10 Ways to Get the Attention of Kids
Turn on disco and do a funny dance. Bang on pots and pans. And don’t forget the bullhorn.
No, really, seriously…well, not completely seriously…we are talking about working with kids; and, we all know that being serious all of the time with kids just doesn’t work. But there are times that you really need to get your group of kids to stop what they are doing and listen to you.
[For more tips in getting the attention of your child, check out this post “12 Ways To Get Your Child’s Attention.”]
There are so many ways to get the attention of kids in a group setting. Here are some of my favorites… read more
Are You Thankful for the Fleas?
Steven Cribbs 
Life 
Bible, concentration camp, Corrie ten Boom, difficult question, fleas, hope, problems, thankfulI have never heard of anyone being thankful for fleas…until I heard the story of a lady named Corrie ten Boom. Corrie, living in Holland during the 1940’s, was arrested and sent to one of the worst places on earth.
Corrie, along with many others, landed in one of the worst concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Her crime … helping Jews flee Hitler’s regime and escape to freedom. I can’t even begin to understand the conditions of her life and of the camp she was sent to. But, from the descriptions, the camp was worse than the worst place you can imagine. Lack of food. Lack of the basic necessities to sustain life. Lack of sanitary conditions – causing great risk to life. The labor was extreme. In a space created for 400 people, lived about 1400 women. And, this space was infested with fleas!
Changing Your Child’s World
Have you ever experienced that beautiful moment? Sitting with your child and, for the first time, your child begins to read a book to you?
This is truly a beautiful moment. You hear the excitement in their voice. You begin to see the potential of a changed life as your child begins to understand a world around them that they never saw before. This is just one of the many blessings and opportunities that come when you take the time to read with your child.
There are many ways that reading with children can change their world…and yours. Here are four top picks:
Passion about nothing is…
“Passion about nothing is like pouring gasoline in a car with no wheels – it isn’t going to lead anybody anywhere.”
–Donald Miller
Blue Like Jazz
Failure Is Not An Option. It’s A Necessity.
No one likes to fail. In fact, most of us fear failure. We see failure as something that will keep us from accomplishing our goals, getting that perfect job or gaining the respect that we desire. And, much of the time, we fear that failure will ruin our reputation. Our culture tells us that failure is unacceptable.
But, have you stopped to think what life would be like if you never failed at anything?
So, what if we never failed? Life would be pretty sweet…wouldn’t it? We would never make mistakes and everything would always work out perfectly. But, would that really give us the life we want?
Life Without Failure
Life without failure would not all of a sudden become a string of excitement and triumphant successes. Instead, it would become a monotonous string of non-events that would leave us empty and apathetic towards everything. We would eventually stop trying to do anything – either because we are not willing to try something without a guarantee of perfection; or, because the thrill would be gone knowing the outcome would always be predictable. Without the struggle, the successes become meaningless.
And then we have to ask, in this world full of failure, can we just avoid failing? I guess we could try. But, if failure was not an option that we allowed, wouldn’t we then become so afraid of the possibility of failing that we would avoid anything with the potential to fail?
Think about this: if we never risk failing, all we really do is fail to ever really live.
What I believe…
“What I believe is not what I say I believe; what I believe is what I do.”
— Donald Miller
Blue Like Jazz
Someone Needs A Time-out: Is It You?
So there I am talking with my child, trying to help him understand the gravity of the problem that he just created. Yes, he is in trouble; but, I am trying to talk things through hoping to help him make better choices next time. And then, boom!! Things just explode. The anger and rage were unbelievable. And, the negative reactions were, undeserved at the least. A perfect time to send someone for a bit of time to re-collect themselves.
Oh, did I forget to mention? The explosion was mine! I got so upset over something that really was not that big of a deal. Yes, the point was important and my child was not being respectful. Should I have gotten that mad that quickly? Maybe…Probably not. But, at that point, I couldn’t back down…could I? I didn’t want my child to think that I was wishy-washy, that he could get away with something, that he could change my mind if he just kept at things long enough, or…gulp…that I was out of line. But, then again, the example that I had just set was exactly the sort of behavior that I did not want any of my children repeating.
Have you ever had one of those days? read more
A Tale of Two Teams: Which Are You?
Awhile back I sat watching a Monday Night Football game in which one of my favorite teams was playing. The game was intense – meaning that it was hard to watch my team begin to go down in flames.
Everything was going wrong. By half time, I was ready to give up and change the channel – especially since it looked like my team had given up. Then, my team emerged from the tunnel for the second half. As they began to play, you could tell something was different. My team began to take control and play like champions. They came back from a dismal start and won the game in total dominance.
In thinking about the game, there is one thing that really stood out to me. I was amazed at how they finished the game. They didn’t stop playing at half-time. They stayed in the game until the last seconds ran off the clock. Their passion, conditioning, preparation and an unwillingness to give up set the stage for them to overcome so much in order to be victorious. read more
Invisible Ink
It seems like we spend a lot of our life and a lot of our time trying emulate other people. This may be an attempt to better ourselves; but, many times, it can also be an attempt to blend in with the crowd, to not cause waves or create trouble, or maybe even to just not be noticed. It is easy to feel like “who we are” is not that big of a deal and that what we add to the world would not be missed if we somehow stopped being a part of the world. Once when thinking about this, I came to the word “unique”. The dictionary describes uniqueness as “the quality of being one of a kind.” God created each of us uniquely. We were created intentionally and specifically; and, God placed us exactly where we are for a reason.
Have you ever tried writing or drawing with invisible ink? I recently tried an activity with kids where we painted a picture using lemon juice. Of course, we quickly realized that when you paint with lemon juice, you cannot see the picture being created. Instead, you have to do your best to imagine it and you have do your best to move the paintbrush along the appropriate path. After the lemon juice dries, there are ways to reveal the picture. read more
On Attitude
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude is more than facts; it’s more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances and failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, it will cause a church to soar or sink. It will be the difference between a happy home and a home of horror. It’s attitude, and the remarkable thing is, you have a choice every day regarding the attitude you will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past, we cannot change the tick of the clock and we cannot change the march towards death. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitables. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me, and 90 percent how I respond to it.”
–Charles R. Swindoll
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