The Kids of Integrity Challenge is finished!

Lessons on self-control

It’s ironic how I seem to be attracted to lessons that perhaps I need as much as the kids do. Just last week, I raised my voice in frustration when Ben calmly looked at me and said, “Mommy, you need to be using self-control.” Argghh! At that point, we hadn’t even begun the lesson yet!

Now that we’ve started, here’s how it’s going so far:

Memory verses: The NIV translation isn’t our favourite for younger kids (some tough words/phrases), so we checked out the NLT. Much better. In fact, we liked two: Psalm 141:3 refers to our speech and Proverbs 16:32 to our character or physical behaviour. (By the way, Biblegateway.com is good for comparing translations.) My handwriting is as childish as my behaviour was last week, so I opted to print the verses and add clip art.

Poster from Kids’ Corner (our own variation): I had the kids make a list of situations that have caused us to lose self-control, and behaviours that result when we’ve “lost it.” We found clip art for each and glued them on poster board in a big circle like a clock. Then, we printed pictures of Jesus and praying hands and glued them on a round piece of paper that fits inside the clock. Next, we made bright clock hands for each member of the family (attaching these to the middle of the clock with a brass fastener). When we encounter one of the negative situations or behaviours, we move our clock hand to point to that picture and turn the Jesus image to fit between the situation/behaviour and us. The point is that we’re not on our own. We’re encouraging the kids to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to give them self-control.

Rob and I were going to a church function the other night, and before we left, Ben turned both of our hands to the “overeating/bad food habits” category and reminded us to pray if we wanted to eat too much!

I have a feeling it’s going to be a challenging week. But the kids are loving it – it’s like a game. However, I’m really going to have to watch my tone and actions if I’m to be a good role model. I’ll be praying lots!

(To see how our poster turned out, click here.)

Tags:

• Self-control