In my first post, we discussed the importance of our own prayer life, and how it is to be an example to our children as we try to lead them in learning to speak with the Lord themselves. In this post I’d like to discuss a good time to teach your children to pray: When in need.

We all have needs, and we all get into sticky situations where we really could use a “hand”. Even our children experience times when they feel like they need to ask for help. And as our children observe what we do in a “bad” situation, they will subconsciously learn from our example as to how they should react in similar circumstances. If we freak out and panic, this is what they will learn to do. They will grow up, and when life throws them a curve ball they will become fretful and full of anxiety, wondering how they will ever get through such a crisis in their life. But if we teach them to lean on a Higher Power, and to put their trust in the Lord (where it rightfully belongs), then they will learn to give their burdens to the Lord and trust whole-heartedly that they will be taken care of. Imagine the relief and stress-free minds of those who have no worry for the future. Isn’t this the peace that we want for our children? Shouldn’t we want this for ourselves as well?

When things aren’t going your way in life, how do your children see you react? Do you get angry and yell or say ugly things? Do you wallow in self pity, wondering why things always go so badly for you? Or do you lift your voice toward heaven and call upon the Lord for help? You may think that your children are sitting obliviously in the backseat, but believe me, they are watching, they are listening, and they are learning.

I’d like to share a story with you:

We had just moved into a new condo in town. Me and Jada, then three years old, were home alone while my husband was away at work. I was about 6 months pregnant with baby Titus. It was a beautiful, sunny day so I decided to take Jada out on the back deck to play for a little while. There was an ugly sticker on the outside of the kitchen window that I thought I’d work on scraping off while Jada played, so I grabbed a chair and a razor blade to work with and we made our way out the sliding glass door.

As soon as I closed the door behind us I heard a horrible sound… “Click”; it was the lock, sliding into the locked position! I immediately tried to open the door up again, but just as I had feared, it was not budging. We were locked out. Now, it wouldn’t have been so terrible, but this wasn’t just any sunny day, it was sweltering! The deck was in full sun, and we were absolutely baking in it’s fury. My cell phone was inside on the kitchen counter, and hubby wasn’t due to come back home for another 5 hours!

Instantly my mind began to race as I brainstormed my possible options. Jada, who had heard my nervous “Uh-Oh”, was watching, wondering what Mommy was going to do. I wasn’t freaking out, not yet at least. I’m not one to panic very easily. I calmly told little Jada, “Well, we’re locked out. Let’s see, what can we do…”.

I looked around, hoping to see somebody who might be able to help us. Nobody, not a single person in sight. The decks being on the backside of the condos, facing woods, nobody would see us unless they were behind the building. I thought about using something to reach across the gap to the next condo’s window to see if I could tap on it and get somebody’s attention, but I noticed that the neighbor’s car was gone, and I knew no one was home.

My next thought was that maybe I could climb down and go for help. I looked over the railing down the 10 ft. drop, trying to find something that might help. I seriously considered climbing over the side, and shimmying down the posts. I really didn’t want to do that though, being so far along in the pregnancy. It would have been really dangerous. And besides, I wasn’t sure what I would do about little Jada being up there all by herself, and I didn’t want to leave her to go find somebody. So that idea I saved as a last resort.

I paced, racking my brain. I felt out of options. I could not think of anything else that I could do. I told Jada that we needed to pray. I told her that we needed help, and that I wasn’t sure what to do. So, we prayed. As Jada listened, I begged the Lord to help us get back to safety. I prayed that He would show me the way to get us back inside. After I prayed, I felt calmed, and renewed.

Then, I had an idea.

The small kitchen window, several feet up, was facing just over the deck. I looked up at it, and prayed once again out loud, “Please Lord, please let this window be open!” I did not think it was. Being new in the neighborhood, and not being used to living in a busy town, I was extremely paranoid. The first night we moved in, I had gone around and made sure that all of the doors and windows were locked before going to bed. I was sure that I had locked this window as well. But I had to try. I pulled that chair that I had so conveniently brought out with me up to the house, just below the window. I got out the razor blade that I also happened to have grabbed and as I stood on the chair, used it to pry the screen off the window. Then, with pleading prayers that the window would open, I tried to slide the sash…

It moved. It opened! I could not believe it. The window slid open! I was overcome with relief! Okay, that was good. But the next trick was getting in through it. I considered raising Jada up and through the window so that she could let me in. But being so small still, it would have been hard for her to get down off the tall counter top, and the sliding door was heavy, and would have been difficult for her to pull open. I wasn’t sure she would be able to do it. I thought about having her call her Daddy once she got in, to have him come and open the door for me. But I didn’t want to bother him at work, and I didn’t want her to be inside by herself for so long. I decided I had to try to squeeze in myself.

