"R" Kids
My husband and I have had the privilege of raising four awesome children. All too fast they are all grown, married, and now raising children of their own. I praise the Lord that all of our children are Christians (and 2 of our grandchildren have come to know Christ as their Savior), and are all actively serving the Lord. This post entitled "R" kids is an ingredient list all beginning with the letter "r."
1. Real – be real; your kids will spot a phony in a flash!
2. Relationship – develop a good relationship very early with your children. Talk to them and LISTEN when they talk to you!
3. Request – pray for your children. Phillipians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
4. Rules – make sure your kids know your rules and understand them. It is okay to teach your children WHY you have the rules you do have. It should not be okay for them to ask “why?” when you tell them to do something.
5. Responsive – be responsive to your children’s needs – physical, social, spiritual, don’t let things slip by, be proactive and do all you can to respond!
6. Respect – teach your children to respect you and all authority and you respect them as well.
7. Responsibility – teach your children that they are responsible for their actions and decisions
8. Requirements – let them know what things you require of them – and do indeed require them!
9. Reassure your children that they can do it and you are behind them! Give them confidence in your love for them, and what they can do through Christ; (all things).
10. Role – have a role in their life – and fulfill your God given role. Study the Bible and pray for the Lord to teach you what your proper place is in your child’s life and then seek earnestly to fulfill it!
11. Reinforce – reinforce what your husband says – if you disagree with him, do it silently and discuss it with him privately. Reinforce what Pastor preaches from the pulpit, reinforce authority.
12. Rigid – sometimes you have to be rigid; some things are just not moveable, make sure your kids understand that and be firm!
13. Reliable – your kids should be able to count on you, and should be taught to be reliable as well – don’t be a flake and don’t let them flake out either!
14. Realistic – with all the rule setting and requirements – be realistic, make rules, requirements, responsibilities match their age and within reason
15. Reach your children – with the Gospel, reach out to your children – when we had a need God came to us so that we could go to Him! “we love Him because He first loved us.” Let them know that while they have never been where you are right now, you were once where they are – don’t forget what it was like to be a child, a teen, a young adult.
16. Regard – meaning to observe closely. Watch your kids, pay very careful attention to their behavior, and note any changes. This can help you to detect or prevent problems. If you really watch them you will be able to tell if there is possible health problem, or if something or someone is possibly harming them, or wrongly influencing them.
17. Refer – to the Bible and make sure your kids know that the Bible is the Final Authority!
18. Recognize that they are very precious treasures. “…the fruit of the womb is His reward.”
19. Reward their behavior. Don’t simply discipline or magnify their bad behavior, reward their good behavior.
20. Restrain – or discipline your children – don’t let them do whatever they want. Train them early to obey and don’t be afraid to “make” them obey.
21. Rear or raise your children – a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”
22. Release – remember that your kids are really God’s – let them go to do His will!
23. Remember their birthdays, anniversaries, special events...and most of all remember to always tell them you love them.
I love you my precious children...Dan, Jay, Kel, Jon, & Gen, Mary, Dan, Rachel, & Mark, Micah, Brooklynn, Alexis, Dominic, Corban, Ethan, Marissa, Haylie, Jaclynn & Gianna...so very much!
1. Real – be real; your kids will spot a phony in a flash!
2. Relationship – develop a good relationship very early with your children. Talk to them and LISTEN when they talk to you!
3. Request – pray for your children. Phillipians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
4. Rules – make sure your kids know your rules and understand them. It is okay to teach your children WHY you have the rules you do have. It should not be okay for them to ask “why?” when you tell them to do something.
5. Responsive – be responsive to your children’s needs – physical, social, spiritual, don’t let things slip by, be proactive and do all you can to respond!
6. Respect – teach your children to respect you and all authority and you respect them as well.
7. Responsibility – teach your children that they are responsible for their actions and decisions
8. Requirements – let them know what things you require of them – and do indeed require them!
9. Reassure your children that they can do it and you are behind them! Give them confidence in your love for them, and what they can do through Christ; (all things).
