If you haven’t already picked up a copy of our Rolling Hills Family Christmas Guide 2010, be sure to do that soon. In it we featured a Top 10 List of ways to give Christ to your Kids @ Christmas. This blog in 3 parts contains the complete list with additional ideas, details, and suggestions. Since the Christmas season is all about Christ, let’s do our best to make HIM the key feature of our families this year!

PART 3:

7. DOWNSIZE! Let Kids Choose Clothes and Toys to Give Away This Year! Some call it making room for the new stuff and in a real sense it is. Because Christmas will undoubtedly involve new clothes and toys at your house, make this the month that you give away things you no longer want or need. No doubt you could take a stroll through the play room and pick out the toys that never get touched and it might be easier for you to do the deciding. In doing it yourself, you miss the teachable moment. Let your kids choose items to give away this year. It will make room for new things and teach them the joy of giving at the same time. It will also remind them that too much stuff is simply too much. Help them choose a younger sibling, cousin, local charity, or even a family at church with younger kids to pass on the blessings!

8. Do a Service Project Together. First things first! Families can serve together at the Cool Springs Galleria by wrapping gifts and joyfully greeting mall patrons this year. Search for available shifts and sign up to serve by emailing Steve Horton. Families can also adopt someone in need this holiday whether it be a family in need or another child. Many families in Franklin find themselves struggling this time of year and they turn to churches for help. Adopt a child or a family to help by contacting Jason Hale. Other hands on service projects for families include:

• Bake cookies or Christmas Goodies for un-churched friends and neighbors.
• Make cards or ornaments and deliver to a local nursing home or assisted living facility.
• Sponsor a child as a family through JMI (email Maggie Rollins to get set up).

9. Do a Christmas Worship Service Together as a Family! This year, our Christmas season at Rolling Hills culminates on Christmas Eve. There will be no weekend services on Sunday December 26th. We invite you to spend this weekend celebrating Christ as a family and setting family goals for the new year. We have a produced a Family Worship Guide for Sunday December 26th that will be made available on Sunday December 19th at church and online on Dec. 20th. You can use the outline and suggested family worship activities or develop your own that suits your family. For worship services with kids, follow this simple structure:

• Sing
• Play
• Read
• Pray

10. Give Your Kids a Daily Devotional Guide and Set Aside Time for Family Devotions. Lifeway publishes devotional magazines for kids called More for 1st and 2nd graders, Adventure for 3rd and 4th graders, and Bible Express for 5th and 6th graders.  An annual subscription to these devotional magazines gets 12 issues, each with a months worth of daily devotions for kids. Other recommended devotional guides for kids include:

• The One Year Kids Devotions published by Tyndale (also available in versions specific for boys or girls)
• Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions for Kids by Sarah Young published by Tommy Nelson

These ideas are meant more to prompt your own parenting not create your calendar or manage your shopping lists this Christmas. These are simple ideas for giving Christ to your kids at Christmas and keeping HIM central to your holiday festivities. Most of them aren’t age specific or bound by grades or genders. You know your family dynamic better than anyone. So pick and choose ways to honor Christ this Christmas and keep Him first for your kids this year. As you have new ideas of your own, we invite you share them with us. We’re all in this together so let’s learn from each other how we can keep Christ first in our hearts and in our homes! Merry Christmas!

Posted in Fort @ 1810, Kids, Parent Connection Activities, Parenting ResourcesTags: Christmas, Family Ministry | by Nic Allen No Comments

If you haven’t already picked up a copy of our Rolling Hills Family Christmas Guide 2010, be sure to do that     soon. In it we featured a Top 10 List of ways to give Christ to your Kids @ Christmas. This blog in 3 parts contains the complete list with additional ideas, details, and suggestions. Since the Christmas season is all about Christ, let’s do our best to make HIM the key feature of our families this year!

