The Mind of a Child

[00:00:00] Leslie Corbell: Hello, I'm Leslie Dudley Corbell. And I'm Diane Doucette Matthews, welcome to the Mind of a Child.

We are so glad you joined us for today's conversation. Today, we're gonna consider a verse from Proverbs that gives us some really specific language about what it is we are to do with our child.

Mm-hmm.

[00:00:26] Leslie Corbell: And that verse is from Proverbs 22, 6. Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old, he shall not depart from it.

Hmm.

[00:00:35] Leslie Corbell: So we wanna really zero in on train, train up a child. That's right. What does that mean? What does that look like? And how can we take that simple practice and put it in place in our family teaching and training, has five components demonstrate or do instruct apply? Practice and communication.

[00:00:57] Diane Matthews: Yes. I love that we have.[00:01:00]

Gone through those just verbally and just marinating on those because those are really important ones. We are gonna start with demonstrate, and that's so important to think about because we can't pass on what we don't possess. We need to live it authentically so we can pass it on to our children. One of the verses that I love, love, love is.

Hebrews 13, seven, just to remember those who led you to Christ and imitate their faith. And I mean, that's really what we want our children to do is imitate our faith and we want them to see God who he is, how big and so great that they will want to have a relationship with the Lord.

[00:01:45] Leslie Corbell: I agree because. Our children learn by watching us.

Absolutely. And so we want that to line up with the things that we're teaching

[00:01:52] Diane Matthews: them, are we doing as we teach? If we don't and there's that real conflict in what they see, it could [00:02:00] really draw 'em away. And that's what we definitely don't want to do. So

[00:02:04] Leslie Corbell: yeah. So that is our first one. Demonstrate or do, and as you said about the spirit, the fruit of the spirit.

When, when we are parenting from that, when I am able to enter, enter into an interaction with my child. With the fruit of the spirit of gentleness or patience. Mm. Or when I meet, pray for peace. Mm-hmm. Before a hard interaction. The whole interaction, the whole moment is just such a testimony mm-hmm. To the, the beauty of Christ in our life.

So that's where we start.

[00:02:31] Diane Matthews: Yes. That's where we have to start. And, um, adding on to what you said was, uh. When we fail and when we don't live up to what we're really teaching, to be honest about it, let them know we have failed and ask forgiveness, be quick to ask forgiveness so that they will learn to be quick, to ask forgiveness.

Um, and of course we think of the, the verse out of one John one, nine, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive [00:03:00] us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So that's such a great promise that we have there. Our second one, as we

[00:03:07] Leslie Corbell: mentioned,

[00:03:08] Diane Matthews: is

[00:03:08] Leslie Corbell: instruction.

[00:03:09] Diane Matthews: Let's talk about that, Diane.

Well, this verse just wakes me up and just gets me fired up. 'cause I love it so much and I, it was revealed to me so much later than the verse that follows it. So, Leslie, could you read it for us first? Um, in, that's second Timothy three 13. No it isn't. It's second Timothy three 15,

[00:03:29] Leslie Corbell: sorry. Yeah, second Timothy three 15.

You, however, continuing the things you have learned and become convinced of knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation. Through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

[00:03:49] Diane Matthews: Okay, so what's leading a child to salvation and wisdom?

The sacred scriptures is what they're talking about, but that's the word. I mean, that's, that's like [00:04:00] foundational for us to teach them. The words of God, so that it's in their heart, it's in their mind, and that will give them wisdom and lead them to salvation. I just love that because the next verse, verse 16 is so common and we hear that all the time.

So if you could, you read 16 two.

[00:04:17] Leslie Corbell: Yes. All scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training and righteousness. So that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped

[00:04:29] Diane Matthews: for every good work. Yeah. So I know I memorized that scripture early on, so that's the one that I've always focused on.

But then when I read back and I saw 15, it was like, oh my goodness. Uh, these are great promises. What, what the word of God can do. Equipped for every good work. Us as adults wanna be equipped for every good work, but don't we want our children to be equipped for every good work? I just think those two verses together, that's, that's the foundation for instructing with scripture.