10. Role – have a role in their life – and fulfill your God given role. Study the Bible and pray for the Lord to teach you what your proper place is in your child’s life and then seek earnestly to fulfill it!
11. Reinforce – reinforce what your husband says – if you disagree with him, do it silently and discuss it with him privately. Reinforce what Pastor preaches from the pulpit, reinforce authority.
12. Rigid – sometimes you have to be rigid; some things are just not moveable, make sure your kids understand that and be firm!
13. Reliable – your kids should be able to count on you, and should be taught to be reliable as well – don’t be a flake and don’t let them flake out either!
14. Realistic – with all the rule setting and requirements – be realistic, make rules, requirements, responsibilities match their age and within reason
15. Reach your children – with the Gospel, reach out to your children – when we had a need God came to us so that we could go to Him! “we love Him because He first loved us.” Let them know that while they have never been where you are right now, you were once where they are – don’t forget what it was like to be a child, a teen, a young adult.
16. Regard – meaning to observe closely. Watch your kids, pay very careful attention to their behavior, and note any changes. This can help you to detect or prevent problems. If you really watch them you will be able to tell if there is possible health problem, or if something or someone is possibly harming them, or wrongly influencing them.
17. Refer – to the Bible and make sure your kids know that the Bible is the Final Authority!
18. Recognize that they are very precious treasures. “…the fruit of the womb is His reward.”
19. Reward their behavior. Don’t simply discipline or magnify their bad behavior, reward their good behavior.
20. Restrain – or discipline your children – don’t let them do whatever they want. Train them early to obey and don’t be afraid to “make” them obey.
21. Rear or raise your children – a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”
22. Release – remember that your kids are really God’s – let them go to do His will!
23. Remember their birthdays, anniversaries, special events...and most of all remember to always tell them you love them.
I love you my precious children...Dan, Jay, Kel, Jon, & Gen, Mary, Dan, Rachel, & Mark, Micah, Brooklynn, Alexis, Dominic, Corban, Ethan, Marissa, Haylie, Jaclynn & Gianna...so very much!
Thank you for being such a godly mother and "practicing what you 'preach.' " I love you too!
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful that all of your children are serving the Lord. That is what I am praying for with my children. I am a 48 yr old mother of a 4 yr old boy and 5 yr old girl. I have spent most of my life in the working world and really wasn't prepared for some of the challenges I have faced as a Mother. This is definitely the most important responsibility I have ever been given by God and I want to make sure that I do it right. Question, I had a birthday party for my daughter recently. Her Aunt bought her a Hannah Montana doll. I was shocked when she opened the gift and I didn't know what to do because I really don't want my daughter to be playing with or listening to Hannah Montana. My husband quickly put the doll in the garage and I told my daughter that I would take the doll back to the store and buy her a nicer doll. My daughter has been crying, begging and throwing temper tantrums over that doll. She has no idea who Hannah Montana even is but now she wants it very, very badly and is constantly banging on the garage door and begging for the doll. It has become an obsession with her. She told me that she doesn't want me to be her mother anymore because I won't give her the doll. Everyone in my family is unsaved and I know that I am going to constantly run into these types of situations. My familty thinks I'm crazy for making such a big deal out of a doll and think that I should just give it to her. Thanks for any Godly advice you can give me.
ReplyDeleteThis can be a very touchy situation because you don't want to hurt your relatives feelings - they bought her what most 5 year old girls like. For your daughter it probably seems like you're being cruel to take her toy away from her. We practiced what we call the doctrine of replacement meaning that if we took something away from our kids because we didn't want them to have it for their own good, we replaced it with something that we did want them to have immediately. This way they did not feel that being a Christian meant they couldn't have things - but rather choosing to have the right things. If you don't want her to have the doll then take it back and get her the new one today or definitely as soon as possible.
ReplyDeleteAmen and Amen! I think your #1 is the foundation of every other R on your list. I spent 23 years in an environment where I found very few "real" people. But those few were precious.
ReplyDeleteThanks mom and dad for standing behind us and nudging forward in life, but most of all, thank you for praying for us...
ReplyDelete