Six children with different bents, quirks, ideas and personalities. Each one unique from the other. How is it possible when they share the same mom and dad? They say no two people, of the 6.76 billion, world population have the same palm print or fingerprint. This is incredible.



There are over 10,000 bird species,











an estimated 100,000 different trees...








and more then 1,000,000 different insect species.




Our God showing He is a God of variety. I cannot fathom the greatness of Him.

With six children, alike in some ways, but different in so many other areas how can I know how to lead and train them? Raising children is no cakewalk for me. I need help and direction. Some days I make one mistake and then compound it by making another. I need so much guidance. To whom do I turn? I know of no one better to ask than the one who created them.

Posted by Elisabeth at 2 comments

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments

This week my husband and I watched a video by Michael Pearl called Teaching Responsibility. I am really impressed with his wisdom. I like his practical down-to-earth manner on dealing with children. I know a lot of parents don't agree with him but I'm not one of them - I really think he has a lot of insight into child rearing.

In the video he says children should work with you before they know what work really is. If you wait until they're old enough to really help you, you are sitting yourself up for grumbling and complaining. Children want to feel needed and enjoy working alongside you. For example, when you're washing dishes, have them sit on the counter beside the sink with a plastic cup and scrubber so that they can help, too.

Today I decided to try that out with Audrey (3yo). I had a very wrinkled pillowcase that needed ironed and so I lowered the ironing board to her level so she could iron. She was delighted that it was her right height and that she was able to iron my pillow case. She told everyone in the family about what she had did. Of course, I was right there the whole time, helping her lower the iron to the case since it can be a bit heavy.



Why not let the children help you now while they're so eager? Time spent together bonding (doesn't that sound nice), working with your little ones and teaching them useful skills.


Here are some other things she's been doing. I caught her folding this all on her own. She's been helping me fold sheets, too. Russell (my dh) found her folding her nightgown and putting it away after she awoke one morning. Now ladies, this may be what girls just tend to do because I know my boys never folded anything unless they had to - even to this day (almost!). In other areas though, they are a big help to me and their daddy for which I am most grateful.

Posted by Elisabeth at 6 comments

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments

Recently, I was asked at what age did my children start hunting.  This mother said her son was interested in getting a BB gun but that she was feeling unsure about it.  This post is in reply to that question, in addition to a few more of my thoughts on boys becoming men. 

I in no way feel like I have all the answers but since my husband and I have 4 boys these are things we think about.  We live in a society where women try to dominate and men are becoming more effeminate. 

Have you heard of the term the metrosexual man?  This is a man who "wears designer clothes, investing in pricey lotions and potions to keep his skin buttery soft.  He likes the city because that's where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and hairdressers are."

Isn't this a perversion of what God intended man to be like!

A man is supposed to be a ladies protector, her defender.  So, of course he's going to be of a different nature than a woman.  Our boys need to be encouraged in manly pursuits.  They get enough of the other influence. 

Let me move along here.

Where we live it is legal to hunt at age 10 and that's the age all my boys started hunting big game.

My husband was never that interested in our boys having a BB gun, although at one time they did.  He felt that kids think of them as toys and therefore sometimes treat them too casually.  He would rather they have an actual rifle that they treat with respect.

There are hunter safety classes kids and adults can take.  My husband is a very relaxed, adventurous type person, so my boys know that if dad is concerned about something it must be pretty important.  When it comes to gun safety he's very strict on it, so this causes my boys to really pay attention.

It is in the heart of most boys to do manly things and I think boys sometimes express that by wanting a BB gun.  It doesn't seem like in today's world boys get much opportunity to do things that will develop that burly side of them.  The city is all around us and sometimes it is hard to provide manly pursuits for our growing boys.  I would rather my son have a BB gun, doing boyish pursuits than to be playing video games or to be indoors all the time.

I like what R.M. Ballantyne had to say.

