First we’d just like to welcome you and thank you for stopping by. This is the Parent’s Corner of Promiseland where you will be able to find information on current happenings, what is, and is not going on within the Children’s Ministry here at Katy Community Fellowship. If our children’s ministry has an upcoming event we’ll do our best to post all the info you need right here. We are so glad that you dropped in and please come back to check us out whenever you’d like.

What a fun and exciting way to share Jesus and invite others to church!  KCF had a float in the 2010 Katy Rodeo Parade and placed 3rd.  Thank you to all who helped and participated in this awesome event!

Promiseland Kids Perform Christmas Musical

Congratulations to all of the Promiseland volunteers for making this year’s Christmas musical a success. Selection of the program and preparation of scripts began in March of 2009, months before parts were assigned or practices began. A special thank you goes out to Tammy Flores and Cindy Forbes for their hard work on this project. I would also like to thank Jamie Burrow and Cindy Forbes for assisting me with all practices with the kids. Their help was unwavering. Thank you to the team that built the sets and props. Gail Mitchell, Eric and LaRhonda Johnson, Khaing Seward, Diana Thornton and Stacey Copeland all volunteered their creativity to produce a wonderful stage. The teaching team of Promiseland volunteers is top knotch! Thank you so much for practicing with the kids each week during class. Appreciation also goes out to the parents of our children. Your encouragement, practicing music in the car, listening to lines over and over, and making sure that your child was at practice was no small task in our busy schedules. Thank you for your commitment.

Last but not least…THANK YOU to all of the families that gave to Pack the Sacks Food Drive for Katy Christian Ministries food pantry. Our church was able to almost fill the KCM truck with supplies. When a group of people work together toward a common goal much can be accomplished for God’s kingdom.
 

Commandment X
Thou Shalt not be a Passive Parent

 
“If a permanent record were kept for parents like there is for students, how many absences would you have, mom and dad? Are you available and involved in your child’s life? If not, you’re raising a child doomed for difficulty….and you’re missing out on life’s treasures.”  Dr. Ed Young

These words may seem harsh but Tim and I have found them to be true. Parenting is tough work and there are so many opportunities for us to be involved in things that satisfy our desires. We can become indulgent in the things that give us personal pleasure such as hobbies, climbing the ladder of success at work, collections, TV shows, or personal “me” time. None of those things are bad if they are limited and we stay balanced in our family time. Parenting means personal sacrifice, but be encouraged…if you are willing to build the right stuff into their lives as they are growing up. It will mean you must make the daily sacrifice of yourself and your life. It’s those daily sacrifices that build a man out of your son and a woman out of your daughter.

Passive parents practice laissez-faire parenting and are reluctant to pay the high price of involvement. Possessive parents practice parenting by law and are often unwilling to make the sacrifices of genuine relationship. Participative parents practice parenting by grace. They know it took the Cross to win grace for humanity. They are willing to “take up their cross” and follow Christ in extending the elements of grace – love, patience, endurance – to their children.

 
Thou Shalt Have the Sex Talk with Thy Children

 
If you don’t teach your children about God’s gift of sex then our culture will. The sex educators of our children today are the media, the schools, and their peers. Without intentional, prayerful teaching from parents, our children will be left to absorb what the T.V. and their friends tell them about sex. We all know that without the real truth about pre-marital sex that our kids can be harmed for life from STD’s, unwanted pregnancy, poor self-image, absolute heartbreak, and even death. How can we turn the tide and make a difference in our children and their choices about their bodies?

Parents should ask God for help in this area even when their children are very young. As we communicate our love and God’s love to them, we begin to establish a great foundation for talking about anything. In the early years of life it is best to teach them a healthy respect for their own body. Young children should be taught that their body is a gift from God. As children are in the elementary years, they will begin to ask questions. Parents should explain reproduction and the basic facts of life appropriate for their age. It is important for parents to always be honest and tell the truth about sex. We should always satisfy the question knowing that too much information at a young age can cause anxiety in a child.

From ages 10-13 parents should cover the diverse changes that adolescents go through. These talks should become specific and focused. Difficult topics and terms come into these conversations. Kids really need understanding and lots of communication from parents who have “been there”. Be honest about your feelings of awkwardness during these years of change.

There are several books that Tim and I recommend that we used with our kids. I asked Tara to read and give me her opinion of several books like…I Kissed Dating Goodbye, The Ten Commandments of Dating, and Authentic Beauty. She read them all and we had many discussions about what God wanted for her now and in the future. Tim took Trey through a book called Preparing Your Son for Every Young Man’s Battle and it has really helped them be able to talk about the tough things a young man faces in today’s sexual culture. By the ages of 14-18 a clear discussion of dating and the pressures that come from being out with the opposite sex should be covered in detail. Young people do not have to follow the culture. Students can overcome temptation and live a life that is free from the bondage of sex before marriage. Pray now and pray often for God to direct you as you parent your children. There are so many great books to equip you to help your child navigate these years.

