Play! Listen! Talk!

Or maybe this blog should be titled “Helping Parents Keep Up.” Every week our kids leave Sunday School with a FamilyFun take-home paper, sometimes an art project, and always the TalkTime activity page. Parents’ hands are overloaded and I can’t help wondering what happens to all these things we send home.

Parents are different, just like their kids are. Some are happy to put the art masterpiece up on the fridge. Others are looking for a truth to teach and a prayer to say at bedtime. One parent proudly displayed her son’s TalkTime activity page on a bulletin board, only to hear from her son that she had ruined his special paper because she had stuck holes in it!

For better or worse, however, I’ve realized that most of the time parents don’t know how to make the most of what we send home—unless I tell them. So my goal every week is to say a quick sentence to encourage busy moms and dads:

• - "There’s a bedtime talk and prayer in this paper every week."
• - "Jake had a great time putting these pictures in order. Here’s the question that tells what you can ask him about."
• - "Look at the sticker Savannah is wearing. It tells what we talked about today."
• - "Joshua used so many leaves to make his picture of you! His picture reminds us to forgive the people in our families."

I have to confess I don’t always meet my goal! But I figure if I don’t have a goal, I’ll never even think of what to say—much less do it. (And besides, aren’t you inspired by all those Olympic athletes and their determination? I’m determined to teach kids about Jesus!)