Raising Kids

A few weeks ago, our church held a discipleship seminar with the founder of Downline Minisry - Kennon Vaughan (out of Memphis). The first hour was about general evangelism/discipleship and the second hour consisted of making disciples for Jesus in your home.

He brought his wife up for the second part and basically imparted all of their wisdom to us on raising kids to love Jesus. It was refreshing, convicting, and inspiring.

They shared a few basic things that we decided to implement in our home that I thought I would share, all aimed at shaping our kids' hearts to LOVE JESUS (with added benefits of happy, obedient hearts!).

**FAMILY DEVOTIONS
        - Our aim is to do them once/week for Sunday lunch (increase to more maybe) and incorporate:
               1. Scripture Memory
               2. Sing a Hymn
               3. Work on Catechism Questions
               4. Spin the globe and pick a country to pray for that week
        - The first 3 things come from the Truth and Grace Memory Books
                                     *Example page of Scripture memory for age2&3 (and hymns):

                                       *Example page of the Catechism questions:

**Teach them to Honor & Obey
           - We've worked the past few weeks on really using the words "honor and obey" and helping them see the times when they honor mommy and daddy and each other.
           - These particular behavioral charts were also suggested by this couple that we've been using for the past week and they have been AWESOME.

They are an "If-Then" chart and a "Blessings" chart. One earns rewards and the other lists consequences for behaviors. This way, the kids know exactly what is expected of them. Noah doesn't completely understand (though he is starting to get it more), but Lincoln is absolutely eating it up.
Jason and I decided on our own consequences/blessings that we know most affect them.

For instance, on the blessings chart, they earn "stars" together. They have to get 5 stars in a day to be able to get a reward (something out of prize box, play on ipad, are a few). If they get 20 stars in a week, they get to go out for ice cream, and 30 earns them a trip to chuck e cheese.

These charts are GREAT because they are Biblically based and loaded with Scriptures for each thing. So we are always talking about "what the Bible says".

You can buy the charts here.

**Some other suggestions:
1. Make Sunday special = always cook something special for breakfast so Sunday has a "smell" they will remember. I loved this idea!
2. Be intentional about creating traditions that teach about Jesus. His wife had a good book suggestion that ha TONS of tradition ideas (but I can't remember the name!)

I'm thankful for this seminar and excited for these new tools! I hope you find them helpful, too!