm talking to parents of toddlers here - now is the crucial time!!! Don't wait!!!

As a parent and a childcare provider, I find myself correcting children for interrupting, being wild, not following instructions or for not controlling their hands or mouths. These all require self discipline or self-control.

Young children (especially ages 2-5) are by nature very impulsive. Part of the solution for impulse control is to learn self discipline! So many relational and personal problems now and in your child's future can be avoided or controlled when one has self-control!

Here are some TRIED AND TRUE suggestions for teaching it to children:

1. Teach children to come when they are called! When a parent calls a child, that child shouldn’t yell, “What?” from across the house, parking lot or playground. (This drives me bonkers!!!)Children can learn to come to the parent, within a few feet, in order to have a dialog with the parent. This helps children learn that self-control sometimes means that we must give up what we would like to be doing in order to do something else. If you have a young child with a favorite toy, you know that this can be very difficult for them. Put the toy down to go see what Mom wants? Are you kidding me? ;)

2. Teach children to respond positively to correction. Woah-tough! Most children don’t like to be corrected and respond negatively in either aggressive (anger) or passive (bad attitude) ways. This is unacceptable and becomes a super opportunity to teach self discipline! Teach children to respond to direction (whether they like it or not) with a good attitude as well as right behavior. This requires self-control and helps children learn to control their impulses!

3. A number of social skills require self-control. Praise your children when they demonstrate this quality and point out areas they need to work on. Listening, knowing when and how to interrupt, anger control, reporting back after completing a task all require self discipline. I have found that talking about all of these things throughout the day until my son BEGAN to take control really made a big difference!

4. Encourage your children to take on activities that build self discipline! They may include sports, music lessons, memorization of scripture, a clean room, or a host of other activities!

5. When a child receives a reward like payment for a job accomplished or even a star on a chart or special treat, talk about self discipline. External rewards give a great opportunity to talk about internal rewards. The real benefit to a doing chores is not the money, it’s the building of self discipline. “I know you would have rather played the game but I like the way you took time to feed the dog. That shows self discipline!”

6. Use bed times to teach self discipline! Some children have a hard time going to bed without creating a battle and this becomes a great opportunity to teach self discipline to children. After all, it requires a lot of self-control for a child to stay quietly in bed while parents are still awake! You are shaking your head right now, because you know EXACTLY what I am talking about! :) Set a bedtime, develop a routine which covers all the necessary bedtime tasks and work at getting your child to stay in bed without Mom or Dad falling asleep in the room! This requires work on the part of the parent but will pay off tremendous dividends in the end. Trust me! WHEW!

7. Morning routines, chores, and family schedules become opportunities for children to learn responsibility and self discipline. Teach your child that Responsibility is “doing the right thing even when no one is watching.” The rewards for being responsible are called privileges. The child who is responsible to get ready and be at breakfast by 7:30 a.m. is allowed the privilege of staying up until their 8:00 p.m. bedtime! Being able to choose one’s clothes is the privilege for getting dressed before the deadline.

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Some parents may try to give their children an easier life than they had or they try to make their children feel good at the expense of good character. Unfortunately, this often translates into more freedom and less self-control! It's not okay!

A wise parent will use childhood to prepare a child for success as an adult. Self discipline is one of the most important character qualities your child can develop! Ironically, spoiled children are not happy; self disciplined children often are!

So teach your little ones, Many times we want to do something and feel that we cannot wait, but when we do wait and exercise patience, we discover that we really did not want it in the first place. No impulse! We must learn to control our actions and feelings!

__For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline. 2Timothy 1:7 __

Do not be afraid to teach self-discipline to your children! This will SURELY help them in future situations and will help them also to live a life that pleases our Lord!

Amen to that!

The Kids Zone

Great website for your kids here! It's the Kids Zone!!!

http://christcenteredmall.com/kids/

This is for older children - some GREAT "stuff" that they will love!

-a "clean" Christian Christian Chatroom, Christian teachings, Biblical profiles, the Jesus Story, a bunch of games and activities, book reviews, and much, much more!

webchurch.com

You'll LOVE this website!

