Faithful Families Resources July 7 2013

 Weekly Inspiration

Train up your child with all tenderness, affection, and patience. I do not mean that you are to spoil him/her, but I do mean that you should let him see that you love him. Love should be the silver thread that runs through all your conduct. Kindness, gentleness, long-suffering, forbearance, patience, sympathy, a willingness to enter into childish troubles, a readiness to take part in childish joys — these are the cords by which a child may be led most easily — these are the clues you must follow if you would find the way to his/her heart.

~J.C Ryle

Family Closeness

Game:

When I hear…I think…

This game is about connecting words and ideas. Someone starts off by saying “I am thinking of…”  and then saying a word or object, for example “cat”. The next person says “When I hear ‘cat’ I think of” and then say the word or thing they connect with “cat” it might be “whiskers”. The next person then takes up the word whiskers. “When I hear “whiskers” I think of..” Keep going until you drive each other crazy. I wonder where you will end up?

Sharing:

Begin a habit of asking around your family: what is one thing you learnt today?  (A story is told of one family who were using this pattern whose children would look through the encyclopaedia before meal time to have something to bring, another family had to bring a new word to the dinner table and so would flip through the dictionary. (The Big Book of Family Fun. Gwen Ellis)

Story

With your family read:  Luke 10:25-37

Questions for Discussion:

• What does loving God with mind, heart, soul and strength look like?
• What might loving your neighbour look like?
• What do you think of the story of the good Samaritan?
• What might Jesus mean when he said: go and do likewise.

Prayer and Celebration

Last week the practice of building prayer into the routines of life was discussed. Here is another idea along the same line but from a slightly different angle. As children grow there are many habits we want them to learn, that we hope might become automatic in their life, such as washing hands before meal or brushing teeth. Years and years of doing these activities hopefully ingrain the habit for life. In the teaching of these habits is an opportunity to remember God and to prayer. When washing a toddler or young childs hand before a meal take the time to say a prayer out loud. This could be a memorised prayer or it could be a line of scripture like – Psalm 51.10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Service

• Collect toys for young children who are either hospitalised in foster care or in a crisis nursury
• Ask families to make may baskets and fill the baskets with candy and small toys
• Invite families to sort through their childrn's outgrown shoes and clothes
• Have families with young children draw pictures and make greeting cards for people in your congregations who are sick 

Family Activity

If your children’s grandparents or uncles or aunties live some way away (or even if they don’t) get them to record a story about their childhood on a tape recorder or to write it down, and post it to you. Your family can then listen to the story during family sharing time. Your children might like to record one of their own stories to post back to their grandparents. 

(This material is based on and draws from earlier Faithful Families emails by Stephen Harrison & Richard Browning: An Unless Ideas Production.) Unless otherwise noted all material on this blog is copyright Stephen Harrison and Richard Browning