Commandment VIII
Thou Shalt Provide Stability and Security For Thy Children
Providing stability and security in the home is foundational to producing children that are able to navigate and sail the sometimes turbulent seas of our culture.

When biblical wisdom is applied to difficult circumstances in a kid’s life we offer them “teachable moments” and a pathway to stability and security. When parents see their child in crisis and offer support and honesty instead of criticism and blame, they provide stability and security. Parents that give understanding and help to a child when they are walking through difficulties have given them the gift of stability and security.

When can we find “teachable moments”?  I believe that they are available to us on a daily basis if we are looking for the opportunity to “teach” our children. They are in moments when our child does not make cheerleader or gets cut from the team. They also come when they have superior report cards or failing grades. These moments come when she doesn’t have a date to the prom or has not been invited to the party of the year. During these times of emotional change, ask God to help you find the best way to help your child find security and reassurance of His care. Parents can also look for great teaching times when their children are morally wrong. When you find out that your child has lied or come home from the store with something that you did not buy…these are times to pray for God’s conviction and an opportunity to apply wisdom. When a child is broken over their own sin they are much more likely to “learn” their lesson and not repeat the behavior. To over-react with harshness or anger will likely cause the child to become more deceptive and fearful of telling the truth.

Always try to correct and discipline with a spirit of genuine love and concern for their development as the young man or young woman that God has purposed them to be. When parents model a strong desire to live as Jesus would, they will build a positive family of stability and security in our tricky culture.

Dear KCF,

Thanks for donating for The Cat Springs Retreat Kid’s Camp so that I could go. I really enjoyed it and I look forward to coming next year. Maybe when I get older I can become a counselor like Van or Paul. My counselor, Van is very cool. My favorite day was Messy Day! The Blob was super fun, once I got catapulted and I flew like 20 feet in the air. The James Bond game was the best part of camp. My friend and I both worked together to get the straws in the bucket. Once again, thank you.

*This is a thank you letter that I received from a camper who received a partial scholarship making it possible for him to attend his very first church camp!

Jamie, Tara and I ate dinner and went to service with the kids Wednesday night at Cat Spring. I was overwhelmed by what I witnessed as the kids were led out by the lake to participate in an outside service. As I watched all of them listening to the speaker I felt like I was in a scene by the Sea of Galilee with Jesus teaching the people. The worship was awesome and the teaching was outstanding. It was so peaceful and inviting. I watched our kids connect with God and respond to Him and His great love during prayer time and I was extremely blessed.

I have been involved with youth/kids camps since I was eight years old as a camper, counselor, teacher and director (only missing 2 when Tara and Trey were babies) and it was a difficult decision to “allow” another camp to teach and lead our children. I prayed hard and really struggled to decide what would be best for the kids. As a mom and children’s director I wanted to do what I thought would be the best for them. I had an absolute peace from the Lord as I attended the service this year. This is a quality camp that teaches God’s Word and really focuses on connecting kids to Jesus as Savior.

Thank you so much for giving to help serve the Body of Christ in our kid’s camps. Your gifts have truly made huge differences in the lives of our kids! You are greatly appreciated!

Loving the Kids,
Polly

Love is the foundation of the Christian faith and it all began with God’s love for us. God withheld nothing from us, and He even gave His Son to die for our sins. “Love is patient and love is kind….” Love is the resource that we must draw from when we are faced with any difficult relational issue in our family. And the family is the garden where love grows and bears fruit. It’s important, then, for us to evaluate the quality and quantity of love we’ve sown into our children.

To establish your children in a strong, positive identity, first you must understand how they feel. A basic step to helping a child is to deal with his or her “perceptions”. James gives this counsel: “But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger” (James 1:19). I think it is especially true for parents. Children will break your rules and your heart, but when you link with their feelings, a connection is established that makes healing a lot easier.

The second thing you can do to give your kids a healthy, positive identity is to help them feel secure. Unconditional love is the primary means of helping any child feel safe and protected. We should give our children heaps of grace. That’s the way Jesus Christ loves us. When we become childish and stray from His will, He does not use shame and the threat of rejection to discipline us. He listens to us and touches us with grace-acts of unexpected love that we do not deserve. Yes, the Lord, through the Holy Spirit, will discipline us when we sin. But it is always a dimension of his love.

Making a child feel significant is the third means of establishing a positive sense of identity in a youngster. We do this through praise. Putting their drawings on the refrigerator is an indirect way of conveying positive thoughts to our children. We need to speak our affirmations as well. Every child should hear from his or her parent, “Good job!”

Lastly, model faith for your children. Let them see you reading and studying your Bible. Praying as a family is key to modeling your faith. Go to church as a family on a regular basis. Let them see you lay out a request to God and continue to pray as a family until the answer comes. These disciplines are so important to the future of our children and our future generations. You may be thinking, I have already blown it. I haven’t done any of those things well. Be encouraged and begin now. It really does
matter. Your family is worth it!

*Portions borrowed from: The Ten Commandments of Parenting by Dr. Ed Young