Parenting Inspiration

The internet is full of parenting advice.  Mostly of what people think we should not do and with that comes a sence of shame if we every resorted to such a tactic in a desperate hour with our kids.  This post will not be about any of that.  What good does it do to know what not to do if we aren't given an alternative to do instead?  This leads to undisciplined kids disrespecting adults.

I've seen it in my own kids.  I've not known what to do so I tell them to stop doing the undesired behavior, but have no consequence to follow up with because all I can think of are things parenting gurus online say not to do.  So this morning when the kids were fighting and yelling at each other I told them all to go outside.  I figure out door voices belong outside and it makes for a good natural consequence.  But it still didn't address the fighting.  Then while they were getting shoes and coats I had my ah-ha!  All this time I've really wanted to get to their hearts.  None of the online advice or ideas has ever helped with this goal.  My husband, when I have bemoaned this problem, has said they're just too young to get to their hearts yet.

Well today an idea occured to me.  Praise God!  Have them each say five things they love about the person they were fighting with.  First this involved a lot of quiet thinking time.  Then as each one went through the process of voicing and discussing things they love about their sibblings the whole atmosphere of our home changed.  Their anger was gone and they started thinking of ways to show love to each other and ways they could serve each other.  Especially doing things they just heard someone say they love about them. They heard and voiced what they each love about each other and were now focused on the positive attributes they each have.  I hope this continues to work on their hearts, but it sure did this morning.  Each child had a change of heart about the sibbling they have been fighting with.

What do you do to help your kids have a change of heart?  Or if you don't have kids what helps you step back from a negative situation and change your own heart? 

Passover preparations

This year is my second Passover.  Last year I was very worried about how my kids would survive when I was finding yeast in the ingredients of most the foods they ate.  I try to eat mostly kosher, but do slip up from time to time. I grew up not worrying about it because it was just the Mosaic Law and after Yeshua (Jesus Christ' Hebrew name) it doesn't apply any more (a more careful read of my Bible has convinced me that the clean and unclean animals are more than just part of the Mosaic Law, after all Noah brought seven of each clean animal instead of just two on the arc). So I have many habits that can be hard to break, and many foods I simply didn't know where they came from, I'm learning many foods I didn't know where they come from, really come from pork (apparently marshmallows aren't just fluffy sugar).  So I decided to really try to be kosher for Passover.  My mom came to visit and wanted to help with the shopping and decided to buy a pizza.  It had yeast and pork!  I figured, "Oh well, I don't want to offend her and she's even less used to thinking about it than I am."  Other than that pizza we enjoyed lots of homemade Matzah, and my kids survived coming up with creative ways to eat it.  Like Matzah pizza, and the good reliable peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Preparing for Passover this year consists mostly of slowly buying less of the products with yeast in them and phasing out what we have to make sure it gets used up before Passover starts.  It's a good time to check the pantry for mixes that over time the leaven would get old and become ineffective anyway.  Like the nasty pancakes that have been a past result of using an expired pancake mix. My kids were scared of what my next pancakes would be like and talked about them for at least a year.  Passover is the opportunity to save myself from such cooking or baking disasters with subsequent embarrassment as it is talked of till I finally live it down.  I just make those pancakes and buy a fresh box of mix when Passover is over.  The kids will be happy and so will my pantry. 

As a Gentile who believes in Yeshua I don't prepare or eat a Passover Lamb because He was and is our sacrificial lamb.  It is a good time to look to Him, remember Him and ask Him to reveal the leaven that needs to be removed from my life.  What wastes my time that could be used better to be more in line with his purpose for my life?  What attitudes and thought patterns need to be removed?  What is hiding in the back of my heart that should just be thrown out like the expired pancake mix in the back of my pantry?

Passover and First Fruits are a great way to teach kids about Yeshua the Passover Lamb and the First Fruits of the resurrection.  I'm preparing my children for this lesson by teaching them the Scriptures in 1Corinthians 11:23-26 about Yeshua ministering the bread and wine to His disciples at His last supper before his death. As I've celebrated the Biblical feast days over the last year I've learned more about the God I worship. I've also found it refreshingly easy to use these Holy days to teach my children about God since they were designed by Him to do just that in the first place.

Whether you celebrate Passover and First Fruits or Easter or Resurrection day remember it is all to point us to God's grace that can show us what we need to change and also give us the power to do it while removing our guilt when we realize what we still lack.  Isn't grace wonderful?