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

Click on this link somuch-scott to hear a fun, thankful song that the children love.   I couldn’t remember exactly how it went so I called our good friend and minister of music, Scott Eaton, and got him to sing it over the phone.  Start with your hands together and as you sing the song pull them further and further apart until your arms are wide open.  Bring your hands back together in a big clap before the last phrase.

You can sing this next song to  the tune of :”Frere Jacques” also known as “Are You Sleeping?”  Sing it with hands folded in prayer and head bowed:

We are thankful
We are thankful
Yes we are
Yes we are
Thankful for our food
Thankful for our family
Give God thanks
Give God thanks

This would be a good time to memorize Psalm 100 or any psalm of thanks.  If your child can’t read yet, try making a picture for the main words in the psalm to help in memorizing.

Psalm 100:1-5

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness:

Come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;

We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,and into his courts with praise:

Be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting;
and his truth endureth to all generations.

Patience is “waiting until later for what I want now”. God is our perfect example of this as He wants our love and affection now, but He waits patiently until we are ready to yield to Him:

And remember, the Lord is waiting so that people have time to be saved…2 Peter 3:15

Don’t you realize how kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Or don’t you care? Can’t you see how kind he has been in giving you time to turn from your sin? Romans 2:4

If God has such patience with us, we should have patience with each other:

Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Ephesians 4:2

As parents, our patience is tested daily and there are times when we all think we have totally lost it. This is when we need to rest in the fact that through knowing God and by His power, we can endure anything:

We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need…Col. 1:11

Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness. 2 Peter 1:6

One way our children learn patience is from observing us. They will usually respond to a situation the same way we do, so they need to see us exercising our patience in difficult situations. When we lose our patience, it can be make the situation worse; when we are patient, we have a calming effect on our children.

Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering (patience), for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him. 1 Tim. 1:16

In addition to your modeling patience, you can have fun using creative activities to teach patience. Here are some ideas I have used through the years with my own children and with my two year old class this last month:

1. Our theme song for the month has been from a children’s musical called Music Machine (click to see this album available at Amazon.com). To hear the song about patience click here 07-have-patience1.

2. In this song Herbert the Snail sings “Have Patience”. We had fun making a snail out of clay dough and painting it after it dried. To make the clay-dough, mix 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, and 1/3 cup water. Roll the dough into a snake and curl it like a snail. Use a broken toothpick for feelers.

Herbert the Snail

3. We also learned to sign the song.

4. I had the children all sit down on the carpet and wait quietly until the timer went off (about one minute or so) and then I gave them a small treat and thanked them for waiting patiently.

5. We pointed out patience in any video we watched or book we read.

6. When we read The Tortoise and the Hare, we made a turtle out of a paper plate folded in half for its shell and then added a head, legs, and tail. We talked about how the turtle walked patiently toward his goal.

7. When we read Daddy, Are We There Yet, we pretended to take a car trip and talked about waiting patiently until we arrived at our destination.

8. I thanked them anytime I observed them using patience.

9. I acted out being impatient, which really surprised them to see me act like they do sometimes when they don’t get what they want and when they want it. ( I later apologized for not being patient)

I’m sure you can come up with more creative ideas of your own. Have fun and remember that with God’s power you can “Have Patience”

It is never too early nor too late to begin teaching character to your children.

Steve McChesney has a great article about teaching children the character quality of respect.  It can be found at here.

I just spent a month teaching my two-year-old class about respect.  We used the word often when  correcting unacceptable behavior and we looked for examples of respect or lack of respect in any books we read.

I took Aretha Franklin’s song  “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” and changed the words (see below).  The children loved it and have really responded well to the teaching.  They have grasped the concept of respect as showing kindness and they use the term appropriately, plus they have learned to spell the word.  And they are only two years old!!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

R-E-S-P-E-C-T spells respect it’s plain to see.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T means I’m kind to you; you’re kind to me.

Show

Respect to your mom

Respect to your dad

Respect to your friends

Respect for their things

Respect to your teachers

Respect for your school

R-E-S-P-E-C-T  This is what it means to me!! (clapping as you say this)

Anyone can smile and sing when things are going great.  The true test of my faith is to smile and sing when I am in the midst of a trial in my life.

It brings a smile to God’s heart when we express  trust in Him even when our circumstances seem contrary to what we have always believed about Him.  It encourages ourselves and others when we declare our love for God and confidence in Him during these times.  The attached song by Matt Redman sums this up.

Help your children grasp early in life the fact that no matter what comes our way, God never lets go of us!!!!

08-you-never-let-go

We had the best Fourth of July ever!!! Yes, we had food; yes, we had fireworks; yes we had watermelon. We had Wii games, bocce ball in the backyard, and conversation around the fire pit. There was the usual Daws family movie quoting and the constant playing of patriotic music and movies throughout the day. There were even a few non-mother-approved displays of pyrotechnics; however, I can’t complain because everyone did sit long enough for the reading of the “Declaration” and “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere”. But none of these alone are what made it a spectacular 4th. It’s the fact that our entire family was at our house along with some of our favorite extended family.

