I’m one of “those people” that prefers waiting to decorate for Fall until the first day of Fall, and I wouldn’t dare put up the Christmas tree until the day after Thanksgiving. I’m all about not rushing through each season because of the excitement of the next holidays.
But today I want to share with you what we should be doing before the holiday season begins.
In fact, we should be doing this year-round.
This isn’t about gift shopping or finding the best deals. It’s about preparing our children’s hearts for the holidays. When we teach them the foundations of why we celebrate the holidays then hopefully we can keep them focused when big celebrations do come.
Most children love Christmas because of the magical lights, sweet treats, and of course, presents. But how to do we teach them to avoid the gimmes and remember the real reason for the season?
Here is what we usually do in our home and during the holidays
- Teach contentment year-round
In the parenting world now-a-days, the color of a child’s cup seems to be a big issue. How do we avoid the “color meltdown”?
In my opinion, it all starts with teaching our children to be happy with what they have. Trips to the toy store can quickly turn into, “I want this and that”. When I remind my children of all of the wonderful toys they have at home, I encourage them to say this instead, “Wow, that’s neat” or “I like that”. I’m sure you can find some way to teach your children contentment everyday.
Train them to know that their treasures are in Heaven and nothing in this world will ever satisfy them like Christ.
- Lead the Way
Online shopping and catching good deals have always been a weakness of mine. My husband dreads the words that often come out of my mouth: “Today on Zulily they have….”. I’ve learned that one of the biggest ways I can teach my children to be grateful and content is to be this way myself.
Am I constantly talking about materialistic things in front of my children?
Do they often hear about the new, wonderful stuff that I’ve bought myself?
If I want my kids to be content with what they have, I must model this for them. I want my children to be wise with their money, but more importantly I want them to know it’s okay to not have everything they want. God will provide our needs and we should thank Him for what we do have instead of getting caught up in what we want.
As my husband and I try to train our children to be grateful and content year-round, we also want to constantly remind them of God’s love for us.
One way we do this during the Christmas season, is with having hands-on tools to teach the reason for the season. A sweet friend sent me this beautiful nativity set from Mary and Martha. I’m so excited to use this as a teaching tool in our home this year. I will be using the tools along with my children to teach them practically how to handle some things on their own.
It comes a time chidren begin to grow and your presence is exceptionally needed in guiding them. And here is a teaching tool I can use to help them, how sweet.
Bonnie has offered to give away a Mary and Martha product to one of my readers. If you would like to enter the giveaway, then fill out the form below. The winner will be announced on the 9th of October.
The winner can choose any one of the following prizes:
– Faith building ABC magnet set
– Dry erase placemat
– God Made Just One Book
update: the giveaway has passed.
