5 Ways to Cultivate a Heart of Contentment in Your Children

“But I wanted cheese pizza; not pepperoni!”

“Why does she get to do all the fun stuff?  I never get to do anything!”

Do you hear phrases like this in your home?  Is it obvious that your children are struggling with being content?

Here are some ways you can help to cultivate a heart of contentment in your children:

1. Teach them that all good things come from God.

If they are given the blessing of a fun family night with pizza, teach them that God gave it to them as a gift.  When we recognize that the good things we have are gifts from God, we can learn to be grateful for them instead of wishing for more.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (James 1:17)

2. Do not shelter them from the unpleasant realities of the world.

Most children really have no idea how privileged they are.  When you tell them that children in Africa are starving, they really don't have a clue what you mean.

Don't be afraid to show them how people are living and explain to them that the meal they are eating is more than some children have had all day.  Let them be involved in helping the needy and homeless people in your own community so they can truly get an idea of how good they have things.

3. Teach them that joy is a choice rather than a feeling.

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Philippians 4:4

We are not always going to feel happy about our circumstances.  Yet we are told to rejoice always.  There is no way to do that except by making a deliberate choice.  (Don't worry; you'll have plenty of chances to model this choice because you don't always feel happy either, do you?)

4. Meditate on and talk about good things.

Right along with understanding that joy is a choice is meditating and speaking about good things.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8

If we are always focusing on the negative our children will learn to do the same.  Instead, we must intentionally put our mind on good things even when things are not going our way.

(See also: How Philippians 4:8 is Changing Our Home, Plus a Free Printable.)

5. Teach them and show them that we ought to put others first.

Children (okay, adults too!) tend to be envious when a friend gets something nice that they didn't.

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Philippians 2:3-4

But we are commanded to put others first.  If we are treating others with more importance than ourselves we can be genuinely happy for them rather than jealous of their blessing.

You may want to take a look at this study for children called A Content Heart.  I just downloaded it and I know it is going to be great!

You can get the Junior version for younger kids or the youth version for kids that are a little older.  (Or you can get a combo pack if you have multiple children of various ages.)  Take a look here.

What are some other ways you can think of to help your children learn to be content?

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Science Experiment for Kids: Make a Sundial

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Culturelle^®. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.

The other day, I was thinking about an easy science experiment I could do with my kids. We still had a few days until school started back up again, but I was ready to do something a little more structured with them but still fun. I only had a few criteria for our experiment:

1. It must be outside (simply because I wanted to go outside and enjoy the sunshine.)
2. It must use simple supplies that we already had.
3. It must be something the kids would enjoy rather than endure simply to humor mama.

I ended up settling on making a sundial.  Making the sundial was super easy, but the kids got a big kick out of it! They still use it whenever they go outside.

Here's how you can make your own sundial:

1. Find the perfect stick – the straighter the better.

“I found one!”

2. Gather 12 small stones.

3. Find a spot in your yard that is in full sun at all times of the day.

4. Pound the stick into the ground.

5. Look at your watch or clock. When it is exactly on the hour, place a stone right at the end of the stick's shadow.

6. Place your other stones at equal intervals. Now you have the hours marked from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M.

7. As you are able, go outside at other hours of the day to check each stone's location for accuracy.

8. Now you can use your sundial to tell the time when you are outside! Each stone is an hour, and as the shadow moves between the stones, you can tell the time more exactly (e.g. if the shadow is halfway between two stones it is half past the hour).

The kids loved our little project. It was easy for mama to pull off, but interesting enough for the kids to understand that we were doing something special… not to mention the fact that they got a little science lesson explaining why the sundial works. This activity was one of our favorites out of all the ones we've done! Parents, I'm sure you'll have a blast if you follow these steps!

Now, probiotics are an important part of supporting my children's immune system so that they can be healthy and happy enough to do fun activities like this one! Culturelle^® is the only probiotic with 100% Lactobacillus GG, the most clinically studied strain.†† It works to support the body’s natural defenses, starting in the digestive tract.*

Culturelle^® Kids Probiotic Chewables and Packets are available online and at all major food and drug retailers, including Wal-Mart, Target, CVS, Walgreens and Rite-Aid.

Connect with Culturelle^®: Facebook | Twitter

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Culturelle^® used under license by i-Health, Inc. †† Based on the number of Lactobacillus GG clinical studies, as of May 2015.

When You Sacrifice the Present for a Future Dream

Dreams are a beautiful thing.  Without them life would be a bit stagnant, don't you think?

It's important to challenge ourselves to work toward something – a financial goal, a fitness goal, a household project  – and then to dream about how reaching that goal will make our life better.

But what if your attention gets focused on that dream and you completely lose sight of the present?

This blog earns a little bit of money for our family.  What a blessing to be able to sit down and write the things that are on my heart and then to see trickles of money coming in because of it!

At the beginning of last year, I set what I thought was a completely laughable goal for what I hoped this blog would earn for our family for the year.  But God has ways of surprising us, and the goal was met above and beyond.

Knowing how much had come in without my even trying, I set some much bigger goals for this year and tried to be a little bit more intentional about reaching them.

We have family dreams, and we're using the income from this blog to hopefully reach them one day.  We dream of owning a larger house where we can all fit inside without tripping over each other and getting irritated because of it.  We dream of owning property where the kids can run and play freely without fear of being run over by a car.

Knowing the potential income there is in blogging, the fulfillment of those dreams seems quite near, especially if I keep working on the plans I've laid.

But I keep coming back to this thought:

I don't want to sacrifice the present for a future dream.

I don't want to be so full of starry-eyed dreams of spacious houses and country property that I ignore the very thing that would make that house and property so precious – the people living there.

