Jesus of Nazareth . . . was a prophet,
powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.
Luke 24:19

I have brought the Gentiles to God
by my message and by the way I lived before them.
Romans 15:18

Jesus was powerful in His words and His deeds.

In Romans Paul acknowledges his success in leading others to Christ came from not only his words, but the life he lived.

Never forget that our own attitudes and actions influence our children more deeply than our words.

Children Learn What They Live
by Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

This poem hung on my wall when my children were young as a reminder that someone was always watching my deeds, even if they were not listening to my words.

(Check out the book, Children Learn What They Live.   In it the author expounds on each of the qualities mentioned in her 1954 poem.)

As you enjoy your extended weekend, don’t forget to let your children know why it is happening.

Presidents’ Day is intended to honor George Washington and Abraham Lincoln whose birthdays are both in February.  Their birthdays were observed separately until 1971 when Congress decided the two would be combined into one national holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February.

This is a great time to teach your children about the godly character of these two men. God tells us to remember how He dealt with our ancestors: 1 Cor. 10:1 Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea.

Tell them about the truthfulness of George Washington even as a young boy in the story of the cherry tree.  Here is a site that tells the story and has printable coloring pictures: 

George Washington, sometime before the age of 16, transcribed “Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior In Company and Conversation.” These are good rules to teach your children. This site depicts them in cartoons.

Read at this site and then share with excitement in your own words about how God divinely protected George Washington during the French and Indian War.  You can read the entire account of this in the book  The Bulletproof George Washington

Tell your children why Abraham Lincoln became known as ‘Honest Abe’.  Read about it here and get printable coloring sheets as well.

Read this article about the faith of Abraham Lincoln.  This is what he said before the Battle of Gettysburg” . . . oppressed by the gravity of our affairs, I went to my room one day and locked the door and got down on my knees before almighty God and prayed to Him mightily for victory at Gettysburg. I told Him that this war was His, and our cause His cause . . . Then and there I made a solemn vow to almighty God that if He would stand by our boys at Gettysburg, I would stand by Him. And after that, I don’t know how it was, and I cannot explain it, soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul. The feeling came that God had taken the whole business into His own hands, and that things would go right at Gettysburg . . .” from Abraham Lincoln: The Man & His Faith

Here’s an excellent interactive site for both presidents.

We can use this day to pray for our current president and leaders as well.  They have been placed in their position by God: Daniel 2:21 He changes times and periods of history.He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to those who are wise and knowledge to those who have insight. Download this coloring sheet that gives suggestions of what to pray for our leaders.

Enjoy your long weekend and have fun teaching your children as you go!!!

Train Up The Child is dedicated to helping you fulfill God’s commands to parents. Deuteronomy 6:7 instructs us to teach our children as we go; Isaiah 28:10 instructs to teach ‘here a little, there a little’.

Begin this lesson by creatively making a poster of Ephesians 4:32 and place it on the fridge all week.  Read the suggested passages for Bible stories and tell them in your own words.  I have given you suggested things to share about each.  Do at least one of the suggested activities each day.  I am sure you can come up with better ideas on your own – this is just to get you started.

You can find more helpful information and songs related to kindness in a previous blog http://www.trainupthechild.org/?s=my+preschooler+hit+me.

Kindness

Bible Verse: Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another

Bible Stories:

Luke 10:30-35 A man was walking down a road and some bad men jumped on him and beat him up and hurt him so badly he couldn’t move.  Then they left him all alone.  A man came by later but he would not help the hurt man.  Another man came by, but he wouldn’t help either.  Finally a man came by and felt sorry for the hurt man so he stopped and helped him.  He bandaged his hurt places and took him to a nice, warm place to stay.  Which man was being kind?

Ruth 2 Ruth and her mother-in-law had just moved from another country to Bethlehem.  They didn’t have a garden to raise any food, so they were hungry.  Ruth went to a man’s field of wheat and asked if she could have the left-overs from his field. The man’s name was Boaz. Boaz told her she didn’t have to get the left-overs, but she could have whatever she needed.  Was Boaz kind?

Daniel 1 The bad King Nebuchadnezzar had put Daniel in prison.  He was being mean to Daniel and his friends.  But one of the king’s men felt sorry for Daniel.  Instead of being mean to Daniel like the king wanted him to, he was kind to Daniel and helped him to show the king that God is good.

1 Samuel 18 through 2 Samuel 5 King Saul had been chasing David everywhere.  He wanted to kill David because David was so good.  David hid in a cave.  King Saul came into the cave and didn’t see David.  This was David’s chance to get Saul back for being so mean to him.  He could have hurt him but would that have been kind?  No, David let Saul go unharmed.  When Saul found out, he told David, “You have been kind, but I have been evil.”

