May 26, 2024 • 20 mins
Send me a text to ask a question or share a thought!
Embark on a journey to craft the ultimate summer experience for your kids. Together, Melanie and Heidi peel back the layers of parenting during those sun-drenched days, drawing inspiration from Mark 12:30 to fill our children's time with intention. Whether you love the slower pace or grapple with guilt as a working parent, our conversation is brimming with actionable strategies to help you plan a summer.
Discover how to strike that perfect balance between nurturing your child's academic and spiritual progress and embracing the carefree spirit of the season. Tune in and transform those fleeting summer moments into lasting memories and lessons for your little ones.
Helpful Links from this Episode:
- Free Summer Success Packet
- Training a Child to Report
- Teaching Little Man First-Time Obedience
- Runts Fruit Candy (affiliate link)
- Our Daily Bread for Kids (affiliate link)
- Old and New Testament Curriculum
- All About Spelling Curriculum (affiliate link)
- How Much Media Use is the Right Amount?
Episode Sponsor: ABCJesusLovesMe.com, an educational ministry that equips adults with the materials needed to be intentional in educating children.
Get connected with Parenting to Impress:
Facebook Group: /groups/ABCJLM
Facebook: /heidi.franz.2911
Instagram: /abcjesuslovesme/
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Thanks for listening!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Heidi (00:00):
A few years ago, the Holy Spirit led me to what has
become my summer Bible verse.
It says in Mark 12 30, love theLord, your God, with all your
heart, with all your soul, withall your mind and with all your
strength.
We're going to return to thearchives for our next two
podcasts talking about summer.
In two weeks, we will bediscussing how to have a
(00:22):
successful family vacation.
Two weeks, we will bediscussing how to have a
successful family vacation.
Melanie and I will be sharingpractical advice that we learned
in our multiple years of familyvacations.
But this week we're going to bediscussing how to create
purpose in the summer, with thedesire that, when we come to
September, we're not living withregret of why did we waste this
(00:44):
precious time?
So let's join a conversationbetween Melanie and I as we
discuss our favorite parts ofsummer and then dive into the
tips.
Hey.
Melanie (00:53):
Heidi, I have a question for you.
Okay, what is your favoritepart of summertime?
Heidi (00:58):
Oh, my favorite part of summertime is the fact that my
alarm does not go off everymorning, for sure, yes, the fact
that my alarm does not go offevery morning, for sure, yes.
No, that is true.
That is very, very true,because I despise the alarms in
the morning.
But you know, my favorite partof summer is having my kiddos
home, being intentional, havingthat time with them, that slowed
(01:22):
pace.
Welcome back to Parenting toImpress your go-to podcast, to
learn practical ways to love Godand love others and to impress
this on the hearts of yourchildren.
I am your host, heidi Franz,and I am joined by my dear
friend, melanie Simpson, twomoms who have made a lot of
mistakes but have found graceand truth along the way.
You know, while I am superexcited about summer, I know
(01:44):
that not every mom shares myexcitement.
What is it that causes the fear, the dread, the anxiety about
summers for some moms?
Melanie (01:53):
So for the mom that you know maybe doesn't have to work
outside the home, there's alittle bit of the what am I
going to do to fill my days allday with these kids?
Do to fill my days all day withthese kids.
And then for the working mom, Ithink sometimes there's just a
sense of guilt and even grief,like I want to be home with my
kids while they're out forsummer vacation, but I can't.
They've got to be in caresomeplace.
Heidi (02:13):
Right.
Well, in that anxiety of tryingto find a place that is going
to be a good situation for yourkids, that alone adds a lot of
stress to moms.
Yep.
Melanie (02:25):
But let's kind of break this up then into a couple of
pieces.
Let's start first with for themom who is able to be home with
her kiddos and we talk aboutthis all the time how do you
start with the end in mind?
So how do you not start nextschool year looking back at your
summer going what the heck didwe do all?
Heidi (02:44):
summer, right, right, and I just feel like I wasted three
months of our lives in justgoing, going, going or just
dread of having my kids home allthe time, and I think how that
happens.
So that you have purpose oh,there's my favorite word so that
you have purpose in your summer, I think you have to have a
(03:05):
little bit of a mental plan andit could be that you need to
have a very detailed plan or nothave something loose, but just
have specifically.
But there's lots of options.
