Family Flourishing Ideas # 1

Below is a note from Julia Barger to follow up from Drive-Thru Church and to give your family a few key ideas to help you flourish in these weeks.

Dearest Trinity Family,

When I agreed to be the “Godly Play doorkeeper” for our Drive-Thru Church service I did not imagine the immense blessing I would receive.  On a typical Sunday I run upstairs right after the service to prepare for Sunday school.  Yesterday, I had the privilege and joy of greeting each of you by name, hearing you answer "The Lord be with you" with your beautiful “and also with you”, sharing about our past few weeks and then welcoming you into a “holy place” usually the Godly Play classroom but now our church parking lot!  We wondered how God would be close to you as you passed through each station and I prayed you would experience the love of God in this very unique way of being the church.  Thank you for your presence, your honesty, and your care.  

Here are a few ideas for your time together this week:

Zoo Virtual Tour - a daily animal update from the Cincinnati Zoo

Lunch Doodles - Spend lunch with children's author Mo Willems 

Teen Anxiety. - A great video resource from Axis 

Andrew Peterson nightly reading - Andrew Peterson is reading The Wingfeather saga aloud each night and posting it on his public Facebook Page.   You are in my heart and my prayers! Julia Barger

Family Flourishing

Dearest Trinity Families,

You are all especially in my heart and my prayers in this unique time.  I am thankful to offer some thoughts on family flourishing during this unexpected season of being together.   Here is an important article about Social Distancing guidelines:    Covid-19 guidelines

In Godly, play we begin by asking I wonder how God will be with us today?  To help you continue this conversation at home, I am mailing each family a packet with “The Faces Of Jesus” and instruction pages - our Lent Sunday School curriculum.  Please take a moment as families to look at the pictures and wonder how God might be inviting you into the story of Jesus’ life.  I especially love asking kids to find things around the home that remind them of each story.  You might enjoy watching this excellent video of The Faces of Jesus as a family: Video

In the Godly Play Foundation email this morning, they asked,  “When we look back and tell the story of COVID-19, I wonder what your favorite part might be?  I wonder what will be most important in this unfolding story? I wonder what parts we will all want to leave out?”    I would add,  “I wonder where you are in this story?”  Please set aside a few “Here I am” and “Here we are” moments each day.  Prayer and Scripture help nourish us to walk in the Spirit while we wait for the Lord, together.  

Over my years of homeschooling we had many long days of “togetherness”.  I remember often sending our kids out to run ten laps around our two acre property to free up some “alone time” for me and give them some much needed physical exertion - and sometimes I headed outside for my ten laps and they stayed inside!  There were long phone calls with friends and family for adult conversation (this was before smart phones, social media, etc). We sometimes scrapped the schedule and headed to the river to find a quiet beach to play on because the sun was out and we all needed a break.  I pray the Lord gives you creativity and freedom in your time together.

Please see the Baylor Article at the end of this email for some helpful ideas.

We have been in a “full house” season for the past year as our oldest son and his wife and dog and our daughter lived with us.  As we shared space, meals, 1 1/2 bathrooms I have appreciated these Rules of Respect hanging on my fridge.  (not all of these apply to younger children)

I, and others, have a right to:

Space and Privacy

Be different

Disagree

Be heard

Be taken seriously

Be given the benefit of the doubt

Be told the truth

Be consulted

Be imperfect and make mistakes

Courteous and Honorable treatment

Please reach out if you need resources or an encouraging word or prayer.

PS - In case you missed these excellent resources in Julie Canlis’  email your can find them here: Julie's letter

Julia Barger Children's Director

Trinity Church

509 630 2456 Face to face with God, our neighbors, and ourselves in Christ

Baylor University sent this helpful guide (with a few of my add ins): 

SCHEDULES

Schedules can take time and effort to create, but once established, they will help reduce stress, Melton said. “You can create a full-day schedule or just a morning/afternoon schedule when you need to get other work done. By providing a family’s schedule, you will reduce boredom and anxiety while increasing a sense of belonging and competency.” 

Some schedule suggestions:

*Family Devotions/Daily Prayer

Art and/or music

Outdoor play/Free Play

Learning activities/educational worksheets

Chores

*Quiet Time (reading, letter writing/journaling 

SCREEN TIME

“Your kids will likely have more screen time than usual,” Melton said. “For older children, limit screen time so that it does not replace physical activity, sleep or other healthy behaviors. Parents also may want to consider that all screen time is not equal, not only by the ways we interact — smartphones, tablets, computers, gaming devices and televisions — but by different categories for screen time use.”

Among those:

Watching educational shows versus watching entertaining shows

Playing educational games versus playing entertainment games

Constructive social media *Skype/FT Grandparents or friends 

*Here’s a few sites I found with some ideas for online time:

Rabbit Room - Andrew Peterson

https://rabbitroom.com/2020/03/a-rabbit-room-digital-care-package/

NCRL - our local library site has great resources!

http://www.ncrl.org. 

SOCIAL CONNECTEDNESS

Each day of the week also provides opportunities for meaningful moments with family at home, said Nicole McAninch, Ph.D., clinical associate professor of child and family studies at Baylor, who co-directs the Intentional Family Project at Baylor.

Dust off the board games and card games.

Teach your kids a family recipe.

Have a family dance party.

*Charades (our favorite was Bible Story - the kids would find stories to act out for Marc and me)

*Learn something as a family (Spring is a great time to learn about nature - identifying birds?)

https://birdwatchinghq.com/bird-feeding-station/

Planting a garden

https://learn.eartheasy.com/guides/gardening-with-children/

(* my ideas)

Baylor Article

https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=218009