Parents' Connection: Sundays at 10am

The Campbell Church's Parents' Connection class is doing a series on How to Raise Positive Kids in a Negative World. This series has been really eye-opening and has focused on things we can be actively doing to help foster positive growth in our children despite the "negative world" we live in. This past Sunday, video speaker Chip Ingram shared 8 keys to help build relationships that bond, as stronger relationships with our children increase the likelihood that they will embrace our values and beliefs. (And as a bonus, these tips are general enough to apply to relationships with other loved ones in our lives.)

Here are the 8 keys that he shared with us this past Sunday:
1. Unconditional Love. Even during times of crisis, it is critical that our children know that our love for them is unconditional.

2. Scheduled Time. Our children feel more connected to us if they can see that we take time out in our lives to make them a priority.

3. Focused Attention. Too often in today's society we find ourselves looking at a computer or TV screen, or too involved in a household chore to stop and really focus on our children, to let them know that they can have our undivided attention.

4. Eye Contact. Our children feel valued when we make that eye-to-eye contact with them when they are speaking.

5. Ongoing Communication. To build a bonding relationship with our children, communication needs to not just be a one-time event, but something that happens on an ongoing and consistent basis. Chip suggested three ways to implement ongoing communication as a family. The first is to make dinner together as a family a huge priority at an early age, to set good habits now for the years when children are older. The second is to make bedtime special--tell exotic and captivating bedtime stories, take time to discuss the best three things about your day and listen as your kids do the same. And the last is shared experiences--camping trips, playing basketball in the driveway, family game night... all of these types of "ongoing communication" are built around showing our kids we care by creating family habits and traditions that set family time as a high priority from a young age and continuing it as our children get older.

6. Meaningful Touching. One way to show that we love our kids is with appropriate, meaningful touching. Hug them. Kiss them. Wrestle with them. Tickle them. Give them piggy back rides. As we're all moms of preschoolers, I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds my children climbing all over me at the end of a long day... especially at this age, they really crave physical touch as one of their love languages, and that's what they're looking for when they try to turn Mom into a human jungle gym.

7. Have Fun Together. Turn the computer off and plug in to having fun with your kids. And here, Chip pointed out that sharing your faith with your kids can be fun and organic, not always structured and severe, illustrating this with an anecdote about how he used to pray with his children and take them out for ice cream--instead of teaching them to recite Bible verses, we can build celebrations of faith into their lives. It's about making time with your family an enjoyable experience for your children.

8. Pray Together Often. Prayers don't need to be long or elaborate. A game of basketball at night in the driveway can easily turn into looking up at a sky of beautiful stars and giving thanks.

Parents' Connection is a support group and Bible study for parents of preschool and elementary children. Meet more parents of young children, and enjoy the discussion and fellowship over a light breakfast snack. Simultaneously, Children's Ministry offers age-appropriate classes for children from infancy through 5th grade. Personally, I have found this class in particular to be a blessing to my family and to my marriage. The classes are Sundays from 10-11 am (Parents' Connection meets in the CCS Library, and anyone would be glad to help point you in the right direction), and all are welcome with no RSVP necessary.