ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER SEWARD, NEBRASKA

The State of Nebraska has a public website for registered sex offenders.  Please be sure to review it from time to time.

<a href=”http://www.nsp.state.ne.us/sor/find.cfm” >http://www.nsp.state.ne.us/sor/find.cfm</a>

Mom’s In Touch is a prayer group where moms gather to pray for our school, teachers and our children from St. John School and Child Development Center. We also have a dedicated time to lift up our own individual children in prayer. To have another mom come alongside you in prayer for your precious child is so comforting &amp; uplifting. We would love to have you join us. We meet on Thursday mornings from 6:00 am to 7:00 am in the St. John Church library

In her new book, “The Top Ten Preschool Parenting Problems and What to Do about Them!”, parenting expert Roslyn Duffy offers parents practical advice for dealing with these common challenges.

I reviewed the free downloadable pages, and I thought it looked like an easy read with sensible tips for parents.

Parents are valued and respected as their child’s primary and most influential teachers. The child’s faith is being shaped at all stages of development. This means that conversations and connections between the school and home must include spiritual development.

A Parents’ Privilege of Fostering Faith

You have the most wonderful child! Each new skill that is learned makes you appreciate the blessings that God has brought into your life through your son or daughter.

Along with your joy you also feel concern about helping your child grow to use all of the gifts and abilities God has given him/her. There is a natural concern about encouraging growth as a child of God. Here are some things that other parent have found help strengthen the faith of the young child.

Pray For Your Child
You have the most powerful tool available to help your child – PRAYER. With it you can come to God Himself and ask Him to keep your child close to Him and grant spiritual blessings. You can talk to God about your joys, your anxieties, your doubts and all the other feelings and thoughts that come to parents as they raise their children. He will hear!

Lead Your Child Into God’s Word
What a privilege it is to lead your child to Jesus! You are the first person who tells your child a Bible story and shares with him/her the news of God’s great love.

Worship With Your Child
Of course, you will take your child to worship with other families in church. It is not always easy worshiping with a young child. You will also want to worship at home. We will occasionally provide you with tips for worshiping at home.

Be a Model
What you do is the greatest influence in helping your child’s growth of faith. Your child sees you praying, reading the Bible, worshiping and it is natural to copy this behavior. Your postive attitude toward Christian living and the Church will be powerful.

Relate Daily Life to God
Strong, positive attitudes are encouraged when you keep the child aware that there is a close connection between everyday events and God. A beautiful day is looked on as a gift from God, we feel His protection in danger, and notice His gifts in daily food, in nature, and family.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates”. Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Something we work on at the CDC is ‘the nice way to say it’.  Young children are developing the skills to state their needs, and as they grow older, we work on phrasing it as a polite question.  For instance, at the breakfast table a child might say, “I need milk.”  The teacher would respond (with a smile in her voice), “I see that you do.  Is there something you want to ask me?”  We use simple, positive words, and when the child asks, “Can/may I please have some milk?” – we respond with joyful praise, “Of course you can!  I love it when you use those nice asking words.”