Parenting

When a New Baby Comes to Your House

 

Grant welcomes Hudson

Our new grandson is now home with his family – Josh, Becca, and Grant.  All are doing well.  Josh and Becca have done a good job preparing Grant for his little brother’s arrival during the months of waiting.  They talked with him often about how God was blessing them with a new baby and what a good big brother Grant was going to be.  They even came home from the hospital with a gift from baby Hudson for Grant – the Batman helicopter was a big hit with him.

I am staying with them a few weeks to reassure Grant of his special place in his family during this adjustment time of learning to share Mom and Dad.  We are reading books about new babies, coloring pictures of babies and mommies, gluing pictures of babies into a booklet, and diapering a teddy bear.

I am using some of the same activities and stories I used the week we brought our second son home 30 years ago.  Our Bible verse for the week is “I will praise God for I am wonderfully made”. Psalm 139:14.  We have looked at baby pictures of Grant and talked about how special God made him. We ran, sorted big & little toys, sang and danced.  We shared the verse as we did each activity and talked about how wonderful God made him to be able to do all these things. (Check out the next blog post coming out in a few days for the entire lesson on self-worth.)

There are a number of books to read about a new baby.  Here are a couple of suggestions:

The New Baby by Mercer Mayer

The New Baby (Paperstar) By Mister Rogers

Mister Rogers has an excellent song about when a new baby comes to your house.  I couldn’t find it online but am linking to a recording from a vinyl I had years ago When the baby comes to your house.  If anyone does find it for sale online please let me know so I can post the link here.

I hope these things are helpful if you have a new baby come to your house.

1980 Josh welcomed Jer into the family

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What to do when your child’s performance leaves much to be desired

When your child’s behavior is less than what you have hoped for, do you pull out another ‘how to’ book,  or phone a friend for advice,  or take a poll on facebook, or spend hours googling the problem?  No, this is the time to pray!!!

Anytime you have a concern in your child’s development, no matter what age and no matter how big or small the problem, your first response should be prayer.  Ask the One who made the child and knows and loves the child better than you, how to deal with him or her. 

Parents work in the lives of their children through prayer.  It keeps us in tune with God and gives Him the freedom to work in our children’s lives.  This is not to say you never seek advice, but first, always talk to God about the situation and even pray with your children concerning the problem.

And also, when you get exasperated by something your child is doing,  remember God gives us time to grow and mature, let’s do the same for our children. 🙂

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What to Look for in a Preschool, Children, and Youth Ministry

Malachi 4:5-6
“Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. [6] His preaching will turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the hearts of children to their parents. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

I believe this sums up what to look for in any ministry.  God’s plan is to work in children’s lives through the parents.  Anything that tries to do otherwise is wrong. Don’t let anyone rob you of the joy of leading your child to Christ, or training your teenager in spiritual matters, or being the wise counselor for your adult children.  Find a church that understands this.   Luci West so aptly expressed this in the Dudley Baptist Church Children’s Ministry Statement: “partnering with parents to lead their children into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ”.  This is done by making sure the parents have the resources and the training they need to lead their children.

Not only does Malachi point out that the preacher was to turn the parents’ hearts to the children, but it is just as important to turn the children’s hearts toward the parents.  For example: the Youth director should not be getting the youth to rally around him, but should be continually pointing them toward their parents, just as the pastor’s goal is not to have the people dependent on him but to continually point them to a personal daily relationship with their Heavenly Father.

The message in this Scripture appears to be very serious in God’s eyes.  Look at the consequences of not turning parents and children toward each other – a curse on the land.  Hmmm.

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