Melanie (03:27):
And it's just a tool to help you think through how do I
want to use my time and withthe kids this summer.
So let's go ahead and look atthat blog post specifically and
it's addressing summer goals anda schedule.
Heidi (03:41):
Yeah, and this is something that I wrote six years
ago, and so at that time let'ssee how old my kids have been.
Six years ago we would havebeen five, seven, nine and 11.
And so those are differenttimes than what I'm in right now
with teenagers.
But I wanted a purpose and Ilove how, every time I go to God
(04:05):
and say what is our purposesupposed to be, he leads me to
that truth.
And he led me to the verse ofMark 12, verse 30.
Love the Lord, your God, withall your heart, with all your
soul, with all your mind andwith all your strength.
And it was that verse that gaveme the purpose.
(04:25):
So let me kind of explain alittle bit what we did.
First of all, love the Lord,your God, with all your heart.
Those were the character andheart issues that I wanted to
focus on for the summer, and Iused Ephesians 4, 31 through 32
as my guide.
Get rid of all bitterness, rageand anger, brawling and slander
, along with every form ofmalice.
(04:47):
Be kind.
And so I wanted to work onthose heart issues.
The second part love the Lord,your God, with all your soul.
That was the relationship withGod.
How was I going to help ourkiddos, through the summer, grow
(05:07):
in their relationship with God,reading their Bibles, praying.
The third one was their mind,and that was the academics.
What were the different areasthat I felt like just needed
more focus than we gave duringthe school year.
And then the last one was, withall your strength, taking care
(05:32):
of our bodies.
God did not make us to be couchpotatoes, and so what were we
going to do all summer thatwould strengthen our bodies,
because when we strengthen ourbodies it strengthens the rest
of us For sure.
Melanie (05:39):
And so, thinking about young children, how would we
implement?
Let's just start with the heart.
What would that look like?
Thinking through okay, I've gotthree months yawning ahead of
me on the calendar.
How am I going to, practicallyspeaking, handle these character
issues, everybody's home?
We have nothing planned today.
What do we do?
Heidi (06:00):
Yeah, and so what I thought about was what was the
issue?
And again, looking back at that, ephesians 4, 31 through 32,
you could also use the fruit ofthe Spirit Peace, love, joy,
goodness, kindness, patience,faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control found in Galatians.
And so you can think throughthat.
What are the areas that eachone of the children are
(06:21):
specifically needing someattention on?
And so six years ago, bubz Iwas really focusing on him using
loving words, being kind withhis tone, sweet Pea, I was
focusing on her having ateachable spirit and not
responding with anger.
(06:42):
Little man reporting, which Ihave a whole, a whole blog post
on what reporting means andwe'll link that in.
But then, first time, obedience.
When I said something to him,he did not argue with me but
immediately obeyed, and thenpeanut, his focus I was working
on because he was younger washis eye contact, so that when I
(07:04):
talked to him he was looking atme, so then he could obey.
So those were the areas.
Now they're somewhat very muchthe same that we're still
working on now and some of themhave drastically changed.
But I think through what arethe areas that God is wanting me
to use teachable moments, touse positive reinforcement to
(07:29):
help them grow spiritually intheir character.
Melanie (07:33):
Right.
So, Heidi, walk us through whatthat would look like
practically in your home withyour kids.
The heart issue.
Heidi (07:41):
So I read in a blog about using the candy runts, their
little fruit-shaped candy thatyou can put into a jar.
And when you see your kiddosdisplaying the behavior, the
characteristics that you aredesiring, just pull them over
and say, hey, I see what you'redoing, I see that fruit in your
(08:02):
life, and give them a littlepiece of candy.
If you don't like using candyas a reward, give them a token.
And then so many tokens allowthem to buy something at a store
or something, or it gives themextra time to do the things that
they like to do.
So it doesn't just have to befood as a reward, but where you
(08:25):
start looking for thosebehaviors.
And I will also add I thinkit's very easy as a mom to see
all the negative and by havingthe positive reinforcement, it
forces you to look for thosepositive behaviors.
Melanie (08:43):
That's a good word right there, yeah, okay.
So the second category is soul.
Walk us through.
I mean, you gave a descriptionjust as relationship with God,
but how are you fostering yourkids' relationship with the Lord
?
I?
