Wednesday Wisdom...

Day 9:
For the past couple of months I have been involved in a Wednesday morning women's Bible study at our church. The study we are doing is called Spiritual Parenting by Michele Anthony
It has been SO interesting and inspiring! Every Wednesday I leave with so many new thoughts and ideas about parenting, and things I look forward to incorporating into our family as Caroline gets older and our family continues to grow. It's so easy to forget who is really "first in charge" (God) and to constantly take matters into our own hands, when if we would just take time to stop and pray and truly seek God's counsel in raising children we could avoid so much frustration (not saying you'll never be frustrated of course). We're only about halfway through the book, but here are my favorite "ah-ha" moments from the book so far...

• Our goal is to create a transforming faith in our children by setting eternal goals for them, not just temporal ones.
• Considering chores as "acts of service" rather than chores, so that kids understand that they are part of a family and therefore will work together to serve each other for the good of the entire family. (This whole chapter was very interesting and one of my favorites).
• Teaching kids about the "Big God Story" and where they can find there role/identity in it.
• Creating an environment of service not only in your home, but in your child's heart. We are all called to be servants so as parents we should create opportunities for children to serve others and not just themselves.
• Creating an environment of responsibility

These are VERY broad key points that are discussed in better detail in the book, but they've each given me some great things to think about.

Anyway...lots of learning on Wednesdays =)