Tips, Good Ideas and a Lion or Two

Dear Ladies,

Thank you for making these letters such a hugh success. I started writing with about 8 ladies, most of them sat with me at MOPS meetings. The list has grown to about 20 ladies now. Welcome to all the new moms. Please continue to share these letter with anyone who is interested and have them email me if they would like the letters to show up in their mailbox. All the letters are posted at the following blog address (www.amomlikeyou.blogspot.com) if you would like to re-read them. I know it is easier to have them just show up in your in-box. That way you can read the letter quickly and go hunt down the two year old, who is all of a sudden quiet. And we all know what it means if a two year old is quiet-TROUBLE. Once while I was on the phone my two oldest were quiet. I found them in the bathroom. The oldest was brushing his teeth with my toothbrush, after having used my lipstick. The younger one was sitting in a sink of water with messy diaper.


My husband and I had the chance to enjoy two days at the homeschool convention. There are always too many fabulous products to buy and too many informative workshops to attend. Many workshops deal with homeschooling topics, but many would be of interest to non- homeschooling families. For this letter I am just going to bullet for you some of the things I wrote down in my notebook. I hope one or more points will be of encouragement to you today.


Family Life

-Wives respect your husbands. If you wouldn't believe in him, how can he believe in himself.

-Prepare children for all seasons of life. ie. the season of learning or being a disciple, the season of raising a family, the season of being leaders within the church and the season of being leaders of the nation.

-Ask you child, "How ARE you?" "Have I ever hurt your feelings?"

-Remember it's the little things that destroy a marriage-work as a team.

-Children need to trust their parents.

-Teach your children to see a job and do it before being asked.

-When a young child wants to do a job, ie. fold clothes, then it is time to begin teaching him/her that job.

-Lavish praise for jobs children do.

-Some kids don't see the mess, use a check list to help them with cleaning jobs.

-Make a list of everything in the house that needs to be done, enlist the children to help.

-Gear chores towards a child's skill.

-For a forgetful child have them do the same job everyday for a year.

-Reward children for completion of big jobs. ie. a trip to the ice cream shoppe.

-Preform weekly room checks, reward a child for an orderly room.

-Reward a child for good manners.

-Mention things a child does right when you pray for him/her.

-Create an audio tape of dad reading the proverbs.

-Make use of rewards in training for occasional motivation and for learning Bible verses.

-Train girls to run the household and have a heart of service.

-Have young men learn a trade.

-Encourage a servant's spirit, first in the family, then when company is over and by adopting an elderly person.

-Limit electronic entertainment, teach a lifestyle of productivity.


Stretching in Your Grocery Dollars

-Plan a menu

-Put together a price book, so you will be able to check if an item is a deal or not.

-Establish a buy price. ie. I try not to pay more then $2 a pound for meat.

-Try bulk cooking or once a month cooking. This makes for a long Saturday, but is great if you can do it. You can also do smaller jobs like cook up a lot of ground beef at once, cook and bone a bunch of chicken, or chop and freeze onions/green peppers. This isn't bulk cooking, but it does make dinner time easier.

-Make family dinners happen at least four nights a week.

-Stay at the table to play a game, read or have devotions. Mad-lips is a funny dinner game.


Lastly Ladies, remember that God has a BIG purpose for your children, just as He did for Ruth, David, Esther, Joshua and Samuel.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Melissa

PS. What do you think David's mom thought when he came home and said " I killed a fierce lion today". Oh My and we thought our kids worried us.