I posted last year about the importance of Creating Memories for our children.

Best-selling author, Mary Pipher, tells us that there are 3 things your kids will remember with great happiness from their childhood……….

1 // Time spent outdoors

2 // Vacations

3 // Family meals

This sounds about right.  Some of my fondest memories from my childhood involve those 3 things.

Some questions I am considering…….

• Am I providing enough opportunities for my boys to spend time outdoors?  Playing catch, shooting hoops, hiking, fishing, camping, riding bikes, etc.
• Am I being responsible enough with our family finances so that regular family vacations are possible?
• Am I gathering my family at the dinner table on a regular basis and prompting family conversations?

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After a week at home with our newborn, Boston, the reality of the fact that I am now the dad of 3 boys is setting in.

3 boys! I feel blessed, overwhelmed, excited, and scared all at the same time.

With 8+ years of parenting under my belt, I’ve learned that I have to be super-intentional about being a great dad.  It won’t just happen.

And one of the ways to make it happen is uninterrupted, laser-focused, quality time with my boys.

It is definitely not easy.  I am busy.  My wife is busy.  Our kids are busy.  There are tons of distractions.

This past week, I made an effort to spend some time with my older boys while I am off from work.  The addition of a newborn to a family can be quite an adjustment for the older siblings, so I wanted to make sure the baby didn’t take all the attention away from them.

We’ve had several wrestling matches.  The love language of my boys is wrestling.

We went fishing one day.  All we caught was a turtle, but we had a blast.

Yesterday, Caden and I spent the afternoon together.  Dessert and coffee at Starbucks.  Watched Hotel for Dogs at the movie theater.  Then wrapped up with burgers at Red Robin.  Lots of talk about Star Wars, Legos, Wii, and other stuff that 8 year olds love.

Today, it’s Rylan’s turn.  Not sure what we will do, but I am sure it will be an adventure.

How about you?  What are you favorite activities with your kids?  How do you ensure uninterrupted, focused, quality time with your kids?  Regular father/son, father/daughter, mother/son, mother/daughter dates?

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I just started a book by author and educator Jennifer Fox titled Your Child’s Strengths: Discover Them, Develop Them, Use Them.  Great book so far.  Jennifer clearly understands that the world is changing and that the educational landscape must change with it.

In the 1st chapter, she comments on the transformation required in our schools as a result of the impacts from the internet and the ease of access to information………

Children need to learn how to as much as what.  Our schools need to transform into places that constantly give children the tools they will need to design their futures.  The passive memorization of facts will not lead to a future in which students are ready to push beyond their limits.  Today’s children must learn how to work with information, and lots of it, because thanks to the Internet, everything is available to everyone, just about anywhere, twenty-four hours a day, right at the end of our fingertips.  The learner has changed from passive receiver to active agent.  We no longer need the teacher as a vehicle to deliver the information.  Now we need the teacher to help children synthesize and assimilate it.

Do you know the strengths of your children?

Have you recognized that the internet has changed the world and, as a result, learning for our children will need to look very different than it did for us?

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six // 6

I need you to discover my bent and actively support it.

seven //7

I need you to know you can wound me for a lifetime.

eight //8

I need you to adjust your leadership style to me as I grow.

nine //9

I need you to make some great memories with me to live on.

ten //10

I need you to love God and share Him with me.

List from Winning at Work & Home by Robert Lewis

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10 things your child needs for you to know.

one // 1

I need you to know somebody must be there for me in the early years.  It’s critical for my development!

two // 2

I need a balance of discipline, instruction, and love growing up.

three // 3

I need you to know my personality and honor it.  The sooner, the better.

four // 4

I need you to know too much (control, money, expectations) is too much.

five // 5

I need you to show me what to believe by living it.

6 – 10 tomorrow.

List from Winning at Work & Home by Robert Lewis

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