John 4:6-29 Jesus was sitting at a well where people came to get their water.  A lady came to get water while he sat there.  She was a Samaritan lady and Jesus was a Jewish man.  The Js did not like the Samaritans and not talk to them or have anything to do with them at all.  In fact they were sometimes very mean to them.  But Jesus wasn’t mean to the lady.  He began to talk to her and tell her about God and how she could be saved.  Jesus was kind to the lady.

Prayer: Help us to show kindness by hugging, helping, sharing, and saying kind words to one another

Activities for younger preschoolers:

Act out the story of the Good Samaritan with bandages and bandaides

Feed birds or ducks or pet animals and share the verse

Share the verse while changing diaper and point out the kindness you are showing by
caring for him.

Teach him to hug and kiss – share the verse.

Play with ball and talk about playing kindly and sharing

Activities for older preschoolers:

Act out the story of the Good Samaritan with bandages and bandaides

Make a bird feeder out of a pine cone covered in peanut butter and rolled in bird seed.
hang outside in a tree.  Watch for birds and share the verse.

Have him draw a picture and send it to someone just to show kindness.

Bake cookies and take to someone – share the verse as you work

Make or buy playdough and tell them you did it just to show kindness to him.

Describe situations or show pictures of different situations and ask if it is showing
kindness or unkindness –ex. Pushing, sharing, listening to parents, helping someone

who falls down, telling someone, ‘I love you’, kicking someone

Songs:

Be Kind to One Another

Kindness, Kindness is God’s Idea you see (tune of Goodness on Music Machine: The Fruit of the Spirit)

Books:

The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes Gift Edition

The Story of the Good Samaritan – Arch Books

The Angry King: 1 Samuel 18-2 Samuel 5 for Children

Jesus and the Woman at the Well – Arch Books

Jesus Teaches Me Kindness (An Arch Books Series)

(This is another lesson from Here a Little, There a Little, a compilation of Bible activities I created years ago to use with my preschool children. It was designed to spend a week memorizing the verse and reinforcing it through 5 Bible lessons and 5 activities.)

Sharing

Bible Verse: Be Ready to Share I Timothy 6:18
All that believed in Jesus had all things in common. Acts 2:44

Bible Stories:

Matthew 14:15-23 Jesus was teaching the people on the countryside and they all got hungry, but it was too far to go back to the city to get something to eat. There was one little boy there with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Do you know what he did? He shared his lunch with all the people. Jesus was pleased with him.

I Samuel 18:1-4 Jonathan and David were good friends in the Bible. They loved each other. Jonathan loved David so much that he gave him his coat, clothes, and his sword and bow. He had learned to share with his good friend.

I Kings 17:10-15 Elijah was one of God’s preachers. One day he was on a trip and when he got to the city he saw a woman gathering sticks. He asked her for some water and food. She told him she only had enough meal to make one more cake and then she wouldn’t have any more food. Elijah told her that if she would share her last cake wit him, God would bless her with enough food for the rest of her life. She shared her last cake and God did bless her with an unending supply of food.

Philippians 4:10, 14, 18 Paul was in prison. Bad men had locked him in there because he was telling people about Jesus and they didn’t like Jesus. Some people from the town of Philippi wanted to share with Paul while he was in jail. They sent him money, food, and clothes. They also sent him a man named Epaphroditus to take care of him. Paul wrote the Philippians a letter and thanked them for sharing with him.

I Kings 4:9-10 Elisha was also one of God’s preachers like Elijah was. He had some friends that lived in a city named Shunem. Whenever he would pass through that city, his friends wuld share their house with Preacher Elisha. They enjoyed sharing so much that they even built a special room for him to stay in when he was in town. Have you ever shared your room when someone was visiting your home?

Prayer: May we all enjoy sharing our room, toys, time, etc. with others.

Activities for younger preschooler:

Hold his hand and thank him for sharing his hand with you.
Let another child lay on his blanket and thank him for sharing.
Take in another child’s room and talk about that child sharing his room with him.
When he smiles, thank him for sharing happiness
Share Bible verses with him, talking about the Word is the best thing to share with others
Share something of yours with him and talk about being ready to share with him.

Activities for older preschoolers:

Make cookies together and take to a neighbor.
Guide him to choose a toy to share with a friend.
Find pictures of children sharing.
Have guests for supper and talk about sharing food, home, and time with the guests.
Make playdough and share
Make basket, 5 loaves of bread, and 2 fish out of paper.
Share something of yours.

