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Dads, some time in the next… Oh, say 48 to 72 hours, take your wife by the hand when you children are present and walk her into the living room and just sit and talk. And then when your kids see you and want to talk, talk with them. If they want, play with them.
I know, I know, it’s quite possible that your kids will start to think that you like them, but that’s the risk you’ll have to take.
Have I mentioned that some of my tips are neither original nor profound?
Dads, Daylight Savings begins on Sunday morning, but you can make moving the clock forward a little easier by changing them Friday night.
This makes the change a little less abrupt and makes Friday, not Saturday, the short night. Getting up Sunday morning will be easier.
Dads, you know that chronic sin that you see in your child? There may be a real, non-sinful need that is not being met for this child which is a cause of the sinful behavior.
While it is true that you should deal with your child’s sin, you should also try to discover the non-sinful need and see if you can meet it.
Dads, if you want to help your son or daughter learn how to read, go to the bookstore with them and find a book that they are very interested in reading. And then have them read that to you. If it has words that are too big for him or her, just read them for your child.
My work’s phone system allows us to save messages left by callers. Over the years I have saved several from my kids, because they remind me why I like them.
Yesterday, we got the memo that we’re getting a new phone message system and all of these messages are going to be deleted. So to prevent them from being lost forever, I have transcribed them.
They made my wife laugh and she suggested that I post them.
So here they are – the first is Daniel and the rest is Barrett.
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Hi, Mommy wants to know if you found your note book and if we should look for it. Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, and one more ‘Bye’, and this is the real Bye.
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Hi this is Barrett, um, We were thinking, well, if you’re going to stay home tomorrow, I mean maybe a little bit early, I mean leave late, . . . um, Carl will make sticky rolls and eggs and bacon for breakfast on Thursday, and he’ll get up really early to make it, too . . . Or . . . if you’re not going to, we’ll have sticky rolls today and cold cereal tomorrow.
Please call back when you reach this.
Love you, I mean, I love you, Bye
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Hello, if you are Scott Jamison please call back. Bye, I love you.
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Hi, Um, This is Barrett, Um . . Us, Daniel and me and Erik, would like to play croquet and I never got the rocket. Do you think you could get the stuff that we need that is there, um, at work – Do you think you could get it there? ‘Cause, I’d like – it would be cool if we could make it next Saturday. I don’t know – not that I want to shoot it off, but I would like to look at it as it is . . built.
So I hope you call back soon, and I love you, Bye
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Hi, This is Barrett. If you won’t, if you can’t guess how my eye appointment went, I’ll tell you in ten seconds . . . Okay, I can tell you now. It, um, it was exactly the same as last time. Bye. I love you.
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Hi, this is Barrett, and Daniel and me know how to get the sleds down and we really want to because we’re going outside, so if you don’t call quickly we’re just going to get them down. Bye.
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Hi, this is Barrett. Um, We don’t have any more gas and the riding lawn more just ran out of gas and Foster wants to say ‘Hi’, Okay? [Foster] The lawn more doesn’t have gas! [Barrett] Now say, ‘hello’. [Foster] Hello! [Barrett] bye bye [Foster] Bye Bye! [Barrett] Okay, bye.
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Dads (who live in the Twin Cities)!
The Minnesota History Center is Free every Tuesday evening until 8:00.
It always has interesting exhibits and your kids will learn.
If you have young kids, make sure to bring them to climb around in the Grain Elevator.
As an aside, do you like how this picture formatted?
I would like to bring this week’s Fighter Verse back in time and present it to the fifteen year old me, with some advice.
Here is the story:
When I was fifteen (give or take a year or two) and it was early in December when my parents encouraged my siblings and me to memorize the Christmas portion of Luke 2. I decided to take up the challenge, and so did my sister who is three years younger than me.
God gave different gifts to my sister and me. She is more personable, makes friends more easily, and had more of a servant attitude. I was more academically minded and perhaps more suited to the task of memorization. But she took up the challenge. I’m ashamed to say that I hoped I would be the only one to succeed; I wanted it to be more clear who was the smart kid. I had a chance to help her, and I did not take it.
So here’s this week’s Fighter Verse: “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” (Ro. 15:1-2)
I did not do this when I was fifteen. I used my strength to build myself up –to please myself. I did not use my strength as God wanted me to. If I had, I would have helped her, perhaps she would have succeeded, and I would have gotten joy out of the process.
So this week as I was talking about this verse with my kids, I told them that story. I pray that my failure will at least have the benefit of serving as a counter example to them. And maybe to you, as well.
Here is this week’s song. When I wrote it, I wasn’t thinking about the story about my sister, but the phrasing almost makes it sound like I was trying to lecture: And not to please ourselves, not to please ourselves, NOT to please ourselves.
Dads! Want an inexpensive, creative, fun gift for your kids?
Go to Michael’s and buy them one of these:
They cost about a dollar, are maybe four inches across, come with their own paint and are fairly easy for a young child to build.
There’s lots of different vehicles to choose from, so you can get a different one for each child.
Try it!
A day early because of the relative few days until Christmas –
Our family makes a practice every year to take a drive around neighborhoods and look at Christmas Lights.
We did this on Friday and happened across a home in Shoreview that is really doing the job well.
They have created an impressive system of lights that they’ve coordinated and synchronized to music that you can listen to on the radio. And they just happen to be across the street from the Sitzer park parking lot so you can watch for a long time.
It’s impressive and fun and gave our whole family joy. We recommend it. Bring some food and they’ll donate it to the Emergency Food Shelf.
More information at mnlightshow.com.
Go see it.
Mystery:
So I was driving our 12 passenger van to Wednesday night church on a fairly busy suburban road and Bang! I heard a very loud noise right next to me. It sounded like someone had thrown a wheelbarrow at our car.
Whatever it was that hit us had turned the driver side mirror, so I couldn’t see what it was that hit us. I pulled off the road and saw that there was indeed a dent on the van. I turned around to find whatever it was that hit me – but I saw nothing that could have been the cause.
And then at church I took another look (getting some input from Andy, who nicely came out to take a look) and saw that the dents were more extensive than I had previously thought. The door also was caved in and the dents were on nearly seven feet of the driver’s side of the door.
I have no proof, but I suspect it was a deer that hit me. It’s weird not knowing. Ideas?
2. Funny kids story: After looking at the van with Andy (and I was carrying my now three year old son Foster) and after I commented that I was going to have to get it fixed, he (Andy) said, “That stinks.”
To which Foster replied, “Yeah, that is Dinx. That is really Dinx.”
Responsible Father 