Now, I’m pretty short. Just barely over 5′ tall. And even with me standing on the chair, the window was still above me. And it was a very small, sliding window. I wasn’t sure I could fit my big pregnant belly through it. But I decided that I must fit. The Lord would not have let this window be open for nothing. So, I pulled myself up and squeezed through the narrow opening. I made it! Once inside, I climbed down off the counter top, and opened the door to let my poor little, red cheeked, sweaty daughter inside into the cool air conditioning once again.

I was elated! As I opened the door to let Jada in I yelled “Thank you Lord! Thank you! Thank you!” And I exclaimed to Jada how thankful we were that the Lord had helped us. She was very excited as well, and joined in my praising. I immediately saw the opportunity to teach, and explained the whole situation to her:

“Baby, do you know what happened? We were stuck, weren’t we? That door locked us out, and we were really stuck outside! But what did we do? We prayed, didn’t we?! And the Lord heard our prayers! He helped us, didn’t he?! He made that window be open, and we had the chair that we needed to climb in, and he answered our prayers! Isn’t He wonderful? Thank you Lord! Thank you for helping us!”

I went on to explain that any time we are in trouble, any time that we need help with something and don’t know what to do, we should pray, because God always hears our prayers, and is faithful to answer them.

I know she understood. And she learned a very valuable lesson. I know the Lord allowed that situation to happen to give me an incredible tool for my child. I was so glad that she was able to learn something about prayer that day. And I know she understood because for the next week, every time we had trouble with something, she would stop and pray right there that God would help us. When my car wouldn’t crank I heard her little voice in the backseat say, “God, please help Mommy’s car to start. Amen.” How precious that was! And you know, when the car did finally start, we were able to give Him the praises He deserves.

So, my hopes in telling you all about this is to challenge you and your reactions to hard times. The next time a crisis occurs, or a troubling situation arises, stop and think for a moment that maybe the Lord is opening a door for you to use this as a teaching opportunity for your child. Instead of freaking out, blaming God, or crying in self pity, use this chance to show your child the power of prayer.

I am sure He won’t disappoint you!

And then, teach them to give Him the praises He so richly deserves.

Here is a good little memory verse to teach your child:

“If one of you is having troubles, he should pray!” James 5:13.

As parents, we all make mistakes. Even from infancy a seemingly innocent practice can lead to a really hard habit to break in a very short time. Fortunately, if we start early we can avoid a few common mistakes that parents make which can easily create bad habits in our children. Now, these are not behavioral problems that would warrant discipline. I’m simply talking about kids doing things that aren’t so cute after a while. Here are a few things that I have tried to avoid in my own journey as a Mother, things that reinforce bad habits in children. Some I have had to learn the hard way!

1. Letting your child sleep in the bed with you.

Now, before I get a bunch of comments from all of you who co-sleep, let me explain myself. I don’t see anything wrong with responsibly sleeping with baby. I did it with both of mine for the first three months, and it was wonderful. It becomes a problem, however, when you allow baby to sleep with you for much longer than this. The longer baby sleeps with you, the harder it is for him/her to learn to sleep independently. I’ve seen it lots of times. And, sorry to say it, most of the time the co-sleeping continues because for Mom it’s easier, or it just feels good. This is selfish. You are developing insecurity in your child. And believe me, the longer you wait, the harder it’s going to be to stop the habit.

I had a single-mom friend who had her little girl in the bed with her from the time she was born. By the time her child was 3 years old, Mom was ready to have her bed back. But by then, the habit had been long nurtured, and wasn’t going to go away so easily. For many nights she tried laying her daughter down in her own bed, but by the middle of the night, the little girl had wandered back into Mommy’s bed where she stayed until morning. If Mom tried to put the girl back in her own bed, she cried and screamed and fought until her exhausted mother gave in. The frustrated Mom didn’t know what to do, and the poor little girl didn’t understand why all of a sudden she wasn’t allowed to sleep in the comforts of Mommy’s bed as she always had. Sleeping in a whole different room, in a cold and lonely bed (in her mind), was too intimidating for the toddler.

