Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Parental Advice


I was just thinking about how many amazing friends I have...and what great parents my friends and family are. So I thought I would ask, how do you instill a heart for God into your children? How do you teach your kids to have a quiet time? How do you have a family devotion time that will instill a passion for God into a young kid? How young do you start? What do you do when your child is so young? Just some things I have been praying about and thinking about....deep thoughts....

5 comments:

Shanygne said...

She is soooo precious!!

I think it comes, first, by example...as they see you putting a high prioity on it, they will assume it, too...then you introduce things, like their own Bible, reading kids bible stories with them, talking about moral things, letting them know what God expects of us, etc... just a few examples, but if you are praying and thinking about it, then you are obviously on the right track. I ahve no doubt that Isabelle will be a pillar!

Shanygne said...

oh, yeah, and when kids hear you and your spouse talking about things, referrencing God's desire for your life, making decisions based on prayer, etc... it just becomes part of them... but there is always a defining moment in each kid when they decide whether or not they will keep it for themselves and make it their own... we haven't gotten that far yet... Em and I talked about it this morning, tho, in our reading of Paul Little, from Heaven's Heroes...

Beth said...

So tiny—so cute!

After Shanygne's comments, I'll just say "ditto". She is such a good mom! You will be too!

Anonymous said...

Same thoughts here. Memorizing Scripture is a huge one too. It's amazing what sponges small minds are! Amidst all of the challenges in the crazy Burke house, my mother succeeded well in getting us memorizing Script. from the beginning. Those are the verses that still bounce around in my brain. BTW, thanks for the pics! RM

Anonymous said...

Hi D... another thought. I found a book that I gave to Britt (Mark's sister), by Rick Joiner on Teaching Your Kids How to Pray. (I think it's a Focus publication). Another book on my list to read one day... Shepherding Your Child's Heart. The M Wives discussion list that I'm on gave a high recommendation for Shepherding. Writing from splendid aircon (in the internet cafe)... stressing about the upcoming workshop. Mark and I realized we'll be apart for 10 days next week. It'll be a loong 10 days! I'm really excited about introducing him to my Indo world.