I love loving the people who are special to me. I love all things sweet and sappy and sentimental. I love red puffy hearts and pink shiny bows and glittery Valentine cards. I love heart-shaped pancakes in the morning, heart-shaped sandwiches at lunch and heart-shaped pizzas for dinner. I love presents covered in heart wrapping paper…
Children and Presents – We Can Count These as Blessings, Too!
Christmas gift-giving is really hard for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love presents. I love thinking about presents, buying presents, wrapping presents, and watching my kids open their presents. The joy on my kids’ faces is palpable on Christmas morning, and I love making them happy almost more than anything in the world. I…
Teaching Kids God’s Never-Ending, All-Consuming Love
“I hate you!” My almost-8-year-old daughter’s refrain rings from the hallway as she stomps to her bedroom. I call after her, “I love you now and I’ll always love you.” That’s my refrain. Getting our kids to understand the enormity of God’s never-ending, all-consuming love can be a challenge, especially when we can’t quite grasp…
God and Science Coexist
I taught high school science for 10 years in a large public school. Not only did I teach science, I taught astronomy and geology, two subjects where time is measured in millions and billions of years and evolution is a common term. On the very first day of the school year, I gave every class…
How the Super Hero Craze Can Point Your Kids to Christ
I was at the craft store this week and noticed Wonder Woman washi tape. Washi tape, seriously. Super hero mania is literally everywhere. As parents, we want to hook our kids into the messages of Christ, and help them connect with these messages in a real, true, and honest way. But, how when they are…
Using Playtime to Talk to Kids about God
“Did you know that Peter Pan could ask Jesus into his heart and be saved from his sins and live in heaven forever?” I asked my daughter as she played with Peter Pan and Tinkerbell dolls in the bathtub. “He can?” she asked. “Yes, he can. And then Jesus will live in him forever, and…
How to Start Conversations About Jesus with Kids
Conversations about Jesus: Get Inspired Conversations about Jesus are important to have when you’re children are growing up and starting to understand their faith. Even though my daughters are 6 and almost 10, we got a copy of the adorable board book My Jesus Bible a few weeks ago, and we have been reading through…
Telling the Easter Story and Jesus’ Resurrection with Eggs
It’s been a tradition in Christian families for years to us plastic eggs to teach children the meaning of Easter and the story of Jesus’ resurrection. While there are many Christian stores that sell the Resurrection Egg (TM) kits, I’ve found that making them on your own is fairly easy if you have the time…
3 Simple Tips for Navigating Advent with Children
Advent begins this week for Christians around the world, but do you really know what Advent is? Advent is the season of waiting for Christmas. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, and it ends of Christmas Eve. Many people simplify by celebrating Advent from December 1 to 24. No matter when you observe…
9 Brave Ways for Kids to Diffuse Conflicts
About seventy-five times a day, my kids devolve into fights, bickering, and taunting— over Barbies, over books, over kittens, and even sometimes over who looked at whom wrong. It happens. I think all kids have conflicts with other kids, especially with siblings. The first key to handling children’s squabbling is to not ignore it. As…