My, what a week!
We picked 134 pounds of strawberries on Monday, and by Wednesday evening all were either in syrup, freezer jam or frozen individually and bagged for the freezer!
Many hands make light the work–indeed!
Are you training your littles to help and be a part of what you do? Or do you think, “I can do it faster myself!”? I’ve said it before, but I will repeat–let them “help” now. The goal is not always to get it done faster. I know sometimes we just have to get things done, but I fear too much of the time we (yes I still fight it!) tend to focus on the task vs. the hearts of these don’t-stay-little-long blessings God has entrusted to us.
I doubt any of us have great memories of our phonics workbooks. Or math. But we probably all have sweet memories of rolling out pies with a grandmother or maybe working in a garden with a parent. Think of the way Jesus “discipled”–He simply took the disciples along with Him in His daily life, teaching them by example. Not by a textbook. After all, character cannot be learned in a textbook!
As you take your children along with you, you are training them to have a servant’s heart. Especially if you show your delight in them and joy in their presence. Like you love having them around! Then believe me, they’ll want to stick around when they’re older!
I’ve been learning so much about prayer, and more specifically about praise– or intercessory worship as Mike Bickle and Dick Eastman call it. I’ve been reading a “delightful” series by Dick Eastman called the “Harp and Bowl Series”. The three books are:
All are available at Every Home For Christ’s Bookstore. This is a wonderful ministry, and they will send you a free world prayer map that will cover every country in a month’s time. There is also a kids’ prayer map! I highly recommend these books and the prayer maps! (And if you’re requesting those, you might as well request their free book, “Look What God Is Doing!” )
Much of what I’ve been reading, from Mr. Eastman as well as a few other authors, is that praise is the missing ingredient in our prayers. These books have revolutionized my prayer life and increased my faith greatly!
How easy is it for us to get our focus on the “problems” or “situations” we pray for, and not our great God Who is Most High and All-Powerful! I will share more specifically about that next week, but I thought I’d let you know about these books and resources to help you in your prayer life.
As a mama, of course we want to pray for our children as well as instill in them the habit of prayer. It can become a difficult venture if we are not praying much. You cannot impart something that is not a part of your own life! You will find yourself reading these books “as a hart panting after the water brooks”–you’ll want more, MORE, MORE!!!!
I also share these resources, because this week I want to share an idea with you that we have used in the past and are resurrecting to use with our younger set of children. I heard about this idea at an ATI conference 15 or so years ago!
Do you find yourself focusing a bit too much on the negatives–the things that you and your children need to improve? Especially in their character?
Enter Praise Pockets!
Praise Pockets are very easy to make–and very hard to implement! *smile!*
The idea is that you work on praising your children for their character vs. always correcting them. I pick 1-3 qualities to work on for the week or month, and each child has one they specifically are working on. You don’t have to do it this way! If you want to work on one quality a week (or month!), that is fine!
We use the character quality list the Institute in Basic Life Principles has. We have two resources, The Power of True Success for Families and Achieving True Success, that we use a lot (or I should say used–and will use again as we start this!) I also have the Character Sketches books. At one time I even made up a little “Character Ant Game” using the 49 character qualities! (Might have to dig that back out!)
You start with very basic, easily available materials.
Colored paper, glue stick and stickers! Oh, and some scissors and a ruler, or you can use one of those nifty scrapbooking tools that cut the edges neatly–wish they’d been available back when I first made these!
I took one sheet of the paper, and folded it not quite in half. The goal is to leave a little bit at the top of your pocket:
Now you take your glue stick and glue the sides down.
Next you will write the child’s name–or let them do it! If your children are older, of course they can do this with you. Younger ones may be able to do some steps–the more they’re involved, the more they’ll love it!
This is the FUN part!
Picking out stickers!!!!
I will warn you that most kids will want a gazillion stickers on their pockets! Give them some leeway, but don’t let them cover the pockets in stickers! 
Finshed Pocket!
Now it’s time to make the “Praise Markers”!
Basically, they are about 1 1/2 inch by 6 inch strips of paper, various colors, on which you write the character qualities. I made many per quality–the “big” ones like Obedience have way more markers than, say, Alertness. How many you make will also depend on how many children are “playing”.
After getting all the markers made, you may want to use a small basket or make a nice “holder” for them all. One of my daughters made a nice holder to tack up to the bulletin board. This doesn’t hold ALL the character quality Praise Markers–just several of them we are working on for now.
We tacked the younger children’s up to a bulletin board under the main holder. (See earlier picture above.)
The idea is that as you notice your child showing the particular quality(ies) that you are working on, you put a marker in their pocket.
I assigned a point system to the markers. Some are worth 5 points, some 2 and some 1 (after the Parable of the Talents).
You NEVER take markers out. Even if they are good one day and horrible the next 6, you never take them out. I had one particular daughter that probably would have been in the negative more than once had I taken any out!!! *yikes!*
When the older girls were younger and doing this, I made up “coupons”. They could add up their marker points as well as other points for practicing their instruments and doing chores and school, and the total amount decided which bag of coupons they could draw from. On the lower end were things like, “Sleep downstairs” or “Pick dessert”. You know what your kids would like! 
The next level might have “Mommy will do dishes for you–Advanced Notice Required”. That way they didn’t spring it on me at an inopportune time!
Another level up would have things like “You don’t have to do school today” or “Mommy will do a craft with you”.
Higher levels had even neater things like getting to go out to dessert with Daddy or Mommy, and the top prize was to go out to eat with one of them (fast food restaurants!).
I sometimes had a little trinket, but I wanted to emphasize time with us versus “stuff” (and we know that that kind of “stuff” usually ends up on the floor in their rooms for you to step on!).
We had a lot of fun with it, and no one was competing with anyone. It was all about striving for your own personal best.
And it helped me, as the mama, to focus on the good things that were happening vs. all that I had to work on!
Whether you choose to make Praise Pockets or come up with your own idea, I encourage you to make praise more and more a part of your life! Believe me, your children will catch it from you and you all might find you have joy-filled hearts that are also full of song!
If you want to see how that works…..smile…..head over to the girls’ blog today and see a video of us singing a crazy song called “Fugue for Fast Food”!
Have a blessed weekend–and don’t forget to praise! (Don’t forget to praise your husband as well! )