I. [00:05:00] And I think it's important

[00:05:01] Leslie Corbell: to just really rest in that for a minute because we want to pass on the scriptures. Then as you're saying, as you're, I'm just so inspired now to think about what a wonderful foundational component that is. And so here's my question though. If there are parents out there who do desire to do this, but don't know what it looks like, what does it look like to really.

Teach my children from the scriptures in their daily living.

[00:05:26] Diane Matthews: Well, that's a great question because you wanna be able to walk it out. I mean, it sounds great in theory, but how do you, how do you put that into place? And I know we've talked about this verse so many times too. Deuteronomy six, the whole, the whole chapter Deuteronomy, uh, where the Lord's telling the Jewish people how to live their daily lives with their children and passing on truth to them.

The idea is to. Do it as we go, as we sit, walk, stand, rise up. You know, as we go to do it. If we [00:06:00] don't do that and we provide our kids with the coolest toys, the best experiences, just money, anything money can buy even, even quality time together, but we don't pass on the scripture that leads to salvation.

Is our parenting really complete? My husband is an external processor and so we were always talking about things and talking about, you know, just why we do things. Now if you ask my kids, now you might, some of them might say, well, it leaned on lectures, but it was really in the context, just discussing issues about that.

So I think it starts off with the scripture and doing it as you go. And one thing I'm landing on

[00:06:43] Leslie Corbell: when I hear you say that, 'cause you talked about sitting when you sit, walk. Lie down and rise Uhhuh. The way I'm hearing that, if I'm a parent who doesn't know where to begin, I mean there's four very concrete times right there.

Yes. That you could [00:07:00] begin teaching about God teaching his word. So you know, what would that be? When you're sitting together, perhaps like at a mealtime, if you're walking, so a time that you're in transition. Mm-hmm. Maybe in the car or walking when you're lying down to rest. Yes. Whether it's nap time or.

Nighttime, and then when you get up. So there's four concrete times that you can teach your children impart wisdom. The wisdom of scripture to them.

[00:07:25] Diane Matthews: Yeah, and I'm glad you pointed that out because you think about it. That could be overwhelming. Just do it all the time. Mm-hmm. Just do it all the time. Well, you know, I have to live.

But if you point out those, you know, four specific times and what that looks like, that clears it up. That brings a lot of clarity to it. Talk a little bit about how important it's to do it in context.

[00:07:43] Leslie Corbell: I think when we learn things in context, we make more sense out of it. We can, we understand the importance of it.

Mm-hmm. We can apply it to our personal lives. Everything that we learn, we learn better in context. I. If I'm learning how to change oil in my car, if [00:08:00] I'm actually changing the oil in my car while I'm, while I'm being taught uhhuh, I can learn how to do it if I'm cooking, baking bread. So everything that we teach, we learn more when it's in context.

It's more personal to us. Yeah. I love that. Makes sense. Another

[00:08:13] Diane Matthews: thing we did, we, we prayed at every meal. I mean, that was set in Hank's, DNA from a child, not mine, but after becoming a Christian and then, you know, marrying and having children. That was just something we chose to do. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

And even when we were out, I was, I was gonna ask, yeah, it was even, it was a way to honor God and did sometimes I feel like, okay, then I'm so uncomfortable. Hank, could you make the prayer short? I'm sure I did. I'm sure the kids felt that too, but. If you just put that simple little practice in the kids, see you're honoring God.

You're putting him first. You're thanking him for what, what you're about to eat. How about church? How often did y'all attend when you, y'all were growing up? Oh my goodness. All the time. We do attend a church that is. Is not committee [00:09:00] oriented or activities oriented. It was there for Sunday mornings and community groups in our homes.

But those were our friends, those were our families. So church was a real priority for us.

[00:09:12] Leslie Corbell: How about service opportunities? What did you do with the kids? Was that ever something y'all did? Mm-hmm.

[00:09:16] Diane Matthews: Yes. Same thing through our church. They had, uh, many opportunities, but one that we chose to do was South Church.

It was, we'd go over there and serve, but I think that's a real important key too. Let the kids see you do it and do it with them.