Heidi (08:56):
love that that looks so different now than what it did
when my kids were little.
When they were little, we wouldhave family Bible time each
morning after breakfast and Iloved the devotional Our Daily
Bread for Kids.
It was a fantastic guide that Iwould read through with the
kids.
Now that they're older, it ismaking sure that they've used
(09:22):
the time they have and then tohave discussion about it.
So maybe we have discussion atsupper about hey, what'd you
read in your quiet time today?
What is God teaching you and soencouraging it through
conversation?
Melanie (09:37):
Yeah, I have a quick question about the younger set,
the preschool set.
Yes, how much time would youspend in this quiet time, this
Bible time, with them?
Heidi (09:48):
That's a great question.
The younger they are, the lesstime you're going to spend.
The younger they are, the moreaction, activity, involvement
you're going to need to havewith the kiddos.
The Old and New Testamentcurriculum that I have written
is perfect for the three to sixyear old kids and can be used
(10:11):
with those older as well.
But what's so great is thatthere is activity to involve
those kids, so that's one option.
Or when you are reading a Biblestory to them, let's say after
breakfast and, for example, theOur Daily Bread kids devotional.
It took maybe four minutes,five minutes to read very short
(10:36):
amount of time.
But when you're talking about acharacter in the Bible was sad,
have the kids make a sad face.
When the character in the Biblewas angry, have them make an
angry face.
When you're talking about birds, have them put their arms out
and fly like a bird.
When you're talking about waves, have them make the waves with
(10:56):
their arms.
Involve them in the Bible storyand it will feel like just
seconds.
Melanie (11:02):
Yeah, and then I know this is true.
I mean, just as you and I havehad these conversations, make it
a part of your day.
Bring it back up later at naptime or at play time, you know,
act out the scene, or hey,remember what we read this
morning when God talked aboutloving each other.
So just make it part of yourconversations.
Heidi (11:19):
Absolutely.
Use those teachable moments asthey come out Awesome.
Melanie (11:23):
So I can hear I know I was this way you really want us
to do academics over the summer?
Really, really I mean we havejust spent, you know, slogged
through nine months of, you know, toting kids back and forth to
school, preschool, all thethings.
Really, we can't have a breakfrom this.
Heidi (11:41):
Well, if I want to get all nerdy on the statistics here
, there is a lot of learningthat has lasted over the summer
months.
I do feel that kids need abreak, Absolutely they need a
break.
But if you can just keep someof that learning fresh in their
mind, it will greatly help themwhen they return.
(12:02):
Those things are reading books,you know.
Going to the library, joiningthe summer library program my
kids love doing that we wouldcollect about 20 books.
I let them take any books thatthey wanted from the picture
book department and we wouldcome home and some of the books
(12:25):
we would start reading and Iwould say we're done, because
they were horrible, horribleplot, horrible illustrations.
And then other books we foundthat we loved and ended up
purchasing copies for our homelibrary because we loved them so
much.
But that reading is so important.
The math is so important.
Doing the addition, subtraction, multiplication, division facts
those were things that wealways worked on with the kids
(12:46):
and we.
Multiplication, division factsthose were things that we always
worked on with the kids, and wedid it in fun ways.
These weren't drudgery by anystretch.
And then, for whatever reason,I've got two kiddos that are
really struggling in spelling,and so I've pulled the All About
Spelling curriculum and usingthat with them every day, the
(13:08):
All About Spelling curriculumand using that with them every
day.
We spend depends upon thechild's age, but last year we
spent about 15, 20 minutes everyday doing spelling and trying
to figure out where thebreakdown is happening.
Melanie (13:20):
Okay.
So what I hear you saying isyounger kids.
You're just continuing to dothe things you've been doing
reading out loud, talking aboutthe books you're reading,
finding creative and fun ways tocount, add, subtract your
grapes, your strawberries,whatever that is and then, as
your children grow and mature,just being really intentional,
think about where am I seeing aweakness academically and how
(13:42):
can I come alongside them andsupport them so that we don't
lose Exactly?
Very well said, okay.
Lastly, we are going to talkabout taking care of our bodies,
and you're going to have thefamilies that are like, hey, we
are already doing swimming andwe've got t-ball and all the
things, and then you've got theother families that say, no,
we're finally taking a breakfrom all of those sports.
