Join Ed, Amy & guests: 8-11s are full of energy, developing individual personalities. They still need their parents, but they're often brave enough to try things on their own - bold and fearless, but also often wonderfully vulnerable and tender. One of the challenges (and delights!) of parenting this age group is that they are all different - you can't treat them all the same because they have different needs. Parenting pre-school children can be physically exhausting, but parenting 8 to 11s is often more emotionally exhausting, as everything is dialed up to 11, e.g. someone in my class said X; I don't fit into that group. Parenting this age group will often look like involving them in decision-making, rather than dictating what will happen; instead of just telling them the right answer, we try to shape and guide them to build a godly character. Often, this kind of development will happen as we work through the difficult situations of life - when an issue comes up, a great question could be, "What do you think God thinks about that?" A wonderful thing about this age group is that they have few inhibitions about praying, so praying through live issues can be a brilliant way to grow spiritually, especially when they know that God has promised to listen to our prayers. 8s to 11s can smell a bluff, so you need to be honest if you don't know something or when you get it wrong - that's a golden opportunity to seek God's wisdom together! We need to be unflappable - they will ask us directly about sex - and also concrete because these children will likely interpret our words as literally as possible...
Louise shares: "The world tells me that my parenting of 8s to 11s should look pretty hands-off; let them become independent and tell them to follow their dreams. Christian parenting looks different, and the heart of it is that Jesus is better and he is all they need."
...have you seen a 'seal' on a tomb before or maybe a 'horse-drawn carriage'... 'but horses have hooves, not hands?'...
Christian parenting is not of the kind that just tells the child to follow their dreams but instead teaches them that Jesus is better - he is all they need.
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Podcast edited by Rachel Redeemed (https://twitter.com/rachelredeemed)
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As our children shoot up, the challenges grow too, who will they listen to as they work these things out?
Our brand new “Growing Up” Resources are launching on 2 May for parents and churches to use together as we help our children grow up in today’s world, with God’s word as their guide. Head to faithinkids.org for all the details on this excellent series. They’re growing up fast so come on, let’s share God’s good story.