It is so unfair for you to do this to your child. So, start off right by forming good sleeping habits early. Co-sleeping for breastfeeding or whatever early on is great. But by 3 months a baby can sleep 8 hours through the night. Don’t make it harder for your child then it has to be. Teach them to be able to comfortably go to sleep on their own, in their own bed. Believe me, you’ll all get a better night’s sleep!

2. Using “White Noise” to help your child go to sleep.

When you put your baby to sleep, don’t debilitate him/her by creating a sleep crutch. Insisting that you turn on a fan, white noise machine, music, or some other sound in order to help your child go to sleep faster is only creating a bad habit. I’m not saying that you should NEVER do it. There are times, like when you have noisy guests over, or are at somebody else’s house, when using a pleasant sound is good for helping to drown out the background noise that would otherwise keep baby awake. But you should put your child to bed without a noise for the majority of the time, so that he learns to put himself to sleep in the silence of his own room.

My husband is a prime example of this. He simply cannot go to sleep without a fan or something creating a low humming sound. If we sleep somewhere away from home, where there is nothing to make a white noise, he tosses and turns and goes crazy in the silence.

My dad also told me of a man on his softball team who has this same problem. Every time they have a game out of town, this man brings a small fan with him, just so he can go to sleep. There is no reason to create this stumbling block in your own child’s life.

3. Using a baby wipes warmer.

Sure it sounds like a pleasant thing to wipe your new little baby’s soft tushy with a soft, warm baby wipe. And I’m sure that baby loves the feeling of it. But what happens when you are out to eat and you have to change baby in the bathroom using a little pack of room temperature travel wipes. I’ll tell you what happens. Baby is suddenly shocked at the cold thing wiping her bottom, and cries in protest wishing for the cozy warm wipes that she’s so used to.

I’ve never had a baby cry about being wiped with baby wipes right out of the box when that was all they had ever known. There is no need to create this habit of needing to have warmed up wipes. In my mind, it’s simply overindulgence, and when reality hits baby is confused and upset.

4. Allowing your child to carry around a special blanket or stuffed animal everywhere you go.

Limit it to bedtime only. If you allow your child to carry his special thing around with him everywhere you go, you create several problems: If you forget to bring it in the car with you, you will have to deal with your child being upset about not having it. If you accidentally leave it out wherever you were, your child will be devastated to have lost it. And, your child will become dependent on this thing to bring him comfort throughout the day. You want to teach your child to depend on the Lord, not on material things.

** Let me say it again; some of you seem to be misunderstanding, or just not completely reading what I’ve written. I’m not against a child having a comfort item. My own little one has a special blanket that he would carry everywhere if I let him. My suggestion is merely not to allow them to form the habit of carrying it around with him every single place he goes.

5. Feeing your child off your plate.

Seems innocent enough, right? But I promise you, if you begin feeding your child off of your own plate every now and then, you will soon create a little beggar. You will not be able to sit down for one little snack without your little one toddling over, climbing up in your lap, and begging for a bite of whatever you have. You will never be able to eat in peace again if you start this habit! If you think your child is hungry, sit him down at the table with his own plate of food to eat from.

6. Never making your child drink plain water.

For whatever reason, when we would run out of juice I would always find myself apologizing to my daughter as I handed her a cup of water saying, “I’m sorry baby. We don’t have any juice. We only have water.” When one day it dawned on me… what a terrible message I was sending her! I should never be apologizing for giving her such a wonderful drink as the one that the Lord intended to quench our thirst. After that revelation, I decided I was not going to buy juice any more. I started giving my children cups of ice water instead, and now they love it, and even ask for it! Drinking water is a wonderful habit to instill in your child, so don’t feel bad about it!

7. Cutting the crust off the bread; always peeling apple slices.

Just because you didn’t like eating the crust when you were a kid doesn’t mean that you should start this habit in your own kids! You are only creating picky eaters. If they don’t like it, they can eat around it. You have too much to do in a day, you don’t need to waste your time slicing the crust off a sandwich! The same goes for peeling apples. Unless it’s for your baby who can’t chew up the peeling yet, let them eat around it it they don’t like it.