[00:09:29] Leslie Corbell: I think that's important too. And I even think when children are very young, let's say toddlers, preschoolers, to me, it's helpful to help them serve. Someone closer to them in their, their world of understanding.

Mm-hmm. So if they have a neighbor, if you have a neighbor who is elderly or someone who is sick, helping them take a meal to the neighbor. Yes. I think they can understand what it means to serve when it's someone who. Close, close to them. I mean,

[00:09:54] Diane Matthews: think of close, think of family. Mm-hmm. Think of like, um, a grandmother or an aunt or an uncle, or [00:10:00] you know, someone who's sick.

You're meeting those needs. It's just stepping out of yourselves.

Yes. And

[00:10:06] Diane Matthews: meeting the needs of others. The preciousness of others. That's what we said a lot when our kids were young, just to think about the preciousness of others only because that's what God tells us to do. So, yeah, the closer, the better when they're younger.

Mm-hmm. And then you can move on out The older they get.

[00:10:23] Leslie Corbell: Learning Bible verses. So you wanna teach them. What are some ways that you did them?

[00:10:29] Diane Matthews: Well, I needed to learn 'em too, so I love that we had a lot of sing along. CDs back then, I guess in the car. We listened to those constantly. We had little songs. I bet you, well, I know my kids could sing some of them. Like right now, if I were to ask them, well, let me go back to the stories, because even the, you know, you asked specifically about verses, but I.

All that was in with memorizing verses because the songs would have little tunes to it and you can memorize them. But even character building stories that we would listen [00:11:00] to focus on the family was great back then and I'm, they are now also, but we listened to so many of those things. Actually, we even took a trip one time to Colorado and visited the focus on the family place so we could see where they recorded everything.

I mean, so that was a big part of our lives too. So, yeah, scripture memory. My kids went to private school, I mean Christian school, so they had verses that they brought home. We always practiced those as we go, but we try to do 'em for sure like during dinner or in the car or you know, when we were taking our naps or sleep.

So I think it's fun that you mention

[00:11:34] Leslie Corbell: the songs. I know that when my kids were little, I was always, everything every verse could go to row, row your boat. I love that. Could always work that tune into it. And one thing I found helpful was. Cutting them into shorter phrases to work on the memory. That seemed to help.

[00:11:50] Diane Matthews: Yeah. So songs and cut.

[00:11:51] Leslie Corbell: Yeah, and I'm even thinking, you know, if your child's an infant, if you had verses on a index card that you kept on a ring and maybe kept in your diaper [00:12:00] bag or in the changing area. Mm-hmm. You could just pick that up and read it to your child. Just really read over them and you're engaging that eye contact and all that wonderful time.

You know, diaper changes are a wonderful connecting time and teaching time. Yes, it happens throughout the day and it's just a wonderful opportunity to really pour into your child. Yeah,

[00:12:19] Diane Matthews: and you're talking about having those scriptures. You can buy 'em anywhere. You can buy 'em. I have a lot at my house still right now from Hobby Lobby and it has the scriptures and I love to place them anywhere.

It's not only beneficial for us. I mean for the kids, but is for us for sure. I mean, I love them now. I put 'em everywhere. And so if I'm, I'm walking along, oh, let me read that verse.

[00:12:41] Leslie Corbell: Well, and you mentioned that your kids went to private Christian school and so they often brought home verses. So if there are parents out there whose children maybe don't go to a private Christian school, where can, obviously we can go to the Bible to get the verses right, but do you have any tips or things that you would add for a parent who is searching for Where do

[00:12:58] Diane Matthews: I begin?

Yeah, where do I begin? That's a [00:13:00] great. Question. Of course, I would hope that we're all attending a church, and a lot of times I'll have a little bitty short, you know, Jesus loves you, or something real small. That could be weekly from the church, but if that's not available from your personal quiet times, from your personal time in the Lord, or situational, you know, like if the kids need just a reinforcement on being kind to one another, loving one another, being generous, you know, you can.

Google nowadays or anything? Um, a verse. So, I mean, you can start there. Just think it of topics,

[00:13:35] Leslie Corbell: like we said earlier, all scriptures, God breathe and it's profitable. Wherever you start. Just start somewhere. I. So our next piece of our teaching and training, the next component is application. So now you've taught your children these scriptures.

