parenting through Him

I wanted to take some time to thank you, Terri, for praying about the reading issue!  Many times I've found that after posting about a difficulty in our lives, the issue resolves itself in a few days time.  When this happens, it always makes me wonder if someone out there has prayed.  Thank you!  I appreciate you!

My Peter made a miraculous recovery! (wink)  He still had symptoms, but not so bothersome.

It wasn't a particularly nice day; we had wind and temps in the forties.  But my grace for today--husband was gone 9:30 AM - 6:00 PM--was the hour the older ones spent outside playing football and using tennis rackets and balls.  I liked seeing them so happy--so blessed by each other.

The boredom issue came up later--like last Saturday--probably because they don't do school on the weekends.  Again, I told the Lord that I didn't want any videos or computer on.

"Help me, Lord!  I'll do whatever you say."

Now, I don't like board games.  Don't ask me why, though maybe it's the sitting and waiting?  When someone suggests a board game, I've always inwardly rolled my eyes.  "Must we?", I'd think to myself.

Lately, God hasn't let me get away with that.  He reminds me that parenting, at its best, is sacrificial.  That means not doing what we want to do, and doing what we don't want to do.

So I found myself playing "Go to the Head of the Class", a game I highly recommend.

There are two dice in the game.  The red one you roll to find out which of the six subject categories your question will come from.  The black die is rolled to move your player once you've correctly answered your question. The questions are wonderful opportunities to challenge your kids, and cement their learning in mathematics, language, history, geography, science, and art and music.  Since there are three levels of difficulty (student, scholar, graduate), there are plenty of questions parents are challenged by as well.  It's marketed as a whole-family game.  The recommended age is 7+, but when four-year-old Mary plays, I make up her questions myself and she's perfectly happy with this.  The questions are numbered and in order of difficulty, but you don't have to go in order; I peruse the list in each category until I find a question that is challenging for my children, but reasonable.

Over the last several weeks, as I've played more board games, I've realized how good they are for my children.  Children need to learn how to win and lose with grace, how to joyfully let someone else go first, how to take it in stride when they fail at something.  Social skills are taught by parents, not by other children or by teachers (teachers don't have time, truthfully).

By the way, this is precisely why I feel the whole socialization and homeschooling issue is ridiculous.  Just being among peers doesn't teach social skills!  Often, it teaches mob mentality instead--especially when you consider that on the playground, in the lunch room, and on the bus, no adult has time to listen to every conversation, or monitor every aspect of a game or activity.

Anyhow, I've come to feel that few arenas are as good as family board games, in teaching children many of these skills.

I had a great time and the rewards for obeying my Lord, as usual, were many fold!  When I parent my children through Him, and not in my own strength or wisdom, I'm always at peace--and my children are as well!