Learning about loving your children is to find ways that you can show them your love in a tangible way everyday. Come and find out what it is and what it is not!

Titus 2:3-5 says to woman that they need to be taught to love their children. I have always thought this was an interesting way to describe it because “Well, we automatically do love them...don’t we?”

There is not one mom that I have yet come across that can say she unconditionally loves her children all the time. The only way to learn to love your children completely and unconditionally is to push into your relationship with the Lord.

You see – He is the perfect parent! As He parents you - you will learn how to parent your children. When you feel His grace towards you, you will remember it next when you are in a situation with your children that requires grace. As you learn of His rod of correction, you will learn when to apply it in your own children’s lives.

Besides the spiritual need for a mom to remain close to her Father so that she can learn how to love unconditionally there are some practical ways that you can love your children too.

Loving your children with food

Loving your children with exercise

Loving your children with boundaries

Loving your children with fun

Loving your children with food

On my menu planning page I cover how to make sure you do not end up with an empty pantry and hungry children. But here I want to emphasize the need to feed our children correctly. Godly parents are turning more and more to an organic whole food type diet. A whole website can be designed around just this issue. I often find that I cannot get enough organic food to feed my husband and children so we do supplement with other healthy foods.

When I was little, my mom always used to send me off to school with a proper breakfast. Now with my own children, I ensure that they have a good breakfast each morning. We start with some carrot juice and then we like to alternate between muesli, porridge and eggs.

On Sundays I cook our snacks for the week. Often they are crunchies (granola bars), biscotti or muffins. These we have with fruit for a mid morning snack.

For lunch we try and stay away from bread as the Glycaemic index is very high, but I do sometimes bake my own bread that has a low GI. Soup in winter is always a hit! We often have baked sweet potatoes and salads or home made pizza.

Afternoon snacks are fruit and nuts. Dinner is always pre-empted with a big salad.

By incorporating as much whole food in their diets as possible, I know I love them by giving them healthy bodies and food to feed their minds. When our children’s blood sugars are low they can become unteachable and unmanageable. By giving them good healthy meals and snacks we eliminate many unnecessary behavioral issues.

Loving your children with exercise

When our soon to be 11 year old daughter started having problems with falling asleep at night, I was driven to pray for her. She would be so sad that she could not just drop off at 8.30 pm. God gave me the answer pretty soon after I began praying – exercise.

Up until this time we had been taking regular walks on a greenbelt near our home, sometimes just around our neighborhood others times on a farm down the road. But this was not enough for her. About the same time my husband began to get very involved in mountain biking. It was God’s perfect timing for our home.

On Sunday afternoons he takes our oldest two children mountain biking. They ride from 10 – 22 km’s in the beautiful mountains near our home. I get to walk with our younger two and do a bit of informal nature study with them.

Their concentration during schooling times has improved, they sleep well at night and we are loving them by giving them strong and healthy bodies. They have enjoyed these times so much that they sometimes take part in fun bike races arranged by a local association.

Now you may not have a biking family, but you do have some untapped resources. If your children are not interested in sport, you still must ensure that they take part in some form of exercise everyday. Better yet, find something that the whole family can take part in, and make it a family activity.

Here is a quote to get you thinking: “Youngsters who partake in structured programs of vigorous exercise possess greater mental acuity and stronger interest in learning than those who don’t” US Department of Education

Loving your children with boundaries

Loving your children does not mean giving up who you are! It saddens me intensely when I see a child who believes that his/her mom is at their beck and call all the time. I often see in the homeschool community the belief that the parent needs to be with their children all the time - That they need to “lay down their lives” for their children.

I prefer to remember Charlotte Mason's words on this issue : “But the fussy parent, the anxious parent, the parent who explains overmuch. Who commands overmuch, who excuses overmuch, who restrains overmuch, who interferes overmuch, even the parent who is with the children overmuch, does away with the dignity and simplicity of that relationship which, like all the best and delicate things in life, suffer by being asserted or defended.” Pg 29 School Education, Charlotte Mason

Our children need to be trained in the way they should behave. Part of that is learning that the world does not revolve around them but that they are an important and intricate part of a family and that they should work together for the good of the family.

Some boundaries come in when mom needs time out or when mom needs to attend to a younger child or herself first. I have heard many a story about children wanting to follow moms into the bathroom when she needs privacy. There are so many things that moms do put aside or hold off as an act of love for their children, and specifically as we have chosen to take up the call to homeschool our precious children. But our children need to know moms boundaries too.

When considering your own boundaries, be very sure that you have laid them before God to ask what His perfect and divine will is in each situation. For more on this read through the back issue of Living Education #23

Loving your children with fun

This is the FUN part of loving your children! This is where you get to be a kid again! When last did you splash in puddles with your children or go rolling down the side of a grassy hill? How about flying kites and playing board games?

We started a family fun night a while back where we had their favourite meal (generally pizza or hamburgers), a movie they chose with parental guidance or a board game. This was a great time where we just set aside the mom and dad voice and enjoyed playing with them.

I also make sure that I take time out with them to do the things I mentioned above. Blow some dandelions; swing on a swing at a park...Here is a poem that helps me to remember to take time out with my children to just have fun with them.

Do you have any sons? Take a look at Homeschooling Boys!

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