Train Up a Child

Jeremiah and I cooked up 11 pints of strawberry-rhubarb jam last night. Everyone else was gone when I got home yesterday evening and Jeremiah was on the computer, so I got him off the keyboard and we went to work. After a few hours of cleaning, cutting, cooking and canning we had a good showing that will keep us smiling through the fall. Jeremiah also was wearing a pretty big smile this morning. An evening working with dad vs. time on the computer. Hmmm....

The biggest obstacle to quality time with kids is usually us parents. (And I'll raise my hand first.) It's easier to put them in front of the electronic babysitter (TV, computer, video game, etc.) or send them off to another activity and everyone is happy. But that sort of happiness is short lived and has few long term rewards. It stops the whining for the day, but no progress is made for the future.

Summer is just around the corner so my challenge to all of us parents as school gets out is to make this your greatest summer ever. Plant a garden, do a project, ride a bike, pass down a skill, tell a story, serve someone, or make some jam. That kind of growth goes a lot deeper than making it to the 4th level of a video game where they find the star of something that gives them powers to walk through walls as they seek to find the treasure so they can........

Be Refreshed!

Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 14:1 The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

Scripture of the Day: Deuteronomy 11:18-21 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

Quotes of the Day:
--Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy. ~Robert A. Heinlein
--If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders. ~Abigail Van Buren
-- Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. ~Robert Fulghum
-- The thing that impresses me most about America is the way parents obey their children. ~Edward, Duke of Windsor, Look, 5 March 1957
-- Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children. ~Charles R. Swindoll, The Strong Family
-- If I had my child to raise all over again,
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging.
~Diane Loomans, from "If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again"