Car Question: Do Beetles have Bras? - Teachable MOMent #2

'Tis the season to be in the car – driving to and from school, practice, etc.. Sadly, my natural instinct when we pile in the car is to distract my children with snacks and eletronic devices to keep the quarreling and the bombardment of questioning to a minimum.

 

While there is nothing wrong with taking a break occasionally, let me encourage you and myself to fight the temptation to make this the travel habit. Instead, take advantage of the fact that your car is one of the few places where your children are your captive audience!

 

Car time is a great time to get to know your kids better and talk about life lessons!

Open up the lines of communication. Ask them questions. For some kids this will require a pry bar and for others it will require a time limit so that everyone gets a turn to share.

After School - "Tell me three good things and on bad thing about your day."

For Labor Day - "What do you want to be when you grow up? Why?

For Toddlers - "What animals do you like? Why?"

For Teaching - "What is kindness (or any other character quality)? How do you show it?
                         Do you know anyone who is kind? What does Jesus tell us about kindness?

 

Get ready to field a few questions from them as well. I am so glad that my toddler and I have been talking instead of vegging out in the car lately, or else I would have missed some great questions she has for me. For example,

"Where are chicken's shoulders?" and

"Do beetles have bras (this is the word my girls use for boobs)?" My initial reaction was, "I don't think so." However, after we examined the beetle that she had found and brought with her into the car, we both realized that it really did look like it had bras where it's middle legs were connected to its body. Also, as you can see from the picture above, Volkswagon Beetles also have bras. So, I was surprised to realize the anwer is: YES!

You learn something everyday - especially if you use car time to talk to your kids.

Have your kids asked you any great questions lately?
What questions do you like to ask your kids to open up the lines of communication or teach while you have a captive audience?

SUPER Simple Teachable MOMents - Teachable MOMents #1

First day of school 2012

To kick off the official first day of a new busy school year, I wanted to start a new weekly event called - Teachable MOMents.

Now that summer is over, I know your schedule is getting busier than ever. With all the busyness, we don't have time to plan and prepare character lessons for our kids.

Hopefully these fun and  SUPER simple ideas using objects and activities that you are already doing, will help you diligently teach your children while you "sit in your house, walk by the way, lie down, and rise-up" (Deuteronomy 6:7).  Here goes:

Teachable MOMent #1 - "Create in Me a Clean Heart"

Activity: Bathtime with kids

Lesson: Just like we clean our bodies regularly because we get dirty, we should also clean our hearts regularly because daily sin makes our hearts dirty.

Talking Points:
     1. Discuss what kinds of sins you or they may do on a regular basis or did that day.
     2. Discuss how to clean our hearts. It's as simple as asking God to forgive us.

Scripture: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."  Psalm 51:10-12

For Fun: The bathtub has great accustics. Sing along with Kieth Green to his great song - "Create in Me a Clean Heart". I like this YouTube version from TheSongsofWorship because Kieth helps the younger kids by saying what words come next part of the time.

What is your favorite fun or teachable idea for bathtime?