Mm-hmm. You've instructed them in them. How do you apply them

[00:13:54] Diane Matthews: to your daily living? Generally speaking, just as you go, like at the table, that was a big teaching [00:14:00] time for us. Same thing. My husband was a, you know, let's get together, let's talk, here's a question. And so we would talk about specific things, but you know, table manners.

Communication manners. Examples from good and bad behavior, always bringing that up. What pleases the Lord? Nothing really formal. You know, you can do it formally, but you want it just to be natural.

[00:14:23] Leslie Corbell: Let's say you wanted to teach the verse about honoring parents from Ephesians six. Mm-hmm. How would you apply that verse

[00:14:31] Diane Matthews: in a very specific way for your family?

Yeah, that's, that's good. Try to do specific things like one thing, honoring your parents. Of course, obedience, that's gonna be number one, but another one is just interrupting properly. So we would, we've talked about this on the show before, you know, just putting their, their hand on us and waiting. How about honoring the elderly?

In Leviticus 1932, stand up before the gray headed and honor the face of an old. So different ways that we [00:15:00] encouraged and had them practice was, you know, always let an elderly person go in front of you. Give them preference if an older woman or man is standing up, give them your seat. Mm-hmm. Um, the elderly we're to honor them, like even in the front fo of a church walk.

Why? Because there may be some elderly people that could get injured. We don't wanna knock 'em over and hurt them. Mm-hmm. So, just different ways to, you know, you're at Walmart, the door opens, who's gonna go first? Let the elderly go first.

[00:15:33] Leslie Corbell: Yeah. And that, that's so simple. Mm-hmm. You know, we, it seems sometimes so overwhelming to think about, but it's just so, it's like you said, it's just as you go, as you do, these situations come up.

Mm-hmm. And how can you apply this scripture and teach your child a behavior in that moment? Just how to honor others. Yeah. And that pleases God. Yeah. You know, that's why he wants us to do that. What other verses and things did you sometimes need your children apply? Well

[00:15:55] Diane Matthews: be a good steward. There's a lot of verses on that.

Psalm 24 1, but [00:16:00] picking up their things. Putting them in appropriate places. Like if they're outside playing at night, we're gonna put away our stuff. We don't want it to get wet and rusty or someone walk by and take it, you know, we take care by things. So being a good steward, I can see that being so helpful to so many families.

[00:16:17] Leslie Corbell: Clean up time is always a something. So yeah. How can we be, because the Lord calls us to do that. Yeah. It, it teaches them,

[00:16:25] Diane Matthews: it puts that, those habits in them.

[00:16:27] Leslie Corbell: And I think it's important, especially as children are getting older, to un understand the why. Yeah. It gives such deep purpose for what we do. Yeah. I remember when I was growing up and my mom would tell me to do something and I would say, why?

And she would say general principles, oh wait. Oh wait. Tell us. I could never figure out why the army had to get involved. The general principles. The general, why is the military getting involved? I know. Really, all kidding aside, I mean it really is.

[00:16:57] Diane Matthews: It gives our children purpose. But you know what this [00:17:00] reminds me of?

Think of all the parents. I'm sure we're guilty of it too, but say, because I told you so. Well respect them, you know, and teach them and train them, which, that's the verse we're going on today. Mm-hmm. Train them. Why? You know, even when somebody asks why a couple, our little granddaughters are at the stage where everything's a why.

Why? Why? Well keep it going. You don't have to say too much, but they'll eventually just stop asking. Why? Because it's like, okay, Didi's saying too much. You know?

[00:17:27] Leslie Corbell: Yeah. That's a way of honoring children. It is. It is. It's important as we're doing this and we're doing it as we go. It's also can be helpful to in the morning.

If there's something you, you would like for your children to put in practice all the day to read it with them in the morning. Okay, this is what we're gonna do. This, this verse for example. So here's one I have first Thessalonians five 11 A. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up. Mm-hmm.

And

[00:17:52] Leslie Corbell: you can ask them, how can we do this today? What might it look like? And then throughout the day, notice the times that you're able to do that. Yes. [00:18:00] To encourage one another.

