Fill Them Up Friday!

Fridays I'm going to post on parenting and/or kid stuff!  This week I wanted to chat about time management with kids.  There are so many demands on our time and some days I just want to turn off the computer and the phone, order in and spend the day playing and talking with my kids.  Learning what makes them tick - what they love to do, trying to see the world through their eyes.
I'm fully convinced that if we do not win their hearts when they are little, we not only have the right to speak into their lives when they are adults, they won't come to us or listen when they do need advice.  These are the times we have the opportunity to do that.
Deuteronomy 11:18-20 in the New Living Translation says:
"So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine.  Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.  Teach them to your children.  Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.  Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
This strikes me as an everyday practice.  Not a special occassion or Sundays only kind of thing.  God is telling us - make this part of your life - everyday - all the time, teach your kids about me.
You know what is so great about kids that are raised in homes that believe in God - they ask questions about what God is like, not IF God is real.  That is so amazing!  That kind of faith and pure faith amazes me and I want to nurture it and cultivate the love of God in my kids lives.
The biggest way I can do that is to demonstrate that love for them.  My love fails pathetically in comparison to God's love for them but getting on the floor, building lego, coloring, playing games, reading books and doing all the things they love lets them know that I care about what is important to them - just like God.  It lets them know that I am involved in the little things in their lives - just like God.  Most of all, it lets them know how much I enjoy spending time with them - just like God.
One of the things we're doing this summer is having an Isaiah day, a Jacob day, and Eli day and a Benjamin day.  We are going to do whatever they want on their day, eat what they want to eat and my activities for those days will center around them.  The laundry, bills, gardening, cooking and yep, even blogging will all be moved to the back burner and we will center on them!
If you have children or grandchildren or nieces or nephews or friends or neighbors that you have the opportunity to influence, I would LOVE to hear your ideas and the things you have done to impart the life of God into their lives and make them know that they are loved and important.
Take time today to see life through the eyes of a little person - it just may light your heart up in ways you couldn't imagine. Pin It