Picking up on where I left off last week – here are a few more tips for parents on raising kids…
Build/Buy memories – There are lots of things that we spend money on. But one of the best investments you can make with your money is to buy memories for your family. For us, this often took the form of travel – especially mission trips with our church. This had a two-fold result. We got to have a great experience together that created lots of memories and we got to do it serving God and helping our kids develop a love for missions. We have already started saving a little each month so that we can buy some great memories with our grandkids. They are very young right now but in 10 years we hope to do some things with them that will be unforgettable memories with their grandparents.
Help them choose the right friends – Don’t ever underestimate the power that your kid’s friends have. They will either move them closer to God or lead them away from God. You need to know who your kid’s friends are and you need to help them choose friends wisely. This starts when they are young and you intentionally choose who they will have play dates with and who are invited to their birthday parties and who you allow for sleepovers, etc. And it involves lots of conversations about what a good friend is and how to be one and how to find one.
Keep them in church – One of the values of a good church is what I mentioned above. We always wanted our kid’s friends to be from our church. This does not necessarily guarantee anything but it ups the odds a good bit. If your kids best friends are other kids who are at church then you won’t have a problem keeping them in church when they turn 16 – which is when many kids start to disappear. They will want to be there because it is where they will see their friends.
I will share 3 more tips next week before moving on to the next passage. Stay tuned.