(14:04):
How do we find a good balanceof just continuing to be good
stewards of our bodies over thesummer, regardless of where you
fall on that spectrum Exactly?
Heidi (14:14):
And I think there's a difference between organized
sports and taking care of yourbody and being active.
Kids need activity, notorganized activity, all the time
.
They need to be playing, theyneed to be playing in the dirt
and I know that makes them dirty, but it's nothing that a bath
won't fix.
(14:34):
So they need to get sweaty,they need to play, they need to
run, they need to tumble.
They need to do these differentthings for so many reasons
beyond just the fact that theyneed the exercise.
This is no surprise to you,melanie.
You know I say this all thetime, but I just want to greatly
encourage you not to turnsummer into three months of
(14:57):
electronics.
If you want to do 30 minuteselectronics each day, that is
great.
That is a family choice.
But I want to encourage you notto spend the summer on the
couch with an electronic.
There's too much learning,there's too much fun, there's
(15:18):
too much I keep saying that muchword but there's too much
available if we get off thecouch.
This is a surprise to some.
This won't be a surprise toothers who follow the Parenting
to Impress blog, but my kidswill spend, oh goodness, maybe
(15:39):
an hour the entire week onelectronic and I don't know,
that's maybe even too high.
We don't do video games and wedon't do iPads, and I have never
once regretted it.
Melanie (15:52):
Let's just kind of encourage the folks listening.
There are lots of things, lotsof ways to be active this summer
regardless of your financialstatus.
You don't have to be a memberof a particular swim club,
tennis club, anything like that,you know.
And if you live in the city,live in the country.
There are lots of ways still to, you know, move your body.
(16:14):
There are lots of free, likekids, workout videos.
I mean fun things like that,just taking a walk, you know.
So just ask, invite the Lordinto that process, pray about
how he can creatively show youways to engage your kids in that
, especially, so that's not adrudgery, like you said.
It's not, you know, and it'salso not hyper focused on
(16:39):
restriction or control, right, Imean, we're trying to nourish
and nurture our kids to havehealthy views of their bodies.
Yeah, absolutely.
Heidi (16:49):
And a play, and of their time with God and of their,
their character across the board.
We want this to be healthy.
This is not a stand over yourchild in this authoritarian way
that we are looking to stomp onthem.
(17:09):
Instead, we're coming alongsidethem going.
You know what You're strugglingwith.
Self-control, mommy is too,because I just ate half a pan of
brownies instead of having asmall brownie.
That was what I should havedone for my body, but I felt
(17:30):
like I deserved it.
That's a whole nother podcaston itself.
Melanie (17:33):
Seriously, yes, yes, it is, yes, it is.
So can we quickly touch on theworking mom?
Or the working parent, becausesummer doesn't look a lot
different for them in terms oftheir work schedules.
I know sometimes we'refortunate to get a vacation over
the course of that summertimewith our kiddos, but our kiddos
(17:53):
are, like you said, in someoneelse's care, and can we kind of
let ourselves off the hook thenwith?
Heidi (18:00):
this summertime goal?
Wow, that's a great question.
And, man, my heart goes out tothose women, who, those moms and
dads who are coming home fromwork and they're exhausted.
They're tired, just like theyare during the winter, but yet
the days are so much longer, andso kids are wanting to stay out
(18:20):
longer.
There's activities in theevenings.
The one thing that I would say,whether you have two hours in
the evening, whether you have 12hours during the day, we are
all called to mold our children.
Whether it's just on theweekends and a few hours in the
(18:41):
evenings, we are still called tomold our children, and I
believe that God will give usthe ability and the strength to
do that.
However it looks, and thisverse in Mark of love, the Lord,
your God, with all your heart,with all your soul, with all
your mind and with all yourstrength, I think that's a verse
(19:02):
for every single parent, nomatter what your situation is.
Melanie (19:05):
Yeah, you offer kind of a sample daily schedule on that
blog post as well and we'lllink to that.
But as I'm looking at it, I'mthinking you know I could still
do this even though I'm workingoutside the home.
You know I could wake and havea very abbreviated quiet time
with my kiddos as we're gettingbreakfast we all still have to
have breakfast or even in thecar, exactly and then when we
(19:27):
get home, just kind of reviewinga potential learning and
academic thing and obviously ifyou have more than one child in
your house, those heart issuesare going to be ongoing.