These are just a few innocent mistakes that we all easily make with our children. I’m sure there are a billion more that I haven’t mentioned. But just keep in mind that it’s easier to create bad habits then to break them. The point of this post is to encourage you to avoid these problems, and fix them if they have already begun, before they get out of hand and become a nuisance.

If you want to share any tips or stories that you may have about creating bad habits in our children, I’d love to hear from you! I’m sure there is a lot that I can learn from you as well!

Thanks to all of you who chimed in and gave ideas on how I can read to my wiggly son who has a hard time sitting in my lap anymore while I read to him.

It seemed like the main consensus among all of you was to continue reading to him, even if he’s playing while I read, because he’s listening and picking up more than I think he is!

It’s funny that you all said this, because only a few days after you all pitched in with your advice, I was reading Amy Carmichael’s biography "A Chance to Die" (by Elizabeth Elliot), and came across this while reading.

The children in Amy’s family were called to daily prayers each day by a bell. During that time, her father would also read the Scripture to them. Here is the quote that hit me:

"Amy remembered the sound of her father’s voice reading the Scripture, a "solemn sound, like the rise an fall of the waves on the shore." Her ear was trained in this way, from those earliest years when a child’s powers of memorization by hearing are nearly miraculous. For the rest of her life the majestic cadences of the Authorized Version of the Bible shaped her thinking and every phrase she wrote.

A child, even when apparently distracted, learns far more than adults dream he can learn. Amy did not by any means always attend perfectly to the reading. Once she found a mouse drowning in a pail of water just at the moment when the prayer bell rang. She fished it out, hid it in her pinafore, took her place at prayers, and hoped it would not squeak. It did."

How’s that to wrap up thoughts on the subject!?

Thanks everyone for your input!

Some of you are having trouble getting your child to take a bath. This isn’t for you. No, the bathtime battle I am referring to is trouble getting your child out of the tub! My daughter loves taking baths, so much so that often she does not want to leave it. One day (when she was 3) she decided that this time she was simply staying put. When it came time to get out of the bath, my daughter refused, and squirmed away from me when I tried to get her. It’s very difficult to get a wet, slippery child out of a big tub without falling in or somebody getting hurt! I quickly decided that I was not going to struggle with her. Instead, this is what I did:

Me : "Jada, it’s time to get out of the bath now."

Jada : "I don’t want to."

Me (graciously giving one more chance, only for this first training session.): "Jada, you are disobeying me. I’ll give you on more chance… get out of the tub."

Jada : "No." squirm squirm

Me : "Okay." I quickly turned on a cold water shower.

Jada : Stunned and utterly surprised, she hopped out of the tub as fast as she could possibly manage!

Jada : Crying. "Why did you do that?"

Me : "Baby, I’m sorry I had to do that, but I had to teach you a lesson. You were disobeying me. I told you it was time to get out of the tub, and you refused to do what I said. Now, you owe me an apology for disobeying me."

Jada : Tearfully "I’m sorry." "Mommy, I didn’t like that."

Me : "I know hunny. I won’t do it again as long as you obey me the next time I say it’s time to get out, okay?"

Jada : "Okay Mommy."

Now, when bathtime is coming to an end, and she begins to hesitate when I say it’s time to get out, all I have to do is reach for the water knob and she is out of the tub in a flash. It only took one training session; I’ve never had to do it since then. But if she ever tells me "no" again, you better believe that shower will be on before she can blink, and with no warning!

Now, I realize that this may sound mean to some of you, but a brief second of my child getting sprayed with cold water is nothing compared to the life lesson she is learning about doing what her parent’s tell her, and the consequences of disobeying. I love my child too much to allow her to disobey me, and breed rebellion in her heart. It is so crucial that training begins at the first sign of defiance, and if tub time is a struggle for you, I suggest you give this method a try. It just might be the solution you’ve been looking for!

I highly recommend this book!

“Mommy, you tell me when you see a bad stranger, okay?”