"A collection of Children's praise and worship music performed by children so you can lead your children in worship. Or, if you're an older child, you can play them yourself. While listening to the music, you can use our searchable Bible to look up the words or topic of the song, or anything else, in the Scriptures. "

http://www.web-church.com/christian_music_for_kids.htm

God Bless :)

Telling Kids About Satan

The Devil is a Liar, Thief, and Murderer

Tell your children all of this only AFTER giving them a Strong reminder that Jesus is on their side, He will protect them, He will watch out for them, He will make them strong if they will ask Him for help! Tell them not to be afraid to talk to us about the Devil and to ask questions, God wants us to know Satan for what he really is! So DON'T BE SCARED!

It's important for parents to explain to their children that Satan is the god of this sinful world (2nd Corinthians 4:4).

Children need to be taught that the Devil is a liar, but appears deceitfully as an honest person (Matthew 7:15). The Devil is a fallen angel of darkness; but he deceitfully appears to people as an angel of light from Heaven (2nd Corinthians 11:13,14).

Satan is a villain, who comes only to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10). Kids are being brainwashed nowadays by the Devil's crowd, to think that "wicked" is something good. Lots of music on your average Hit music station today is nothing less than a course on fornication, rebellion, substance abuse, immorality, etc. As a result of 'courses' such as this, abortion is commonplace in America, to remedy our fornication problem in the U.S.

It is sad, and tragic, what has happened to the United States. The best thing parents can do today is to continually teach their children from the Scriptures!

Show your kids in the Bible 2nd Timothy 3:1-7. Explain it to them. Show them 2nd Corinthians 11:13,14 and warn them about false prophets who will try to deceive them. The best defense is a strong offense! The best way to prepare your child to deal with the hellish world we live in today is to teach them the Word of God.

Teach them that abortion is murder, because God said, "Thou shalt not kill" in Exodus 20:13. Teach them that the New Age Movement wants to brainwash them to believe that there are "many paths to the light"; BUT, the Bible proclaims that there is ONLY one way to Heaven, and that is exclusively through the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:10-12; 2nd Thessalonians 1:8,9).

Remember, The best defense is a strong offense! Teach your children about sin from the Word of God!

Christian Explorers!

Check out this website for your little Christian Explorer!

It is filled with lessons, answers to questions, mazes, games, stories...ALL KINDS of fun things!

My son especially likes to play Animal Warp (creating strange animals)!

http://christiananswers.net/kids/menu-act.html

Have fun!!!

Bringing Gifts To God

Read to your children the story in Deuteronomy 26:1-11 about bringing gifts to God. It is a story of a thankful family bringing gifts of food to God's house for the minister or priest to use, possibly to give some to the poor!

With Ethan doing chores now, he is receiving a commission (yes, we do call it a commission! He is only paid for the chores that he does, it is not an allowance given 'just because'). My husband and I have pondered upon many questions pertaining to this new addition in raising our child! We believe that we have made it clear to him that giving to God is so important!

Do you ask yourself the following questions? If so, I propose some answers to think over! These are just my own personal opinions - not a study course in giving! ;) But I will say that we have been successful so far in beginning to teach our son about giving!

*Are children exempt from giving?

No! We might think about it by asking: Are children exempt from Christianity? (Giving, we know, is simply part of Jesus’ “everything I have commanded you” in Matthew 28:20.)

The answer to that question is clearly NO! In fact, Jesus says, the kingdom of God belongs to children in particular (Luke 18:16). And if children can be Christians, then children can certainly give to the Lord, right?!

The Bible teaches that giving is the privilege and responsibility of all God’s people, regardless of age or income. Teach this to your child!!!

* At what age should children start learning about generosity?

As early as they can understand! My son is four, but I think that we could have taught him to be Giving before now!

The words of Moses to the people of Israel are relevant in this regard: “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).