So there's always a moment tospeak into that and then maybe
just saying twice a week we'regoing to focus on just two
nights a week we're going to gofor a walk together.
This doesn't have to be aninsurmountable goal here.
(19:51):
It's just meant to be a guidefor you to be intentional with
your time this summer.
Heidi (19:55):
So hope you found these tips helpful and be sure to
check out the show notes so thatyou can print off your free
schedule and give purpose toyour summer.
Announcer (20:08):
We want to thank you for listening to the Parenting
to Impress podcast.
Be sure to visitabcjesuslesbiancom and check out
the show notes for moreinformation on topics shared in
this episode.
Please subscribe and share withyour friends.
A few years ago, the Holy Spirit led me to what has
become my summer Bible verse.
It says in Mark 12 30, love theLord, your God, with all your
heart, with all your soul, withall your mind and with all your
strength.
We're going to return to thearchives for our next two
podcasts talking about summer.
In two weeks, we will bediscussing how to have a
(00:22):
successful family vacation.
Two weeks, we will bediscussing how to have a
successful family vacation.
Melanie and I will be sharingpractical advice that we learned
in our multiple years of familyvacations.
But this week we're going to bediscussing how to create
purpose in the summer, with thedesire that, when we come to
September, we're not living withregret of why did we waste this
(00:44):
precious time?
So let's join a conversationbetween Melanie and I as we
discuss our favorite parts ofsummer and then dive into the
tips.
Hey.
Melanie (00:53):
Heidi, I have a question for you.
Okay, what is your favoritepart of summertime?
Heidi (00:58):
Oh, my favorite part of summertime is the fact that my
alarm does not go off everymorning, for sure, yes, the fact
that my alarm does not go offevery morning, for sure, yes.
No, that is true.
That is very, very true,because I despise the alarms in
the morning.
But you know, my favorite partof summer is having my kiddos
home, being intentional, havingthat time with them, that slowed
(01:22):
pace.
Welcome back to Parenting toImpress your go-to podcast, to
learn practical ways to love Godand love others and to impress
this on the hearts of yourchildren.
I am your host, heidi Franz,and I am joined by my dear
friend, melanie Simpson, twomoms who have made a lot of
mistakes but have found graceand truth along the way.
You know, while I am superexcited about summer, I know
(01:44):
that not every mom shares myexcitement.
What is it that causes the fear, the dread, the anxiety about
summers for some moms?
Melanie (01:53):
So for the mom that you know maybe doesn't have to work
outside the home, there's alittle bit of the what am I
going to do to fill my days allday with these kids?
Do to fill my days all day withthese kids.
And then for the working mom, Ithink sometimes there's just a
sense of guilt and even grief,like I want to be home with my
kids while they're out forsummer vacation, but I can't.
They've got to be in caresomeplace.
Heidi (02:13):
Right.
Well, in that anxiety of tryingto find a place that is going
to be a good situation for yourkids, that alone adds a lot of
stress to moms.
Yep.
Melanie (02:25):
But let's kind of break this up then into a couple of
pieces.
Let's start first with for themom who is able to be home with
her kiddos and we talk aboutthis all the time how do you
start with the end in mind?
So how do you not start nextschool year looking back at your
summer going what the heck didwe do all?
Heidi (02:44):
summer, right, right, and I just feel like I wasted three
months of our lives in justgoing, going, going or just
dread of having my kids home allthe time, and I think how that
happens.
So that you have purpose oh,there's my favorite word so that
you have purpose in your summer, I think you have to have a
(03:05):
little bit of a mental plan andit could be that you need to
have a very detailed plan or nothave something loose, but just
have specifically.
But there's lots of options.
Melanie (03:27):
And it's just a tool to help you think through how do I
want to use my time and withthe kids this summer.
So let's go ahead and look atthat blog post specifically and
it's addressing summer goals anda schedule.
Heidi (03:41):
Yeah, and this is something that I wrote six years
ago, and so at that time let'ssee how old my kids have been.
Six years ago we would havebeen five, seven, nine and 11.
And so those are differenttimes than what I'm in right now
with teenagers.
But I wanted a purpose and Ilove how, every time I go to God
(04:05):
and say what is our purposesupposed to be, he leads me to
that truth.
And he led me to the verse ofMark 12, verse 30.