PART 2:

4. Give Inspirational Learning DVD’s about Faith and Family Values. Here are a few fan favorites to look for when cyber-searching or  browsing your favorite Christian book store:

• Veggie Tales
• Chronicles of Narnia (Wonderworks Production Animated Series)
• McGhee and Me

5. Give Kids a Nativity Set to Play With. The last message we want to send kids is that Christ is off-limits to them. That’s something they can easily pick up from us when our expensive ceramic or Willow Tree Nativity Scenes are “hands off!” Purchase a plastic toy set or inexpensive one that’s easily replaced for your kids to set up and maintain. Allow them the creative license to dive into the story by letting the shepherds play with the Lego men or the magi take a pit stop at the Littlest Pet Shop. Kids are experiential learners and a lot of their learning takes place in the context of playing. Making the Christmas story a hands-on activity by getting on the floor and playing with the nativity is a great way to celebrate Christ each year!

6. Teach Kids about Giving to Church and Charities at Christmas. It’s commonplace to be hit up for donations by lots of charities this time of year. We all have holiday favorites that we remember in our charitable giving at Christmas. It’s generous and it gets us one more write-off. Most frequently, our holiday giving involves a few checks sent off with a stamp or the click of a mouse. Kids don’t have to know how much we give only that we do give. Make them part of your charitable giving by teaching them about the charities you give to. If they’re important enough for you to remember financially at Christmas, then their work is probably important enough to teach your children. And when it comes to church (tithes and offerings) our kids need to see us cheerfully give and they need the opportunity to do it themselves. Why not get your kids their own Red Envelope this year? Why not let them be part of the blessing we call giving to Christ at Christmas!

These ideas are meant more to prompt your own parenting not create your calendar or manage your shopping lists this Christmas. These are simple ideas for giving Christ to your kids at Christmas and keeping HIM central to your holiday festivities. Most of them aren’t age specific or bound by grades or genders. You know your family dynamic better than anyone. So pick and choose ways to honor Christ this Christmas and keep Him first for your kids this year. As you have new ideas of your own, we invite you share them with us. We’re all in this together so let’s learn from each other how we can keep Christ first in our hearts and in our homes! Merry Christmas!

Posted in Fort @ 1810, Kids, Parent Connection Activities, Parenting ResourcesTags: Christmas, Family Ministry | by Nic Allen No Comments

If you haven’t already picked up a copy of our Rolling Hills Family Christmas Guide 2010, be sure to do that soon. In it we featured a Top 10 List of ways to give Christ to your Kids @ Christmas. This blog in 3 parts contains the complete list with additional ideas, details, and suggestions. Since the Christmas season is all about Christ, let’s do our best to make HIM the key feature of our families this year!

PART 1:

1. Give Your Kids an Age-Appropriate Bible. Lifeway and Christian Book are great places to find new bibles for kids that are as affordable as they are age-appropriate. For younger readers, try the NIrV Kids Devotional Bible or NIV Adventure Bible both by Zondervan. For older elementary readers, consider a small backpack sized Bible in a modern translation or the Real Life Devotional Bible for Kids (NIV) by Zondervan. Here are a few extra tips when it comes to kids Bibles:

• Shy away from Bibles that only include the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. Choose one that includes the Old Testament so they begin to get acquainted with the entire Word of God.
• Choose a modern translation that they can easily read and understand like the NIV, NIrV, NLT, or ESV.
• Make sure and print the child’s name on the front cover or inside the Bible on the front page to keep up with it easily.
• Lastly, don’t spend too much. Kids grow up fast. They’ll be ready for a more teen/young adult friendly copy soon enough.

2. Give a Subscription to a Christian Kids Magazine. Focus on the Family produces two monthly magazines for kids. ClubHouse Magainze is great for ages 8-12. ClubHouse Junior targets kids ages 3-7.  Each contains great stories and activities focused on scripture and family values.