I laughed a little when 2 yr. old Jada said this to me one day while we were at the grocery store. I had just started warning my precious little girl about “mean” people in this world. If only we could simply look at somebody and know if they were good or not. Simple, innocent thinking like this from a child is precisely why it is so critical that we warn them of the dangers in this world, and the evil people in it. I urge you dear mothers, if you haven’t done it yet, don’t put it off any longer. Your children need to know how to protect themselves from those who are out to harm them. Don’t be afraid that you might scare your child, or worry him. It is time that you arm him/her with life saving knowledge using these practical tips.

• Have a heart-to-heart. This needs to be a sit down, face-to-face, serious conversation. A casual mentioning of strangers will not suffice. Your child’s age will determine the tone of the conversation, and how deep you get with it. I would suggest starting at age 2 ½-3 yrs. old, depending on their maturity level. This is how I would go about it:

“Baby, I want to talk to you about strangers. Do you know what a stranger is? A stranger is somebody who you do not know well. Now, there are lots of people in this world who are strangers to us, we do not know them, and some are good, and some are bad.

Most people are good, but there are some people out there who are bad. Bad strangers will try to hurt you. Sometimes bad strangers try to take children away, and keep them and do bad things to them. I want to tell you about bad strangers to teach you to be careful around people who you do not know.

Bad strangers don’t always look mean. Sometimes they act very nice. You can’t tell if they are good or bad just by looking at them. Bad strangers are tricky! They will act nice to you, but they are really mean. Sometimes they will try to trick you to get you to go with them. It is very important that you stay close to Mommy or Daddy while we are out, so that you don’t get lost from us. If you do get lost, you need to find a store worker, or a police officer right away and ask for help.

• Role Play. This is where you give your child some scenarios of what a “bad” stranger might try to do to get your child to go with them. It is really important to equip your child with the right responses for certain situations, and there is no better way to teach them than through practice and role playing. It’s just pretend now, but if it ever happened in real life, they would be able to recall their practiced responses. Do this often to keep it fresh in their minds.

Now, remember, bad strangers will try to trick children. They want to get you away from your Mommy and Daddy so they can take you. They might act really nice to you and say something like, “Hello little girl. What’s your name? Do you like candy? You do! Well, I have some in my car, you want to come and get some candy?” Let me tell you something… you should never talk to strangers unless you are with a grown up who you know. You should never take candy from a stranger, unless your Mommy or Daddy says it’s okay first. And you should never, EVER go to the car of a stranger! This is their trick! If they can get you to their car, they will put you in it and drive away. I would never see you again! Now, let’s practice what you should do if a stranger comes to you.

Here is where you roll play. Make up a few scenarios to lead your child through. Don’t act creepy. Don’t put on a mask or try to make yourself look mean or different. Strangers look like everybody else, your child needs to know that. Pretend to walk up to your child and begin a conversation:

You: “Hello. What’s your name?”

Child: “My name is Sarah.”

You: “Hi Sarah.” “How old are you?”

Child: “I’m three.”

You: “Oh! Wow, you’re a big girl!” “Well, Sarah, would you like some candy?”

Child: “Yes!”

Stop!! This is where you correct your child. Tell them again how they should never take candy from a stranger. Give them the correct response:

Child: “I have to ask my Mommy or Daddy first.”

Now begin another scenario.

You: “Hi little girl. Do you like puppies?”

Child: “Yeah!”

You: “Well, I have the cutest little puppy in my car. Would you like to see him?”

Child: “Sure!”

Obviously this is another big stopping point! Tell your child that if somebody invites them to his/her car, they should never go alone. Give your child the correct response:

Child: “I have to ask my Mommy or Daddy first.”

Become a little more aggressive in your approach as a stranger.

You: “Oh, come on! He’s really cute! I’m sure your Mommy wouldn’t mind. We’ll be right back!”

Child: “No thank you. I have to ask my Mommy first.”

Now, without acting it out (you don’t want to scare your child), talk to them about the possibility of a stranger trying to grab them and forcibly take them away. Tell them that sometimes bad strangers will pick a child up and try to take them.

“Sometimes a bad stranger will try to take you away by picking you up, or grabbing your arm and forcing you to go with them. Do you know what you should do if that happens? If somebody tries to take you away from me, I want you to fight them with all of your strength! Do you understand me? You kick, you scream, you yell “Mommy!!”, you hit, bite, and fight as hard as you can to get away. Do not let them get you to their car. If they get you into their car, I will never see you again. And baby, if I lost you my heart would break! I would cry and cry. I don’t want to lose you, so I need to teach you what to do if a bad stranger tries to get you, okay?”