Love the Lord, your God, withall your heart, with all your
soul, with all your mind andwith all your strength.
And it was that verse that gaveme the purpose.
(04:25):
So let me kind of explain alittle bit what we did.
First of all, love the Lord,your God, with all your heart.
Those were the character andheart issues that I wanted to
focus on for the summer, and Iused Ephesians 4, 31 through 32
as my guide.
Get rid of all bitterness, rageand anger, brawling and slander
, along with every form ofmalice.
(04:47):
Be kind.
And so I wanted to work onthose heart issues.
The second part love the Lord,your God, with all your soul.
That was the relationship withGod.
How was I going to help ourkiddos, through the summer, grow
(05:07):
in their relationship with God,reading their Bibles, praying.
The third one was their mind,and that was the academics.
What were the different areasthat I felt like just needed
more focus than we gave duringthe school year.
And then the last one was, withall your strength, taking care
(05:32):
of our bodies.
God did not make us to be couchpotatoes, and so what were we
going to do all summer thatwould strengthen our bodies,
because when we strengthen ourbodies it strengthens the rest
of us For sure.
Melanie (05:39):
And so, thinking about young children, how would we
implement?
Let's just start with the heart.
What would that look like?
Thinking through okay, I've gotthree months yawning ahead of
me on the calendar.
How am I going to, practicallyspeaking, handle these character
issues, everybody's home?
We have nothing planned today.
What do we do?
Heidi (06:00):
Yeah, and so what I thought about was what was the
issue?
And again, looking back at that, ephesians 4, 31 through 32,
you could also use the fruit ofthe Spirit Peace, love, joy,
goodness, kindness, patience,faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control found in Galatians.
And so you can think throughthat.
What are the areas that eachone of the children are
(06:21):
specifically needing someattention on?
And so six years ago, bubz Iwas really focusing on him using
loving words, being kind withhis tone, sweet Pea, I was
focusing on her having ateachable spirit and not
responding with anger.
(06:42):
Little man reporting, which Ihave a whole, a whole blog post
on what reporting means andwe'll link that in.
But then, first time, obedience.
When I said something to him,he did not argue with me but
immediately obeyed, and thenpeanut, his focus I was working
on because he was younger washis eye contact, so that when I
(07:04):
talked to him he was looking atme, so then he could obey.
So those were the areas.
Now they're somewhat very muchthe same that we're still
working on now and some of themhave drastically changed.
But I think through what arethe areas that God is wanting me
to use teachable moments, touse positive reinforcement to
(07:29):
help them grow spiritually intheir character.
Melanie (07:33):
Right.
So, Heidi, walk us through whatthat would look like
practically in your home withyour kids.
The heart issue.
Heidi (07:41):
So I read in a blog about using the candy runts, their
little fruit-shaped candy thatyou can put into a jar.
And when you see your kiddosdisplaying the behavior, the
characteristics that you aredesiring, just pull them over
and say, hey, I see what you'redoing, I see that fruit in your
(08:02):
life, and give them a littlepiece of candy.
If you don't like using candyas a reward, give them a token.
And then so many tokens allowthem to buy something at a store
or something, or it gives themextra time to do the things that
they like to do.
So it doesn't just have to befood as a reward, but where you
(08:25):
start looking for thosebehaviors.
And I will also add I thinkit's very easy as a mom to see
all the negative and by havingthe positive reinforcement, it
forces you to look for thosepositive behaviors.
Melanie (08:43):
That's a good word right there, yeah, okay.
So the second category is soul.
Walk us through.
I mean, you gave a descriptionjust as relationship with God,
but how are you fostering yourkids' relationship with the Lord
?
I?
Heidi (08:56):
love that that looks so different now than what it did
when my kids were little.
When they were little, we wouldhave family Bible time each
morning after breakfast and Iloved the devotional Our Daily
Bread for Kids.
It was a fantastic guide that Iwould read through with the
kids.
Now that they're older, it ismaking sure that they've used
(09:22):
the time they have and then tohave discussion about it.
So maybe we have discussion atsupper about hey, what'd you
read in your quiet time today?
What is God teaching you and soencouraging it through
conversation?
Melanie (09:37):
Yeah, I have a quick question about the younger set,
the preschool set.
Yes, how much time would youspend in this quiet time, this
Bible time, with them?