Practice. That's one of the next elements of this. How do you reinforce, you've taught them, you've applied 'em to daily living. Now how are you gonna reinforce that for your children?

[00:18:15] Diane Matthews: That was a set time for us that we had. But think about it. Practice, practice, practice. Would you ever think of an athlete or anyone who wants to master a skill, they wouldn't practice it.

It's common sense that if you want your children to become efficient at something, you have to let them practice and you have to help them. It's almost like being a coach. Now, this probably came a little bit. Natural to me because I, I was a coach. But, um, yeah, we had times in the living room after dinner or when we had just a, an opening that we would get in the, in the living room and say, okay, we're gonna practice this.

So, you know, Courtney, come on over to mom or, you know, just in a nice voice. And then we would just thumbs up, cheer. Yay. Just anything you can break down to [00:19:00] practice is so helpful.

[00:19:01] Leslie Corbell: It is, and I love it. I love that you talked about cheering. I mean, I read something that research says it takes approximately 400 times of doing something to actually form the synaptic pathway in the brain to do it.

Mm-hmm. Unless it accompanied by an emotion.

Mm.

[00:19:16] Leslie Corbell: So bringing joy into it in that moment. Then it only takes 10 to 20 repetitions.

[00:19:21] Diane Matthews: It now. Is that amazing? Yes. The

[00:19:22] Leslie Corbell: difference from 400 to 10. Yeah. Yeah. So games like you're talking about the red light, green light, mother, may I just games you make up. Anything that brings that spark of joy and connection.

The eye contact with the parent, the affection that you feel for them, and you are in that moment together. Mm-hmm. Connect with them

[00:19:42] Diane Matthews: when you're teaching 'em. I know when you said connection it was just like Mm. Connection. Yeah, they, that's what they desire. Why not do it around something that's really profitable and you're setting them up for success?

[00:19:52] Leslie Corbell: And so when Diane and I were talking about this, talking about practice, it's like, well, how can we kind of help parents, you know, apply this [00:20:00] principle we, that there's really three types of practice. Mm-hmm. So there's practice for the present. Practice for the future and practice for the past. In the present, we're practicing family expectations, just the things that we do throughout the day for the future.

We're practicing for new situations or new environments that are coming up that we know would be helpful to introduce our children to. And then for the past, we're looking at that and revisiting challenges that maybe we experienced with our children and helping them redo. I love this breakdown. So what are some examples about the first one, the present, practicing for family expectations, interrupting how we're gonna handle interruption, what sibling interactions might be like.

Mm-hmm. And meal gratefulness. I. And I love this story that a young mom shared with me. She decided that it was really important to her that when she brought the food to the table, or the husband brought the food to the table, that her children, before they ever even asked [00:21:00] what it was or looked at the food that they said, thank you for cooking for us.

Mm. And so she taught her children, okay, now I'm gonna, when I place the food down, what? What do you say? You know, thank you for cooking, mom. Love that. I thought that was just really sweet. It really put that emphasis on. When you acknowledge that others are serving you?

[00:21:20] Diane Matthews: Hmm. Well, it creates a habit for them in their hearts because you know what?

I bet you they've done this their whole life at home with their mom and their family. When they go out into the world and food's placed in front of them, what are they gonna think? Itm. Thankful. Yes. It builds gratitude. Yes.

[00:21:37] Leslie Corbell: How about for the future?

[00:21:39] Diane Matthews: Okay, well, greeting others and to show respect, you know, kind of that preciousness of others we worked at having our kids firm handshake or hug, but look them in the eye and say hello, stop what they're doing.

Make sure that that person knows that they're special to them

[00:21:58] Leslie Corbell: because being able to [00:22:00] greet an adult or another person with eye contact and knowing how to. I can think the confidence that gives the child going into that new situation, and also it's gonna be a skill. That they carry with them for the rest of their lives throughout adulthood.

Yes. And

[00:22:12] Diane Matthews: you know, it's not easy for some children to do that. Some kids are, oh yeah, that's no big deal. Yeah, I'll look 'em in the eye. Some of them really have to develop or work into that. It's not quite as easy or comfortable. I.