Now remember, most strangers are good. But there are some bad people out there who want to do harm. The best way to keep safe is to stay close to me always, never run off or get too far from me. If you aren’t close, a bad stranger could grab you and run away with you. And if you get lost in the store, you find a worker to help you. Never, ever go with somebody out of the store. Okay?”

Make sure that you practice and talk about this often. Make up different situations to better equip your child. What you teach him has the potential to save his life! Some other scenarios you can practice:

“Can you help me look for my lost puppy?”

“Your Mommy told me to come and get you.”

“Would you like to make a little money helping me?”

“Your Mommy is out in the car. Come, I’ll bring you to her.”

Talk to your child about what his/her reaction should be for each circumstance. And I can’t say it enough, practice, practice, practice. Don’t let your child forget this very important lesson. Remind them often when you are home and in public. I have to warn though, this should not be used as a behavior tool. If your child is misbehaving, and wandering off, don’t threaten him that a stranger is going to take him away. This is an issue of disobedience that requires a disciplinary action. Teaching your child about “Stranger Danger” is a life lesson, not a disciplining method, so don’t confuse the two. You wouldn’t want your child to take this warning light heartedly.

• Question and Answer Time. Ask your child if they have any questions, and answer them the best that you can. Next take your turn asking questions. Quiz them about what they are going to do in different situations. Reinforce what you have just discussed. And make sure to give lots of praise for correct answers! Encourage your child, and give him confidence in knowing that now he is able to better protect himself if suddenly found in a compromising situation.

I hope that I have provided you with a good starting point to begin teaching your child about how to better protect him or her self. If you have a personal story about a “bad” stranger in your own life, or if there has been a recent news story about a child being kidnapped, don’t be afraid to share these with your child to better demonstrate the reality of this danger.

Here is a link to help you find some more “Stranger Danger” lesson plans and activities to do with your child.

I’d love to hear any suggestions, or personal stories about how you have talked with your children about this subject!

When you begin feeding baby solids, you will probably notice pretty quickly that he is not too fond of the whole bib idea. Most babies aren’t. If you use Velcro bibs he will soon realize that he is able to pull them off with a quick little tug. Don’t fret. It may become a battle of the wills for a few feedings, but if you are consistent in training he will eventually decide that he doesn’t mind the bib so much after all. So don’t go throwing away all your Velcro bibs just yet!

Both of my children went through this time of testing me. It is very important to stop the bad habit immediately. As soon as baby pulls the bib off, you should say in a very firm voice, “No”, and put the bib back on. Now, when I say “firm”, I do not mean raising your voice or yelling by any means. You should even soften your voice a little. Do not make a mean, or stern facial expression. You’re not trying to scare baby, just train him.

Now, once the bib is back on, he will immediately try to pull it off again. When he reaches for the bib again, lightly (and I mean lightly) flick his hand. It has to be felt though, so don’t just barely touch him, a good little thump is efficient. You may want to practice on your own hand first. It should only be felt; it should not cause baby to cry in pain. He may protest a little, but there is a difference in crying from pain, and crying because he didn’t get what he wanted. If you don’t want to “flick” his hand, then a firm tap with your index finger will do as well. As you thump his hand a simultaneous “No” should occur. Baby needs to associate the word with the thumping.

DO NOT allow baby to continue taking his bib off. If you are not 100% consistent he will keep trying. It may take several feeding sessions for him to finally realize that you mean business, but eventually you should be able to put a bib on him and he will not touch it at all. The bib should only come off when you are ready for it to. Even if you are finished feeding him, he should sit and wait for you to remove the bib. Don’t let yourself rationalize, “He took his bib off. Oh well, I was done feeding him anyways.”

If you let this bad habit “slide”, it will only lead to your own frustration. This is one of the first steps toward teaching your baby that your word is law. Don’t slack on this important training opportunity.