3. Let Kids Bake a Birthday Cake for Christ and Choose a Gift To Give HIM! At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Christ. How odd that our holiday traditions are more about ourselves than the guest of honor Himself.  Since cake is probably part of your kids’ birthday tradition, make it part of how you celebrate Christ at Christmas too. It’s a great activity to get them involved in the kitchen and focusing on Christ as a result. Enjoy the cake as your family dessert on Christmas day and in the spirit of Christ, share the cake and your faith with family and friends. Also let kids choose a gift or time or treasure to give Christ at Christmas. Make holiday giving part of your Christmas DNA.

These ideas are meant more to prompt your own parenting not create your calendar or manage your shopping lists this Christmas. These are simple ideas for giving Christ to your kids at Christmas and keeping HIM central to your holiday festivities. Most of them aren’t age specific or bound by grades or genders. You know your family dynamic better than anyone. So pick and choose ways to honor Christ this Christmas and keep Him first for your kids this year. As you have new ideas of your own, we invite you share them with us. We’re all in this together so let’s learn from each other how we can keep Christ first in our hearts and in our homes! Merry Christmas!

Posted in Fort @ 1810, Kids, Parent Connection Activities, Parenting ResourcesTags: Christmas, Family Ministry | by Nic Allen No Comments

Bible Teaching For Kids: Infants-Twos

The Big Idea: God chose Mary to be Jesus’ mother.

The Bible Story: Mary’s Good News (Luke 1:26-38)

Connecting Points this week:

• As your family sits for a meal, mention each family member. Say: “God gave us a family. You have a mother and daddy. God chose Mary to be Jesus’ mother.”
• Purchase a nonbreakable manger scene for your child to handle. Hand the Mary figure to your child and talk about this week’s Bible story.

Bible Teaching For Kids: Threes

The Big Idea: I can learn that God planned for Jesus’ birth and people told about God’s plan.

The Bible Story: Isaiah Told About Jesus (Isaiah 1:1; 6:1,8; 7:14; 9:6-7; 11:1-5)

Connecting Points this week:

• Help your child open his Bible to the book of Isaiah. Help him find this week’s Bible verse (Isaiah 7:14). Thank God for planning to send Jesus.
• Encourage your child to open Christmas cards you receive or help you prepare Christmas cards to send. Comment that Isaiah told that Jesus would be born, and that people today tell others that Jesus has been born.

Worship KidStyle: PreK-Kindergarten

The Big Idea: I can discover people told that Jesus would be born.

The Bible Story: Isaiah Told About Jesus (Isaiah 1:1; 6:1,8; 7:14; 9:6-7; 11:1-5)

Connecting Points this week:

• Open your Bible to the Book of Isaiah. Talk about how Isaiah told that a young woman would have a special baby. Relate that special baby would be Jesus. Comment: “God planned for Jesus to be born and for people to tell about it.”
• As you look at store advertisements together, comment when you see baby items that this month is about celebrating the birth of Jesus. Say: “Isaiah told about the birth of Jesus a long time before the birth happened.”
• As you shop or watch TV this week, remind your child that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. State: “The birth of Jesus was so special that even in the Old Testament, Isaiah wrote about his birth.”

Worship KidStyle: Grades 1-5

The Big Idea: I can know God promised to send the Savior.

The Bible Story: God’s Promise Through the Prophets (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; 11:1-5; Micah 5:2)

Connecting Points this week:

• Talk about promises your family members make to one another. Ask: “How does it make you feel when someone keeps his promise? How do you feel when someone does not keep a promise?”
• Read aloud the Bible story passages. Discuss the passages throughout the week. Look for opportunities to talk with your children about God’s promise to send the Savior and how by keeping His promise, God changed the world.
• Focus on the needs of other people throughout the Christmas season. Adopt a family in your community with special needs. Provide gifts, notes, gift cards, or other items the family needs. Invite the children to be a part of your Christmas celebrations at church and home.

From: James Jackson, Parent2Parent: Helping Parents Keep It All Together http://parent2parent.ning.com

Posted in Kids, Parent Connection Activities, Parenting ResourcesTags: Parent Connection Activities | by Danette Cravens No Comments