Songs:

(click to hear) Be Ready to Share (tune of “Three Blind Mice”)

(click to hear) This is the way we share (tune of “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush”)

Books:

What’s for Lunch? – Arch Books

Buzzle Billy: A Book About Sharing (Building Christian Character)

The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes Gift Edition

This Room is Mine..a Story About Sharing

Always help your children understand the holiday you are celebrating.  Have fun telling the story of the first Thanksgiving and acting it out with Indian headbands and Pilgrim hats.

Click here for a coloring book you can download and print that gives a simple explanation of the first Thanksgiving.  Talk about each page as you color.

The following sites have patterns for pilgrim hats and Indian headbands:

http://crafts.kaboose.com/pilgrim-hat-for-girls.html

http://crafts.kaboose.com/pilgrim-hat-for-boys.html

http://www.theholidayspot.com/thanksgiving/crafts/indian.htm

I am thankful for all of you who follow my blog and have a desire to train up your children according  to Scripture.   Thank you to family and friends who continue to encourage me to post.  Thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ for all things!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Take a walk around the house or outside and point out things you are thankful for.  Turn it into a prayer of thanks as you say “Thank you God for”  and name each thing.  You can also take pictures of these things and put them in a thank you box that you can decorate together.  Each night you can pull out a picture and thank God for it. You can include in your box pictures of family and friends to be thankful for.  Older children may want to draw pictures or make a thank you notebook.  These activities are for the whole family.  You never get too old to be thankful for the things and people around you.

Click on the link to hear a song you can use to sing your thank you’s as you walk. I apologize for the quality. . . it is from a 32 year old tape . . . but you can still get the tune and the idea.

13-we-are-glad-today

No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1Thes. 5:18 (NLT)

A form of the word “thanks” occurs about 150 times in Scripture making it very evident that God values thankful hearts

Being thankful is a choice.  If it were not a choice, God wouldn’t be commanding us to be thankful.  The pilgrims chose to be thankful after their first year in America even though they experienced sickness, deaths, and various hardships. In 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln chose to declare that “the last Thursday in November be a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwells in the heavens.”

When we choose to be thankful, our spirits are lifted.  We can not be discouraged and thankful at the same time.  We can not teach our children to be thankful when we are ungrateful.  As in everything, we lead by example.

“Reflect upon your present blessings – of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”- Charles Dickens

How’s your thank you list going?  Regularly writing down what you are thankful for can increase your level of happiness by at least 25%.   I have always believed that an attitude of gratitude is vital to your happiness and your health because of what Scripture indicates. (Proverbs 17:22 “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength” is just one example.)

However, Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier offers scientific evidence of this and that a grateful spirit actually improves your health: “The person who experiences gratitude is able to cope more effectively with everyday stress  . . . recover more quickly from illness, and benefit from greater physical health.”   I haven’t read the book yet, but I am always thrilled when scientists discover the reality of what Scripture has always said.  Read more of the research results here.

I read Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy this year as I was going through a difficult time in my life.   The book was a fresh reminder to concentrate on being thankful, which did tremendously help me cope with my circumstances at the time.   God doesn’t just tell us to do something for no reason.  He has our best interest in mind when He says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thes. 5:18

Let’s teach our children early to have an attitude of gratitude, not just so we look good when they utter an unsolicited thank you to the waitress , but so that throughout their lives they will experience all the positive effects of thankfulness that God intends for them.

Use the Bible to make your children aware of people who thanked God.  The first Bible story that comes to mind that has to do with thanks is the story of the Ten Lepers in Luke 17:11-19.  Ten lepers came to Jesus and were healed, but only one came back to say thank you.  At Amazon.com you can buy an Arch book about this entitled He Remembered to Say Thank You.    Our children loved the Arch Books as they tell the Bible stories in rhyme and the pictures are very colorful. There are many Bible stories available in the Arch Series.

The story of Hannah A Mother Who Prayed (also an Arch books) is an example of thankfulness as she earnestly prayed for a child and when God answered her prayer, she gave Him thanks. This story is found in 1 Samuel 1 and 2.

The Psalms are full of David’s thank yous.  And Paul talks often of his thankfulness for various things.

If you don’t have the books, read the stories in the Bible for yourself, and then tell them in your own words with expression.  Be creative and use visuals.  For example for the Ten Lepers you can make 10 paper dolls with dots all over them on one side and then flip them over  to reveal the spots are all gone when you talk about Jesus healing them.  Have all of them leave, and then one of them comes back to thank Jesus.