Parenting Archives - Page 7 of 7

September 28, 2015 by Kristina Lunde 806 Comments

Kids and Bible Memory Verses: Viola’s Got it!

Dear Haley,

So you were wondering how to squeeze your three year old Viola’s memory verses into your week of work, caring for Viola and her little sister, and life in general – not to mention that you are pregnant?! (Pregnancy alone will exhaust a mom!)

First of all, you are to be congratulated for getting Viola to AWANAs on Wednesday nights. That in itself is an achievement! Please be good to yourself and stay realistic about your family goals. (That growing baby in you is commandeering much of your energy and resources.)

Viola has a great time at AWANAs. She is bright and eager – a quick learner and an engaged thinker. What I love is the way her face shines when she says her memory verses. Viola truly delights in God’s Word (Psalm 1:2.) For me, there is no greater reward to this volunteer gig.

AWANA is a great program, but it was never designed to put pressure on you. (You have a preschooler, a toddler, and you are pregnant. I’m tired just thinking about your workload!) Please don’t berate yourself for not reviewing the memory verse with your oldest. The Bible verses are shortened to 3-8 word lengths, but they can still be a challenge for the little ones to memorize.

I remember being a mom of young children and feeling the time squeeze of getting my kids to memorize Bible verses. Memorization is a good thing, something I value, but often memory work became one more chore, one more sheet on the fridge not to forget, one more item on the never-ending list of things to do with and for my kids. (That is, if the list stayed on the fridge . . . if I didn’t forget . . . if we got to it in time before the due date . . .)

(Note to my younger self:) God’s Word is very important, but as parents, we need to focus on building a lifelong love of God’s Word in our children, not just getting them to earn checkmarks on a page. Memorizing God’s Word is a process that starts when our children are little. They will build on the seeds sown now, as we role model the importance of learning from the Bible. Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it, as Proverbs 22:6 encourages us.

God’s Word is not meant to merely leave our lips, but to live in our hearts.

As volunteers, we try to help these preschool students understand who God is and how He loves them, using the AWANA Cubbies curriculum to present these concepts through story-telling, puppet shows, singing, and even while playing games in the gym. We repeatedly explain concepts like sin, shepherd, and creation, so they can understand what the verse talks about. Sometimes we barely get to practice the pronunciation of the words, let alone memorize the verse. Please know that we do our best for little Viola and her classmates.

Lord, may your word not be something that merely leaves Viola’s lips, but that deeply roots your love in her heart. Bless Haley with the rest, energy, and encouragement she needs to be the amazing mother you have called her to be. Amen.

[Originally posted April 2015]

September 28, 2015 by Kristina Lunde 1,237 Comments

Man-child, Vomit, and the School Nurse

Man-child cooked himself a big breakfast that morning before school, but suddenly he felt ill. “I’m going to throw up!” he yelled as he ran in the bathroom, and accomplished said task.

“Please go lie down. Stay home and rest, at least for awhile until you feel better. Then you can go into school later if you feel okay.” I urged, knowing that he would not take my advice.

I walked over toward him with my hand held out. “Let me feel if you have a fever.” No warmth, perspiration, or sign of a fever. No further vomiting. “You should still stay home,” I pleaded.

“No, I have to go to school. I’ll just check in with the nurse and get a pass,” countered man-child.

“That’s my line! This is role reversal again. Just stay home and rest for awhile – you can go in later.” Conceding this mother versus man-child battle, albeit minor in scope, I let him go to school.

The scenario continued to be amusing when I called in to the high school nursing office. I recognized the nurse Shelly as one of my workout friends from the YMCA. “Oh, hi Shelly. I’m the delinquent mom who sent my sick kid to school.”

“It was actually refreshing to have a student want to go to class. Usually they are in here trying to get out of going to class.” Shelly’s sense of humor was a welcome contrast to my frustration.

“Well, I tried at home. He doesn’t have a fever, but I wanted to keep him at home to at least sleep for a bit. But I couldn’t talk any sense into him. I was hoping you could.” My irritated attitude toward my son persisted.

“He was going to try class. I wrote out a pass for him just in case; he’ll come back to my office if he still feels sick.”

“Great. He’ll infect everyone in choir. Oh well. I tried. I just wanted to let you know,” I mumbled in guilty resignation.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll take care of him. If he comes back and is sick, I’ll send him home.” With her optimistic nature and confident reassurance, Shelly absolved me of my guilt.

Who prepares you for these parenting challenges?! I certainly was taken by surprise when strong-willed man-child argued to go to school when given the option of staying home, stopped by the nurse’s office with an announcement of his illness yet insisted on attending class, and persevered through school after a vomiting episode. Strange acts of defiance against a mom who merely wanted him to stay home and rest.

Thank God for helpful, caring professionals in my community that help me with my parenting. And who keep me from losing my patience with puke-boy.

[Originally posted March 2015]

November 22, 2014 by Kristina Lunde 2,500 Comments

Dear Mama Deer

Dear Mama Deer,

As a safety conscious mama, I want to have a few words with you about how you teach your little ones to get across traffic lanes. Although we live in a low-traveled area, I think you need to pay more attention to how your family gets across the street and how you train your fawn-babies to do that.

When I moved here from California, I remember hearing the clomp-clomp-clomp down my street for the first time. Expecting to see horses on my small town street, I ran to the window and gaped in surprise. There you were with your herd, crossing the road after coming up the ravine trails. Little did I realize how much you own this neighborhood! Since then, I am always amazed when you cross the street in single file. Slowing my car for a deer to cross the road means an inevitable halt as your brood wanders across the street one by one. My Minnesota friends warned me that the fall deer hunting season was the worst for car collisions with deer, understandably because your kind are skittish and on the run.

To your credit, you deer seem to look both ways with that twitchy neck movement that scouts out danger. I really haven’t seen the proverbial “deer in the headlights” look; usually I see jerky, swivel heads as your group crosses in front of my car. Kudos to you for teaching your fawn-babies to look both ways, but why start this procession when cars are coming?! Please give a thought to the size of your parade before scampering across the road, leaving your less-experienced little ones to follow right into oncoming traffic.

One day, heading down the big hill, I saw an animal lying in the middle of the road. The size of a medium dog, the animal appeared to have a long, crooked tail. After realizing that the animal was not going anywhere, I stopped my car and got out to take a look. Here was a sweet, spotted fawn-baby of yours, looking very frail and very young. I thought it was dead, until I approached and noticed the heaving of its chest. Backing off quickly, I got back in my car and thought of whom I could call. Cops? Humane society? Game warden? Then, as I picked up my phone, I saw the little one stretch up onto wobbly scrawny legs and lope off clumsily into the woods, presumably to where you were watching from.

Interesting how the Creator God had the whole situation under control. Perhaps that is how you handle things in the woods, letting your little ones get up on their own under the Creator’s watchful eye. (There is probably a great parenting lesson in there somewhere for me.) It just seemed to me that you were abdicating your motherly duty by leaving him stuck in the middle of the road. Would you please keep your birthing in the woods and far away from the road next time?!

And about my neighbor’s flower boxes . . . Yes, it was hilarious to drive down the street and see you and your kin eating the beautiful flowers right out of her living room bay window boxes, as if they were your personal feeding troughs. But would you please lay off her house decorations? At least start on the stuff in the yard first.

So please, keep your littlest ones out of the street, look both ways before you cross, and go easy on the flower boxes. I will do my best to drive safely and watch out for you.