Boys [should be] inured from childhood to trifling risks and slight dangers of every possible description, such as tumbling into ponds and off of trees, etc., in order to strengthen their nervous system.... They ought to practice leaping off heights into deep water. They ought never to hesitate to cross a stream over a narrow unsafe plank for fear of a ducking. They ought never to decline to climb up a tree, to pull fruit merely because there is a possibility of their falling off and breaking their necks. I firmly believe that boys were intended to encounter all kinds of risks, in order to prepare them to meet and grapple with risks and dangers incident to man’s career with cool, cautious self-possession.... —R.M. Ballantyne, The Gorilla Hunters

Following is a list of things parents could do with their son(s).

• Hunting
• Archery
• Tanning Leather for various useful items like a knife sheath or moccasins
• Hiking
• Woodworking
• Mechanics - buy an old motorbike that needs repairs 
• Survival skills - we did a unit study on this - the boys loved it
• Camping - not in a campground, if possible
• Hard Manual Work

Some resources that could be useful are:

Books:

Backyard Ballistics by William Gurstelle

The Art of the Catapult by William Gurstelle

Books by Tom Brown, Jr. (He has books on wilderness survival - how to build shelters, make snares, stalk like an Indian, etc.  His friend's grandfather taught him and his friend many things about nature.  They would have lessons on observation and would have to stare at a patch of grass for hours.  In this way he learned there was so much more to see then what he thought was there.  These books were a big hit for my boys.  There is a bit of Indian mysticism (I guess you would call it that.) in the books but not too much.

Videos:

Little Bear Wheeler  - a set of 3 DVD's called "Frontier Skills"  (In one of the videos it shows a 10 year old boy skinning a deer while Little Bear gives directions.)

There's probably other resources I've neglected to mention, but these are the ones we own and have used.

Do my children realize how important they are to me?  It's not enough that I know that they are one of my highest priorities, I must convey that to them.

I say they are my highest priorities but what do my action speak?  I catch myself giving them minimal attention when they come to tell me something I may consider trivial or worse, being impatient.  I notice that I seem too busy to spend time doing things with them that they enjoy.  My life becomes one of function, just trying to stay on track with all the tasks that need to be completed and when I do diverge it's to focus on interests of mine.

If every time they approach mom she seems uninterested they'll start withdrawing to keep from being hurt.  It doesn't happen overnight and thankfully children are resilient and quick to forgive but we must be sensitive to their hunger to just be with mom and dad and talk about whatever might be on their heart and minds without minimizing it.

As the saying goes, "Children spell love T-I-M-E."   Have you ever noticed just how much (or little) time you give to your children individually?  We have twenty-four hours in a day.  What are we doing with it?

My little children, let us love not in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

  I John 3:18

This really struck a chord with me today.

In his book Hints on Child Training, H. Clay Trumbull (who I believe is the great-great grandfather of Elisabeth Elliott) wrote:

This is really making me think. So often I think I train my children with an eye for making them look good instead of allowing them to be just ‘them‘. If I don’t like a certain characteristic I’m always after them about it. It’s like I’m trying to make them into my idea of a perfect human being.

He continues.  "Yet it is not the easiest thing in the world to say what are a child’s peculiar faults, and what is, therefore, that child’s peculiar need of training. Many a parent is disturbed by a child’s best traits, while he underestimates or overlooks that child’s chief failings. And many another parent who knows that his child is full of faults cannot say just what they are, or classify them according to their relative prominence and their power for evil.

I have seen this problem in my own home and have been confused about whether it really was something to be avoided or encouraged. It has not been until lately that I’ve realized that letting them be just one-sided might not be in the child’s best interests.

Mr. Trumbull goes on to say that criticisms and suggestions from friends and family can be helpful because we do not always see clearly the different qualities (good or bad) in our children.

I think I would like to sit down and write down all the positive characteristics I see in each child and then write down other traits that could use improvement.  Maybe I should ask someone close how they view each child.  It might be a real eye-opener.  I then might have a clearer picture of what things I should work on with each child and encourage them in the things they're already doing right.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?