Heidi (09:48):
That's a great question.
The younger they are, the lesstime you're going to spend.
The younger they are, the moreaction, activity, involvement
you're going to need to havewith the kiddos.
The Old and New Testamentcurriculum that I have written
is perfect for the three to sixyear old kids and can be used
(10:11):
with those older as well.
But what's so great is thatthere is activity to involve
those kids, so that's one option.
Or when you are reading a Biblestory to them, let's say after
breakfast and, for example, theOur Daily Bread kids devotional.
It took maybe four minutes,five minutes to read very short
(10:36):
amount of time.
But when you're talking about acharacter in the Bible was sad,
have the kids make a sad face.
When the character in the Biblewas angry, have them make an
angry face.
When you're talking about birds, have them put their arms out
and fly like a bird.
When you're talking about waves, have them make the waves with
(10:56):
their arms.
Involve them in the Bible storyand it will feel like just
seconds.
Melanie (11:02):
Yeah, and then I know this is true.
I mean, just as you and I havehad these conversations, make it
a part of your day.
Bring it back up later at naptime or at play time, you know,
act out the scene, or hey,remember what we read this
morning when God talked aboutloving each other.
So just make it part of yourconversations.
Heidi (11:19):
Absolutely.
Use those teachable moments asthey come out Awesome.
Melanie (11:23):
So I can hear I know I was this way you really want us
to do academics over the summer?
Really, really I mean we havejust spent, you know, slogged
through nine months of, you know, toting kids back and forth to
school, preschool, all thethings.
Really, we can't have a breakfrom this.
Heidi (11:41):
Well, if I want to get all nerdy on the statistics here
, there is a lot of learningthat has lasted over the summer
months.
I do feel that kids need abreak, Absolutely they need a
break.
But if you can just keep someof that learning fresh in their
mind, it will greatly help themwhen they return.
(12:02):
Those things are reading books,you know.
Going to the library, joiningthe summer library program my
kids love doing that we wouldcollect about 20 books.
I let them take any books thatthey wanted from the picture
book department and we wouldcome home and some of the books
(12:25):
we would start reading and Iwould say we're done, because
they were horrible, horribleplot, horrible illustrations.
And then other books we foundthat we loved and ended up
purchasing copies for our homelibrary because we loved them so
much.
But that reading is so important.
The math is so important.
Doing the addition, subtraction, multiplication, division facts
those were things that wealways worked on with the kids
(12:46):
and we.
Multiplication, division factsthose were things that we always
worked on with the kids, and wedid it in fun ways.
These weren't drudgery by anystretch.
And then, for whatever reason,I've got two kiddos that are
really struggling in spelling,and so I've pulled the All About
Spelling curriculum and usingthat with them every day, the
(13:08):
All About Spelling curriculumand using that with them every
day.
We spend depends upon thechild's age, but last year we
spent about 15, 20 minutes everyday doing spelling and trying
to figure out where thebreakdown is happening.
Melanie (13:20):
Okay.
So what I hear you saying isyounger kids.
You're just continuing to dothe things you've been doing
reading out loud, talking aboutthe books you're reading,
finding creative and fun ways tocount, add, subtract your
grapes, your strawberries,whatever that is and then, as
your children grow and mature,just being really intentional,
think about where am I seeing aweakness academically and how
(13:42):
can I come alongside them andsupport them so that we don't
lose Exactly?
Very well said, okay.
Lastly, we are going to talkabout taking care of our bodies,
and you're going to have thefamilies that are like, hey, we
are already doing swimming andwe've got t-ball and all the
things, and then you've got theother families that say, no,
we're finally taking a breakfrom all of those sports.
(14:04):
How do we find a good balanceof just continuing to be good
stewards of our bodies over thesummer, regardless of where you
fall on that spectrum Exactly?
Heidi (14:14):
And I think there's a difference between organized
sports and taking care of yourbody and being active.
Kids need activity, notorganized activity, all the time
.
They need to be playing, theyneed to be playing in the dirt
and I know that makes them dirty, but it's nothing that a bath
won't fix.
(14:34):
So they need to get sweaty,they need to play, they need to
run, they need to tumble.
They need to do these differentthings for so many reasons
beyond just the fact that theyneed the exercise.
This is no surprise to you,melanie.
