- Tuck Love Notes in their lunchbox, dresser drawers and unexpected places.
- Tell them why you love them
- Worship together
- Be affectionate
- Plan a purity weekend with your tween/teen
- Ask them questions
- Ask then to grade you as a parent
- Break your own rules (eating in bed, playing in the mud, etc).
- Give them a Bible you’ve read and written notes in (next to meaningful Scripture) especially for them
- Go on special dates with your child(ren)
- Go on a family missions trip together
- Memorize scripture together
- Be intentional with holidays-bring Christ in
- Engage every day: connect with them on a deeper level
- Help them live counter-cultural
- Serve with your children
- Listen: stop what you’re doing and really listen
- Don’t always rush to fix their problems
- Be consistent (A doesn’t happen until B-parenting book
)
- Have regular family nights
- Make activities matter (Don’t just fill time. Ask: why are we doing this? How does it benefit?)
- Spend time doing something they love -music, running, games, drawing, etc
- Write a Family Missions Statement together
- Create Family Rules for your home
- Look for teachable moments
- Read to them (100 books to read to them)
- Limit media (TV/video games) to a certain amount of time a day/week
- Love your spouse in front of them
- Pick your battles
- Teach them to be strong
- Create family traditions (10 new ones to start today)
- Teach them to pray
- Show them what true success looks like
- Ask your kids for forgiveness when you fail
- Stand up for them
- Don’t over-schedule your kids
- Give them down time
- Pray for your kids- Let them overhear you doing so
- Keep the TV out of their bedroom
- Say yes as often as you can
- Give them the opportunity to change a life
- Use Conversation Starters
at dinner
- Create with them
- Give them chores (age appropriate list)
- Challenge them to read their Bible and reward them for doing so
- Catch them being good
- Reward kindness
- Have fun with them!
- Write in a family gratitude journal
- Conduct regular family meetings
- If you don’t accomplish any of these in a day, don’t be discouraged! Above all they need you to be there.
Fantastic list! I’m happy to report that we do a lot of these with our family as well. Going to incorporate even more now. Thanks!
Wow, Kristen! This is such a great list!! Some of these we already do, but I’m bookmarking this to refer back to because we can always do more if we are intentional about it. Thanks for such a thoughtful resource!
can I add a 51st???
51. Don’t beat yourself up when you fail on the first 50…when you hit the pillow at night and think, “God, did I even do ONE of these today??” Show yourself grace. Because when you show yourself grace, you’ll show it to your kids too.
I just pinned this awesome list! It really needs its own graphic, though. Thank you. Blessings!
I love this list. I save it. I will use it when I already get married and have kids
Thank you for such a brilliant ideas.
I love this list- and love #51 especially.
I clicked over from Giving Up on Perfect. This year for my word, I chose “diligent”. I want to become diligent in different aspects of my life and I think this list will help me in my quest to be a more diligent, with it, present, mother. Thank you!
Love this list! I just found you blog through clicking through about 3 other blogs…link…link…link.
Thanks for the list. I think I will print it and refer to it often to make sure I stay focused. There are so many things on it that I have thought of doing (and some that I have done) but I want to make sure I don’t lose sight of the goal.
How fabulous is this list..as a co-ordinator for mothers union parenting groups I want you to make it available via their address , is that O.K. with you before I do?
I needed to see this. When you have a child edging on the terrible teens, it’s hard to remember that they are still your babies and need affirmations of their goodness.
Hi Kristen, can i translate this into Ukrainian and use it for the Parenting 101 at my church? Thanks!
Great list! I do want to mention “telling your kids WHY you love them” saying “I live you because you have a caring heart towards others” can imply that your love for them in based on a condition which is not a message we want to give our kids. We love them unconditionally. Might be better to say “You have a really caring heart and I think that’s so wonderful”
I used to ask my husband why he loved me. His answer was “I just do. Its not based on anything you’ve done. I just love you unconditionally” best answer ever! Really opened my eyes on how I was raised to feel like I had to earn love. Consciously trying to raise my kids to understand unconditional love which is what our Lord has for us.