The thing that makes dreams so special is the people that are in them.

I don't want to use up all my days working toward a future dream when the present is passing me by each hour.

Each hour that passes while I create products and answer emails and crunch numbers is an hour that my children have grown older.  It's an hour that I missed playing catch and reading books and taking walks.

It's an hour that I can never retrieve.

I don't think anyone should abandon their dreams and stop reaching for goals.  If we reach our family goals, it will actually enable us to spend more time together as a family.  There is even the possibility that my husband could quit his job and we could work together on homeschooling and running this website.

But that's in the future.  And in the meantime I can't bring myself to give up precious hours with my children just to reach that goal.

So I'll keep reaching for that goal – one teeny, tiny, sparest-of-spare moments at a time.  But I won't allow it to take over my days or preoccupy my thoughts.

I don't know what your dream is – maybe it's getting a work-at-home business off the ground, growing your blog a little bigger, writing a book – but is it worth the sacrifice of the present?

Will you wish someday that you hadn't made your dreams so much of a priority that you sacrificed the present?

Will you realize that you had been present physically but your mind was far away as you made goals and plans?

Why don't you change course before it's too late?

Don't find yourself wishing you could go back and relive the hours you wasted.

You may never live to see the future, so what is the sense in living there?

Be present in the present.

Easy Turkey Craft for Kids

When we do crafts around here, easy is the #1 requirement!

With Thanksgiving coming up, this easy turkey craft fits the bill!

• Small paper plate
• Construction paper
• Brown tempera paint
• Googly eyes
• Glue
• Scissors
• Paint brushes

Dear Christian Teens: Do you Know the Truth About Purity?

Dear Christian teens,

Even though I don't yet have teens of my own, I have the privilege of working with some of you at church and I love you as if you were my own.

I came across an article today that really bothered me.  I realized just how loudly unbiblical messages are being shouted at you, and I want to counteract that with the truth.

A mother was writing about why she keeps a giant box of condoms available to her teenagers.  She thinks it's sweet and all when a teenager makes a promise that he will keep himself (or herself) pure, but she knows what's really going to happen.  She'd rather her teens be “protected” when they inevitably give in to the lust burning within them, so she gives her teens and their friends condoms as a “back-up plan” for when they just can't keep that purity vow.

And what bothered me all the more was to see mother after mother commenting in hearty agreement.  “That's right!  I'd rather my child wait until they're married, but since I know they won't I want to make sure they're protected!”

Don't listen to that garbage, dear teenager.

The world says you're not capable of having any self-control.  The world says that when you make a promise there's no way you'll keep it.

But God says differently.

• God says that young people can be an example of Godly living, and He even specifically mentions the area of purity! Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. I Timothy 4:12
  

• When Daniel was taken as a captive to Babylon and commanded to eat the king's meat that had been offered to idols, he made a promise to God and to himself that he would not defile himself with the king's meat.  He counted the cost and determined that he would do right no matter the cost.  And he knew very well that the price would be far more than being made fun of by his friends or “missing out” on indulging his flesh.  The cost for Daniel could likely have been death.  But he did what he had determined to do – and he was only a teen!

• When Nebuchadnezzar made a giant statue of himself and commanded everyone to bow to it, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused.  Three teenagers were able and willing to face certain death because they loved and served the God of the Bible.  The world says it's impossible for teens to do right, but these three Hebrew boys prove that you can do right.  Your faith can be just as strong as that of any adult.

• Joseph was only 17 when he was taken to Egypt and sold to Potiphar.  He would have been at the prime age for physical desires to be their strongest when Potiphar's wife repeatedly tried to coerce him to lie with her.  His answer?  “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”  He refused, and when she tried to force him he ran from the temptation!
  

Young people, you can do right!

The world says it's impossible to keep yourself pure – that you might as well just give up before you start.

The world says you need to be taught “safe sex” because abstinence is impossible.

Don't listen to those lies!  Listen to God.  Study his Word and then choose to obey it through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Strongest Voice in the Room

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by WORLD News Group.

Parents in the digital age are all too aware of the growing competition for their children's attention. In fact, every day approximately 5,000 messages—pieces of information designed to impact our thinking and direct our feelings—are targeted at today’s families. To be inundated with 35,000 messages per week is an extraordinary development in our culture, affecting the way we think, act, and live.

This deluge is complicated by the fact that much of the information targeted at our families is intended to keep us in a state of uncertainty or suspense, to keep us coming back for more.

When families to recognize this attempt at suspense building for what it is, information can then be used in more redemptive ways, and our children can be trained to respond to it more wisely.

Such insight and training requires us to tailor instruction to each critical stage of a child’s development. That’s exactly what WORLD News Group’s products do, with age-appropriate offerings that meet children and young teenagers where they are, making leaning fun and effective, while fueling their faith. Specifically,

• God’s Big WORLD will help your preschoolers by supplying them with useful and engaging information for the future, instilling in them the wonders of God’s creation.

•  WORLDkids will challenge elementary-age children to explore their world and gain a deeper understanding of it, building good habits vital to their success as adults.

• WORLDteen will provide a safe environment for young teens to absorb and filter the news, stretching their reasoning muscles, so that when faced with information onslaught, they will instinctively know how to respond and thrive.

The question before us is not IF our children will consume information, but HOW they will consume it. That’s why WORLD News Group is committed to standing with you as parents to assist you in training your children to be smart, godly consumers of news and information in a society that routinely employs information as a weapon and news as a tool for manipulation.

No one can stop the barrage of messages aimed at our children, but we can be the strongest voice in the room.

(Click to tweet that! ^ )

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