[00:22:25] Leslie Corbell: How about when you're going to the store? Because I can imagine this is something that out there somewhere today, a mom is taking a preschooler or a toddler to the store.

What are, what do you think? Yeah. What, how can you, how, what are some things you can put in place before you step into that store?

[00:22:43] Diane Matthews: I remember talking about keeping your hands in your pockets or, you know, to yourselves or, um, not touching, you know, you don't wanna touch everything. Stay next to mom. Stay in my eyesight.

We're not here to [00:23:00] shop for ourselves. We're shopping for someone else, so we're not gonna ask for. All these different toys or whatever, you know, we're here for a specific thing. Let them you, you're gonna tell them, I'm gonna let you put things in the basket and help me shop. Let 'em see it in their minds before they get there.

[00:23:19] Leslie Corbell: Yes, you could kind of role play those things and then prompt them as you're going into the store. Remember what we practiced. What do we do?

[00:23:25] Diane Matthews: Yeah. Yeah. And when you said that a lot of it took place in the car. Mm-hmm. Okay, let's talk about it. Okay. What would we do? And then somebody would say, okay, now what's something else?

You know? And then actually, when we got back in the car, which would be the next one, how did we do. There were days you were taking four kids to the store. Oh, yes. Yes. I wanna point that out for everyone. Yes. And I remember, this is just a side note, Hank took him to the, to the store and let him get out of the basket and walk around and do everything.

And so I had to retrain basically. Okay. No, mommy doesn't do this.

[00:23:58] Leslie Corbell: This is not what we're gonna do. That. [00:24:00] Yeah. I love it. What a sweet time. Mm-hmm. For them with their father. Yes, too. But you did have to retrain.

[00:24:06] Diane Matthews: He was having a good old time.

[00:24:09] Leslie Corbell: So let's look at the past. What does it look like when we're practicing for challenging situations that may need help?

[00:24:16] Diane Matthews: You know, one that I think of all the time is. For them to respond to. You immediately look at, look you in the eyes and respond verbally, or it's physically them, walk it over to you. That could take a lot of practice because that's not gonna happen overnight and it's not gonna happen just telling 'em a few times or talking about at the table.

You have to kind of work through that. So that's an very important one to me. And I've said this on this, on this show before, but it saved my daughter's life because we had spent time. Practicing. She was walking out to the street and a big truck was coming down and uh, if she wouldn't have responded to my voice, Courtney wouldn't be here today.

Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah. So it's very important for you to practice those things.

[00:24:59] Leslie Corbell: Yeah. [00:25:00] And one thing I can think of when we're thinking about in the application part, I talked about the first Thessalonians five 11 mm-hmm. About building up. Building one another up, encouraging one another. If there was a situation, let's say your children were drawing and one of them laughed at the other child's drawing or said something unkind about it.

[00:25:18] Diane Matthews: Yeah. Just said, that's ugly. Yeah.

[00:25:21] Leslie Corbell: Yeah. You could rewind back to that verse and, and read that again to them say. What would it sound like right now if we remembered this verse?

Mm-hmm.

[00:25:30] Leslie Corbell: What would that look like? What could you say to your sister instead?

[00:25:33] Diane Matthews: And they might not have the words? Mm-hmm. Depending on their age.

You might have to give them the words first. Yeah. Well, let, let's think about what we should say. Yeah.

[00:25:42] Leslie Corbell: So there's lots of ways to, if you're teaching your children and applying the scripture to daily living. There's lots of ways then to draw it back in. So

[00:25:50] Diane Matthews: what's the next

[00:25:51] Leslie Corbell: one? Our next one is communication.

[00:25:54] Diane Matthews: Communication, yep.

[00:25:55] Leslie Corbell: That's our next piece of it. We wanna give clear directions. We wanna make sure that, that when [00:26:00] we're communicating with our children, when we're teaching and. Applying the scripture and practicing that we're being clear. Yeah, we're modeling clarity and using that assertive tone. We've talked about this a lot in a lot of our episodes.