Nothing can compare with family enjoying each other. What a gift from God!!! It is interesting that the author of the Declaration of Independence understood the importance of family. Thomas Jefferson once said, “The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.” I wonder if he had any idea that one day the celebration of what he had a part in would be a family fun-filled holiday.

As my heart rejoices over the day we had, it also hurts for those who couldn’t have that for whatever reason - the recent loss of a daughter, a father near death, discord in the family, or a family member in another country actually defending the right to have a fun-filled 4th.

The first institution God established was the family. No matter what your family situation, always remember - if God so valued the family, so should we. Your family is a gift of God to you, as you are to them.

I hope you will take the time to listen to the following song by Gary Dunham A Happy Family. It was in the top 10 Christian songs in 1981 so it is a little dated, but It has been special to our family through the years. Several years ago one of our children accidentally recorded over our only copy of the song, so you will hear him at the end, but you will get the message of the song

A Happy Family

He has put a new song in my mouth– Psalm 40:3

Do you have a new song to sing each day? I have to admit that lately I have not had a song in my heart or in my mouth because of negative circumstances in our lives. But singing can bring physical, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual refreshment to individuals of all ages, even beginning in the womb. The unborn child’s ears at 20 weeks are structurally equivalent to an adult’s ears and the amniotic fluid is an excellent conductor of sound.

God knows what He’s doing when He encourages us numerous times throughout Scripture to sing. He desires our songs of praise to Him, but He also designed music for our good - to promote our wellness, to help us manage stress, to encourage us to express our feelings, to help enhance our memory, and to help us improve communication.

It is easy to sing when all is right in our world, but we should not sing only when things are going well for us. My mentor that I mentioned in a previous post, Jo Bevington, is recuperating from a stroke, is almost blind, and is now unable to work with children, but she always has a new song in her heart and mouth when I talk with her. She recently sent me this scripture: I will be glad and full of joy because of You Most High God. I will sing praise to You.” Psalm 9:2

Scriptures gives us examples of ways God used music in difficult times. In 2 Chronicles 20, God instructed the singers to lead the way as the army marched toward the enemy which lead to their ultimate victory. In 1 Samuel 16:23 David’s harp playing soothed the troubled spirit of the king.

With all this in mind, we should sing often with our children. Don’t worry if you are like me and can’t carry a tune . . . God nor your children will care. It will bless God, your children, and you. God has designed children to give Him the best praise and you as their parent get to have a part in that as you guide them to sing. (Psalm 8:2 Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you; toddlers shout the songs that drown out enemy talk, and silence atheist babble.)

Here are a few examples of songs that you can sing to familiar tunes. One mother recently wrote me that she was learning to make up songs each day with her children…what fun! Let’s all keep singing

Blow, Blow, Blow the Wind (Psalm 147:18)

(tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

Blow, blow, blow the wind

Gently through the trees

God causes His wind to blow

How I like the breeze

A Helper I Will Be(1 Corinthians 3:9)

(tune of The Farmer in the Dell)

A helper I will be

A helper I will be

I will help my mommy

A helper I will be

Be Ready to Share (1 Timothy 6:18)

(tune of 3 Blind Mice)

Be ready to share

Be ready to share

It’s more fun when we share our toys

So let’s share with the girls and the boys

Be ready to share

Be ready to share

It is Better to Give Than Receive (Ephesians 4:28, 2Cor. 9:7)

(tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb)

It is better to give than receive

Give than receive

Give than receive

It is better to give than receive

Giving makes us glad

Brush Your Teeth

(tune of Row, Row Your Boat)

Brush, Brush, Brush your teeth

Brush your teeth each day

Then you’ll have a pretty smile

And healthy teeth to stay

My son convinced me to livestream a video. So I now have a youtube.com account - my username is sheilahdaws. Look me up if you want. I’ll also post all the videos I put on there at this website.

Here is the first one I did. It is a teaching aid with songs to help teach the senses. This is simple to make out of felt and can be used with infants on up. The songs are easy to learn and children enjoy them over and over. I hope you will enjoy creating your own “Joe” and singing with your children as you help them discover that they are “wonderfully made” by God. (Psalm 139:14)




If you can’t get the video to play, try clicking this link.

Sunday night I called my mentor who taught me to teach children. Her name is Jo Bevington. Her love for Jesus and passion for leading little ones to Christ is infectious. Although she never had children of her own, there are many, many children who have come to believe in Jesus either directly by her, or by the many mothers she has taught to train their children for the Lord. She started working with children as a teenager and is now 85. So that is around 70 years of teaching children and teaching others to teach children. She got her doctorate in early childhood education when she was 58. She did her dissertation on building faith in the preschooler, birth through 3 years old!!!! I told her I would love to get a copy of that and she said she might try to send it to me.