Parenting Children - August 21, 2012

Day 9 – The Importance of Bonding


•  for children, love is spelled T.I.M.E.
•  children need quantity time as well as quality time
•  significance of first eighteen months of a child's life
•  who will be our child's main caregiver?

It can be hard to work out balance of parenting and employment
•  working at home/from home
•  full-time/part-time
•  the time we spend with our children is more powerful in communicating our love than anything we say We need to prioritize our time
•  learning when to said "yes" to our children and "no" to other people and things
•  the only place we are indispensable is at home
•  we need to plan our time
•  time with the people who are most precious to us doesn't just happen
•  if married, plan marriage time" each week
•  as a parent, plan "family time" each week
•  plan some one-to-one time with each child (we will look at this in detail later in the course)

We need to protect our time from:
•  the TV
•  the telephone
•  other people
•  our work

Question:
What demands on your time stop you from spending time with your children?

From Series: Parenting Children Ages 0-10 | More Messages from Parenting Children | Download Audio

Study Guide

More Messages Associated With "Family"...

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  • never too soon to start (see the account of John the Baptist in the womb in Luke 1:44, The Bible)
  • never too late to start (see the Parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15: 11-24, The Bible)
  • turn fears and longings into prayers
  • when to pray:
    • with them before they go to sleep
    • teaching them to pray (thank you, sorry, please)
    • on our own
    • with others
    • in traffic jams or when cleaning up or ironing
  • when prompted (often at moments of potential danger or temptation for our child)
  • everyday

what to pray for:

  • friendships
  • schools
  • their health
  • their safety
  • their marriage partner (most children will marry one day and their marriage partner may well already be alive somewhere)
  • their response to God’s love
  • their characters – use the fruit of the Spirit as a list to pray through: love. joy, peace, patience,  kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (see Galatians 5: 22-23, The Bible)
  • pray with them, particularly at bedtime
  • pray for yourselves as parents

Take some time to pray for your child(ren), and plan to make it a regular routine.  Our Christianity 101 Course may help you explore the topic of prayer, God and Christianity in more depth.

 

 

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