You can look in previous episodes and find deeper information. We're just gonna talk a little bit about it today. Mm-hmm. You know, 93% of what we say is our body language and our tone of voice. Seven percents words. So wanna have eye contact and really give clear directions mean what you say and say what you mean.

Absolutely. It is easier for some personalities than others, but when you, I'm so glad you

[00:26:34] Diane Matthews: brought that up because yeah,

[00:26:35] Leslie Corbell: I had to learn how to do it. But really think about giving the action word. You know, if your children are playing in the around the pool, you're not gonna say. Now, don't go crazy in here.

What does that mean? That's big. We wanna make that much more specific and much more actionable. So stand next to mommy and hold your hands together.

Mm-hmm.

[00:26:56] Leslie Corbell: Until mommy is finished talking to the swim coach. So give our children clear [00:27:00] directions when we're teaching these scripture and applying it to their daily living.

Give them clear directions on what that looks like,

[00:27:07] Diane Matthews: and that may take a little extra work on our parts, you know, to. Okay. Verbal skills on my part. What would be the proper way to communicate that?

[00:27:17] Leslie Corbell: Absolutely. And if you have really young children, toddlers, preschoolers, children think in pictures, not words.

And so we can add pictures to help teach them these expectations, routines. The things that we're applying are the scripture to our daily living. What would that look like? So if you're experiencing a challenge in the day, maybe it's nap time, bedtime, mealtime. Map out what are the steps of this moment.

Mm-hmm. Write it out. Take pictures of your child doing those steps, and then you could get a little photo book either online, you could print off the pictures and put 'em just in a little plastic photo book. Your child will love pictures of themselves doing their routine, and

[00:27:58] Diane Matthews: I'm thinking

[00:27:58] Leslie Corbell: I.

[00:27:58] Diane Matthews: What a perfect time for [00:28:00] that.

I mean, we are addicted to our phones, right? And addicted to taking pictures. Kids love to look at pictures. We just went to the beach and our grandkids just wanted to see the water and the, you know, the whole beach thing. They love pictures. Yeah. So, uh, that's so, so important. There's one thing that I want, uh, I, I think we'd be remiss if we didn't add this to this whole training your kids.

It's so important to do, do, do. And show, show, show and practice, practice, practice. But prayer is such a key to this. Um, I studied under a woman, I don't know why I got emotional in that.

[00:28:36] Leslie Corbell: It was a sweet time for you and your, your children and your family, and she meant a lot to you when she shared this to you.

And it really. It just shows the power of prayer. It does. Does that you were able to, yeah. This is what carried you in your parenting journey. Yes, she

[00:28:50] Diane Matthews: did. It did. And she said, and I remember writing it and put it on, on my mirror in, in different places. But it was pray that your child would fall more in love with Jesus [00:29:00] every day.

[00:29:00] Leslie Corbell: Yeah. And it is a prayer. It is. We do pray that our children will fall more in love in Jesus. We pray that we will fall

[00:29:06] Diane Matthews: more in love with Jesus. It's a heart issue. Yeah. You know, they're not gonna do all this and. Uh, follow this. If our hearts aren't right and then their hearts aren't right. Mm-hmm.

[00:29:20] Leslie Corbell: We're not saying all of this and giving you all this information to overwhelm you. We give it to you to encourage, you know that teaching and training is just simply teaching your children scripture, instructing them in the scripture, applying it to your daily living and practicing it, and then praying for their heart to be changed.

We can teach and train our children, we can teach 'em the scripture and lead them to Jesus. It's gonna be Jesus who changes their heart. And I think that's an important thing to remember. We can pray for our children and lead them there. Mm.

[00:29:54] Diane Matthews: Amen. Um, let's pray. Lord, you have given us the assignment [00:30:00] to train and teach our children.

I pray for the parents I know and the parents who are listening, that you would give them joy in this journey. I know we can all become weary. Remind us all to come to you for strength and wisdom so that we can teach and train our children in you and that they would come to know you and we pray all this in the powerful name of Jesus.

Amen.

[00:30:27] Leslie Corbell: Thanks for listening. Check out our Instagram at the Mind of a Child Pod, or you can email us at the Mind of a Child podcast@gmail.com.