You know I say this all thetime, but I just want to greatly
encourage you not to turnsummer into three months of
(14:57):
electronics.
If you want to do 30 minuteselectronics each day, that is
great.
That is a family choice.
But I want to encourage you notto spend the summer on the
couch with an electronic.
There's too much learning,there's too much fun, there's
(15:18):
too much I keep saying that muchword but there's too much
available if we get off thecouch.
This is a surprise to some.
This won't be a surprise toothers who follow the Parenting
to Impress blog, but my kidswill spend, oh goodness, maybe
(15:39):
an hour the entire week onelectronic and I don't know,
that's maybe even too high.
We don't do video games and wedon't do iPads, and I have never
once regretted it.
Melanie (15:52):
Let's just kind of encourage the folks listening.
There are lots of things, lotsof ways to be active this summer
regardless of your financialstatus.
You don't have to be a memberof a particular swim club,
tennis club, anything like that,you know.
And if you live in the city,live in the country.
There are lots of ways still to, you know, move your body.
(16:14):
There are lots of free, likekids, workout videos.
I mean fun things like that,just taking a walk, you know.
So just ask, invite the Lordinto that process, pray about
how he can creatively show youways to engage your kids in that
, especially, so that's not adrudgery, like you said.
It's not, you know, and it'salso not hyper focused on
(16:39):
restriction or control, right, Imean, we're trying to nourish
and nurture our kids to havehealthy views of their bodies.
Yeah, absolutely.
Heidi (16:49):
And a play, and of their time with God and of their,
their character across the board.
We want this to be healthy.
This is not a stand over yourchild in this authoritarian way
that we are looking to stomp onthem.
(17:09):
Instead, we're coming alongsidethem going.
You know what You're strugglingwith.
Self-control, mommy is too,because I just ate half a pan of
brownies instead of having asmall brownie.
That was what I should havedone for my body, but I felt
(17:30):
like I deserved it.
That's a whole nother podcaston itself.
Melanie (17:33):
Seriously, yes, yes, it is, yes, it is.
So can we quickly touch on theworking mom?
Or the working parent, becausesummer doesn't look a lot
different for them in terms oftheir work schedules.
I know sometimes we'refortunate to get a vacation over
the course of that summertimewith our kiddos, but our kiddos
(17:53):
are, like you said, in someoneelse's care, and can we kind of
let ourselves off the hook thenwith?
Heidi (18:00):
this summertime goal?
Wow, that's a great question.
And, man, my heart goes out tothose women, who, those moms and
dads who are coming home fromwork and they're exhausted.
They're tired, just like theyare during the winter, but yet
the days are so much longer, andso kids are wanting to stay out
(18:20):
longer.
There's activities in theevenings.
The one thing that I would say,whether you have two hours in
the evening, whether you have 12hours during the day, we are
all called to mold our children.
Whether it's just on theweekends and a few hours in the
(18:41):
evenings, we are still called tomold our children, and I
believe that God will give usthe ability and the strength to
do that.
However it looks, and thisverse in Mark of love, the Lord,
your God, with all your heart,with all your soul, with all
your mind and with all yourstrength, I think that's a verse
(19:02):
for every single parent, nomatter what your situation is.
Melanie (19:05):
Yeah, you offer kind of a sample daily schedule on that
blog post as well and we'lllink to that.
But as I'm looking at it, I'mthinking you know I could still
do this even though I'm workingoutside the home.
You know I could wake and havea very abbreviated quiet time
with my kiddos as we're gettingbreakfast we all still have to
have breakfast or even in thecar, exactly and then when we
(19:27):
get home, just kind of reviewinga potential learning and
academic thing and obviously ifyou have more than one child in
your house, those heart issuesare going to be ongoing.
So there's always a moment tospeak into that and then maybe
just saying twice a week we'regoing to focus on just two
nights a week we're going to gofor a walk together.
This doesn't have to be aninsurmountable goal here.
(19:51):
It's just meant to be a guidefor you to be intentional with
your time this summer.
Heidi (19:55):
So hope you found these tips helpful and be sure to
check out the show notes so thatyou can print off your free
schedule and give purpose toyour summer.
Announcer (20:08):
We want to thank you for listening to the Parenting
to Impress podcast.
Be sure to visitabcjesuslesbiancom and check out
the show notes for moreinformation on topics shared in
this episode.
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