By the things parents say and do in the home, day in and day out, they teach their children how to live! Toddlers may watch you put money in the offering plate. School-age children may give out of their own money (this is what Ethan does - he takes 2 dollars out of his weekly commission and gives it to church). Adolescents may give out of their own babysitting income! But whatever their ages, you have a chance to teach your children about generosity—and God’s generosity in particular—by the things you say and do in their presence today!

*When the offering plate comes around at church, should I give my children pocket change to put in it?

Giving children spare change to put in the offering plate is certainly okay, but there may be other and perhaps better ways to teach them about giving to the Lord! For example, depending on their age, parents might want to pay their kids in return for small chores around the house, and then teach them to give an offering from their own income! Or parents might want to take them along to bring a meal to a needy family, so that they see more concretely where their offerings go! Giving children spare change for the offering plate is fine, but it is good to consider other teaching opportunities as well. Parents should use creative means to teach their children about God’s generosity and our response!

*How can I encourage my children to talk with their friends about giving?

I think that there are several things parents can do! First and most importantly, they can talk about and model generosity, so that their children learn it by example (Deuteronomy 6:7).

If kids learn at home that giving is important, they will naturally talk about it outside the home.

Second, if it is very important to you, you may want to simply suggest to your children that they talk about giving with their friends!

Third and finally, parents should probably not worry about this issue. Children need to understand God’s gift to them before they can talk meaningfully about giving with their friends!

Hope you find this helpful!!! :)

God Created The Heavens!

God created the Heavens Craft!!!

Collect a few baby food jars. Let your children paint the lids, and fill the jars with water, glitter, and moon and star confetti. Explain how God created the Heavens! EASY AND FUN!!!

Special Thanks to Tiffany Jonas from Ohio for this great craft!!!

Don't Be Afraid At Night!

If your toddlers are anything like mine, they might be getting SCARED of the DARK at bedtime! We close the closet, give him a nightlight, check under the bed, leave the door open and hall light on, even have Dad kill whatever WAS there, it's just about impossible to help the poor little guy!

After having my son, Ethan say his prayers I summarize this verse for him, and believe it or not, praying with him almost always makes him feel better! Isn't God GOOD???

"I laid me down and slept; I awoke;
for the Lord kept me." ~Psalm 3:5

This verse helps him to remember that he does not need to be afraid to close his eyes, in fear that he might be missing out on something scary going on. God is with him, Jesus is in his heart, and he will keep him safe, and brave all night until morning!

Good luck and God Bless!

The Kids Ark!!!

Check this out!

A FUN kids Christian magazine!!!

Order yours now!

Kids LOVE getting their own mail!

http://www.thekidsark.com/

This One Is For BOYS!!! ...and little ladies too ;)

OOZE!!!

it's like playdough only slimier

***2 cups of liquid starch and 1cup of glue and whatever food coloring you choose.

Ooze is slimier than play dough. It's like Nickelodeon Gack if you have seen it! You can't build anything with it but it's GROSS and SLIMEY and my boy LOVES it!

Outreach Ideas!

Here is an outreach idea for kids!

If you know children that don't always get to go to church, try this!

Use coloring pages to send them lessons about the love of God. Every other week send them 2-3 pics at a time along with a self-addressed stamped envelope so they can send it back. After you receive and review, call them, talk about the meaning of the pictures and if see that they got it, then their pics get a bunch of cute stickers telling them How GREAT They did and what a SUPER job they did… I follow up with a special prize sent overnight 2nd day to both of them for their efforts.

So, they never know exactly when new pics are coming or when they'll get their box surprise.

What a fun way to learn of God's love!

Thankful for Good Friends, And Choosing Friends Wisely

Mold Your Children To Be Thankful For Their GOOD Friends, (And To Choose Them Wisely!)

How important are friends to children? Probably more important than we know! But do our children know how to choose good friends?

The Bible tells us to choose our friends carefully. This is difficult for some children, so we must mold them to be kind to everyone, but at the same time, choose only friends who are GOOD for them.