Doing devotions with your little one, even when they are really too young to understand, is great training for life. When your baby is really small, like before two years old, keep it extremely simple. A Bible picture book is good, possibly with one-word pages. Keep it to about a minute long, max. A good rule of thumb for how long your devotions time should be is the age-to-time rule: However old the baby is, that’s how long the time should be. If your baby is two, keep it to two minutes. If your baby is three, make your reading time about three minutes long, and so on and so forth.

When your baby is about two years old, he should be able to sit for two minutes and listen to a quick little devotion. You can even begin asking questions to get your child’s feedback, or thoughts.

I did a devotion yesterday with my little Jada about how God is like a shield for us. After the reading, we had a little discussion. I asked Jada what she could praise God for. She thought for a moment, then bowed her head and began to pray:

Dear God,

I want to praise you for my baby brother.

And my toys and books.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I thought that was soooo cute that she was thanking God for her brother, and that she just began to pray without being asked to do so. Sometimes children may not seem like they are paying attention when you are reading, but when you follow up with one or two thought provoking questions, you’d be amazed at what comes out of their little mouths! And they may even come back at you with some excellent questions of their own, opening up a great conversation and discipling opportunity.

Another thought, at two years old children are able to start memorizing scripture. The first verse I taught my daughter was:

God Is Love. 1 John 4:8.

This is a great way to begin teaching them to hide God’s Word in their hearts! And believe me, they are quick to remember in relevant circumstances. I’ll never forget when Jada was 3 yr. old, she saw me eating a snack that must have been appealing to her. She came over to me and said, “Do not forget to do good to others, and share with them what you have! Hebrews 13:16.” How could I argue with that? I laughed, and of coarse shared my snack with her. How amazing are these little minds we teach!

(The above picture is of my sweet daughter in a “Terrible Two’s” rage.)

An opportunity to train presented itself in my home today, as it does every day. I thought I’d share this moment with you hoping that you may learn along with me.

I was talking on the phone, while trying to put baby Titus in the highchair to eat lunch. Titus began to whine, and put his hand to his ear like he wanted to talk on the phone too. “How cute” I thought. I handed him my old cell phone to occupy him while I finished warming his food. My first mistake was just giving him what he was demanding. I should have begun a lesson on signing “Please”; but that’s a whole other topic. Well, when the food was warmed, and I was ready to sit down to feed him I took the phone away from Titus. He didn’t like this one bit, and proceeded to tell me all about it! He threw his head back in protest and screamed and cried. Shocked, I made a face like “Excuse me!” and said firmly (but lovingly), “No”! Then again without as much emphasis, “No, no.” He continued to cry and reach back toward the table that I had placed the phone on.

Now, I could have said, “Okay, okay. Don’t cry! You can have it.” And out of sympathy, or for my own sanity’s sake, I could have done the easy thing and handed it back to him, just for appeasement. But I realized that this was a training moment. I do not want him to learn that he can manipulate me into giving him whatever he wants by having a fit. So, when he was in the middle of a big cry, I slipped a tiny bit of food into his mouth. Suddenly distracted by the new sensation, he stopped crying and chewed his food. He started to look back again at the phone, but I quickly gave him another bite. I continued to feed him and his mind slowly drifted from the object of his desire. By the time we were done with lunch he had forgotten all about it.

Now this lesson comes in many forms. Babies are incredibly smart, and begin manipulating at an early age. When you begin to lay your baby down in the crib, or for a diaper change, or to put him in his carseat, and he immediately stiffens, whines, cries or protests in other ways, he is trying to manipulate. You cannot give in! If, while lowering him into his crib, he begins to cry even before he’s touched the mattress, and you quickly bring him back up to you to console his crying, you are reinforcing behavior that is going to only get worse, and rear it’s ugly head in other circumstances. You are teaching him that he can get what he wants, and that your word is not the law.

So, I encourage you today to be strong. If you say it’s time to lay down, make it happen. Even if baby cries for a while, he will be fine. And you have begun teaching a valuable lesson, that there is an authority to obey (and it is not the baby!) And if you are about to lay him down, and he begins to protest, and you realize that it hasn’t been that long since he had his nap, don’t change your mind. Still lay him down for a few minutes. And when he is content, you can go and get him up again. He needs to learn to be content wherever he is. As long as he is not hurt, hungry, or wet, he will be fine.

I hope this has been somewhat helpful to you. Remember to be faithful and consistent. This is not only for your benefit, it is mostly for his.