Get your kids in the kitchen!

Check out our collection of recipes:

https://www.pinterest.com/happilypar…/get-your-kids-cooking/

If you try any of these, let us know!

 #livesummerdeliberately

Road Trip Tip

What trips do you have planned for this summer? Join us on Facebook to share!

Here's to good moods all around!

 #livesummerdeliberately

Summer Travel Tip

Do you need more advice on surviving (yeah, that's an appropriate word in this case) long trips with small children?

Join us on Facebook to ask questions or share your own experiences.

Safe travels this summer . . . go make some memories!

 #livesummerdeliberately

SUMMER!

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Messes and Noise

We hear it over and over: the two things that make moms lose it the fastest during the summer months are messes and noise. With a little bit of prep, maybe we can help you keep your "lose-it" moments to a bare minimum this summer.

 #livesummerdeliberately

The Best Years of Your Life?

Confession: it bugs me when people tell children that “these are the best years of your life.” And although I think the t-shirts that say “I don’t feel like adulting today” are kind of funny . . . honestly, I think being an adult is highly preferable to being a kid.

Why do people tell kids that these are the best years of their lives? Sure, I get it that it can be a little sad when our babies grow up too quickly and start to pull away from us, but do we really want 30-year-olds living in our basements? Do we want adulthood to sound so unappealing that no one wants to make it there?

I remember when I was in college, I was at our church youth director’s house one weekend, and someone commented to a complaining child that “these are your best years.” I heard myself blurt out, “Don’t listen to that!” Everyone was surprised at my outburst (including me), but my mouth was already running, so I kept going. I said, “Eventually, you won’t have homework anymore. You can come home and sit on the sofa. You can drink a soft drink and watch TV or read a book that nobody MAKES you read. Also, you won’t have to get a pass when you have to go to the bathroom—you just get up and go when you feel like it. You get to use pens, too, instead of pencils all the time. Purple ink if you want. And if you get in the mood to go somewhere, you can drive your own car instead of begging your mom to take you. And I’ll tell you something else: if you want a dog, you can just go get one!”

Twenty years later, I still feel pretty much the same way. I want my kids to enjoy their childhood, but I would hate for them to think that their best years are the ones spent wearing Garanimals.

--Andrea

Valentine's Week Series: Ten Ways to Love Your Children

As our former pastor used to say, "You can't spoil a child by holding him and loving him. You spoil a child by withholding discipline." AMEN, and well said! There's a big difference between loving and cherishing our children and serving them and spoiling them. This week, our focus is love--the kind that produces pleasant children who will love you right back!

Ten Ways to Love Your Children

1. Allow them to be children; in other words, you be the parents. You make major decisions in the home and allow them to be followers. You may think that you're acting in a loving and inclusive way when you allow children to help with major decisions in the home, but the truth is that you're putting a burden on them. Parents who lack solid leadership often produce anxious children.
2. Teach them some life skills. Sure, they may enjoy playing baseball or taking a ballet class, but be sure that you're allowing them to learn to do what you do in the home. Which skill will your child need more--executing a killer pirouette or knowing how to separate darks from whites?
3. The next time you don't feel 100%, let your children take care of you. We're not talking about major care and responsibility--but if you have a slight headache or a case of the sniffles, ask your child if he or she would like to help you feel better, and see what happens. That question can lead you to discuss anything from practical tips that they need to learn to talks about compassion and putting others' needs before your own.
4. Lighten up when it rains. Okay, maybe not now, when it's so cold, but the next time you have a warm, balmy day that turns rainy, we think that would be the perfect time for boat racing in a big puddle.
5. Talk about Jesus. Make Him real to them. If you have smaller children, point out a beautiful sunrise and suggest that they tell Jesus that they like His art work. Tell them that He loves to receive compliments on His hard work. Talk about Him as often as you can, and use His name. Remember that there is power in that name!
6. Read to them. If you have older children, read from a devotion book while still sitting at the kitchen table, or read an old mystery novel together as a family.
7. Be honest with them.  No matter what age they are, children can always tell when you're not being honest. This is especially true when you get into the bigger discussions during the pre-teen and teen years. Establish a foundation with your children so they will come to you with questions. Answer what they ask . . . but be sure you understand exactly what they're asking!
8. Spend some one-on-one time. In our house, we have a saying: "Girls with the girls, boys with the boys." Whether meeting up at a restaurant or spending a Saturday running errands or working around the house, one-on-one gives us time to share real life lessons and model being a woman and being a man for our children.
9. Surprise them! This one works only if your children aren't accustomed to getting something ALL. THE. TIME. When they are taught to wait for special things--even little things--they, in turn, reap the benefit of a genuine surprise. It can be as simple as a box of Cracker Jacks in their seats when you pick them up from school to as big as a quick trip to the library or local yogurt shoppe. While these may seem silly and outdated to some, children are the same as they've always been--but we have changed our approach--which, unfortunately, now includes too much stuff way too soon.
10. Pray for them and for their future spouses. Right now your child's other half is most likely out there in some corner of the world. Whether just down the road, across the seas, or friends since birth, begin praying for them now. Pray for their purity, humility, and character, and most of all, pray that their hearts desire Christ above all else.

Praying that you're happily parenting today!

--Stacey and Andrea