God wants us to spiritually grow and mature in our walk with Him! He will help us to choose true friends in this life to help transform us! Sometimes we lose friends - and this saddens us, but we must know that God will take friends out of our lives because they may be negative influences on us. They may be holding us back spiritually, and if we find that they criticize us for wanting to grow in Lord, then we know that God has taken them out of our lives for a reason.

You know that if your children start hanging out with the wrong type of crowd, they can become very easily corrupted in a very short period of time! This is something that worries me as my son will be starting school in just over a year! As a result, you will become very protective on who your children will be choosing to be their friends once they become old enough to start choosing who their friends are going to be.

It is the exact same way with God the Father! This is why God will be moving very early on to take out these negative influences in your life. Once this starts to happen, you have to go with the flow or you could cause God to start pulling back on you. And once that starts to happen, you could start to backslide and everything could start to shut down!

If you will allow God to remove the people that He does not want you to have in your life - then what He will start to do is to bring in the people that He will want to have in your life. I call these types of friends "God-friends." These people will be other godly, Spirit-filled Christians who are truly walking in good stead with the Lord and they will now be the people that He will want you to share your walk with!

I encourage you to tell your children the story of David and Jonathan in 1Samuel 20:4-17. They are good friends, and though Jonathan could feel sad or angry with his friend for being able to become King, he is glad. Tell your children that these friends are GOOD for each other. Teach them to be sure to thank the Lord for their good friends, and to watch out for those who are trying to lead them in the wrong direction! Just because we are supposed to be kind and loving to all, does not mean that we can be friends with everyone!

"The righteous should CHOOSE HIS FRIENDS CAREFULLY, for the way of the wicked leads them astray." (Proverbs 12:26)

Teaching Our Children That God Will Give Them All That They Need, But Not Always What They Want

Examine the Bible story in 2Kings 4:1-7.

These verses tell the story of a woman and who must make enough money to pay to keep her children. She is to sell oil from her jars, and while these jars would normally empty, God keeps them filled!

This story tells us that God always provides us with what we need! This is difficult for children to understand, as they believe that they need everything!

Even as adults, there are SO many things that we say we NEED! We need new tvs, new cars, new clothes! Often times, we must truly examine our lives to figure out what we really need and what we just want.

Remind your child at different times during the day of things that they need. For example, at breakfast time, remind them that we NEED food to survive. Later, if they receive candy or a special treat, remind them that we do not NEED candy. Sure, it tastes good but it is not something that we NEED. If at a time during the day your child should ask for something that they cannot have, remind them of the difference between what they need and what they want. Tell them that God will always provide them with what they need in life. If they do not get something that they want - help them to remember that God is in control, and sometimes, even when we think that we need something, we may be wrong!

Mold your children to understand that God can give us what we need because God knows ALL!

I have prayed this prayer with Ethan in the past after reading the story of the oil jar that never gets empty, "You gave the mother what she needed, Lord God; thank You for giving me all that I need. Amen."

A Mother's Prayer

Precious Heavenly Father,

Give me patience when little handstug at me with their many demands.

Give me gentle hugging armsto help protect them from rebellions harm.

Give me wisdom from aboveto teach these little ones of your love.

Give me strength, the rod not to sparethat they may obey and live under your care.

Give me a spirit...quiet and meeklet my words show kindness as I speak.

Give me the ability to teach from the heartto help my children learn your Word from the start.

Give me the words you'd have me sayto teach my children how to pray.

Give me time, special moments to share that they may know, "Mommy really does care".

Give me hands that work willinglya steadfast example that I may be.

Give me courage to stand in your mightto teach my little ones to always do right.

Give me boldness to do all these and morethat I may not be ashamed when I stand at your door.
Thank you Father, In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.

Author Unknown

All About Me!!! (God Makes Us Special)

You'll need: pictures of each child,paper,and information about the kids

Directions:Ask kids questions about themselves such as: What is your favorite color? What is your favorite food? What color are your eyes? etc.

Type or write up the answers and post them in the house with a picture of each child next to their answers. People who enter the house can learn more about the kids and the kids can learn more about each other!

Teach your kids that God gives us each characteristics that make us Special and Unique!!!