Keepers of the Home - Blessing our Children

We always try to praise godly character we see developing in our children. This is a wonderful tool that helps those godly character qualities or fruits of the Spirit continue to grow in our children. Each child may not be capable of an “A” on a school paper, but every child is capable of being diligent, responsible, and thorough.

It is sometimes nice though too, to award your child with a special recognition of their faithfulness and of their growing maturity in Christ.

The blessing chart is such a great idea from Doorposts! It comes with a little booklet that gives you Scripture references and ideas. Below are some more ideas that we have used with our own children. I thought I would share these with you and I’m sure that you all have some wonderful ideas as well.

I would suggest that you might do a study looking up words like “bless”, “blessings”, “blessed” using your concordance in the back of your Bible or an exhaustive concordance to see what the Lord has to say about this topic. Write down and journal some of the things that you feel the Lord causes to stand out to you.

Below are some ideas that we’ve used to bless our family members.

You might want to purchase a plastic caddy with a handle on top and decorate it with jewels and gold paint etc. to hold all your special day items like the badges, necklaces, mugs, banners etc. That way you know right where to look for them and they’ll be all in one place!

We purchased a plate years ago, that says “Celebrate! It’s your special day!” on it. This we use for birthday’s and for other times of celebration. There are also red ones that say “You’re special” I think on them. You can usually find these type of plates at Christian bookstores or in specialty stores or on-line. We’ve had ours for years! Our whole family loves to get this plate!

You could make a special pillowcase to go on the child’s pillow. You could purchase 1 ¼ yards of fabric for a standard pillow. The fabric could have crowns on it, or hearts, or stars, etc. You could make or purchase a plain white one or colored one and use fabric pens to write a Scripture verse or message on it for your child. I would encourage you to make a pillow case that could be reused again and again for whichever child is being rewarded at the time. This is part of how you establish family memories and traditions. Our children love being surprised with a special pillowcase. We have a birthday one too, that has balloons and streamers all over it. Each time it is someone’s birthday, one of us goes to get the special birthday pillow case and we love to put it on the birthday person’s pillow and surprise the birthday person! Our children love this!

I would make a badge or purchase a badge or big button. I know they had some at Michael's that you could pop the front off and make your own inside picture and pop the plastic top back on. The button could say something like "GRIT" Godly Recruit In Training for a boy. Or for a girl “a princess of the King!” or "Good obeying!" and a Bible verse with star stickers on it. You could also use a wooden heart and string it on some rope or ribbon to make a necklace. I would do a more manly looking one for boys...and a pretty, beautiful one for girls. Or make a round button for boys and a heart one for girls. Or use the heart one for either boys or girls. These are so inexpensive you could make several, and keep them on hand. You could make some that are for specific character qualities that you are trying to instill and then pull out the one that is for that specific quality and when you see your child exemplifying that character quality and you want to encourage them....allow them to wear the button for the day! :)

Or you could also make a special mug. They have these too at Michael's. You take the inside of the plastic mug out and then you can draw or make with stickers and markers the inside message and then when you're done pop the inside plastic mug part back in. The child that is being honored could use this mug only when he's earned it by exemplifying godly character. He could use it for the day at his meals and throughout the day. Then put it away, so it stays special until the next time.

You could make a fabric banner to hang outside that says something like "The King's Award for Godliness" You could make it say Something general...so you can use it over and over for various things. Then hang it out on the day that you want to bless your child for his growing maturity. You might also want to make the banner or flag, that says “you have been ….(fill in with a removable character quality written on felt and use Velcro to attach various character qualities) Way to go!”

*You can also purchase inexpensive flags already made at Michael's. You may be able to find one that says "It's your special day" or one that has stars on it...or something else that would work. If you make a flag or banner...you might allow the children to help you make it. They could help cut out the stars or help glue them on. You could even use felt if you were going to keep it indoors. Then this would be easier for the child to help you cut it out as it is a bit stiffer and more easy to cut. You could choose a light colored background like yellow (to represent gold) and then just use a black sharpie marker to write a Bible verse on the bottom of it. Simply fold the top over to the back and glue to top of the back, forming a sort of rod pocket. Slip in a wood dowel that can be purchased at Home Depot or Walmart and then tie string or ribbon around ends to form a hanger to hang on the wall. Roll up and store when not using.

For girls....instead of a button...you could make a really pretty necklace from beads and put a big heart in the middle. Then write on the wooden heart or the metal heart a Bible verse about becoming a godly young woman or about growing in godliness. Talk about how God cares about our hearts being right with him. Talk about loving God not just on the outside but on the inside too. Talk about what things your daughter has done that has shown that she is growing in her spiritual maturity and in her heart walk with Jesus. Proverbs 1:8-9, Proverbs 4:9 These verses talk about God gracing our necks with garlands.

Also, you could do a special bubble bath, or silly string for the bath....there are verses about oil being poured on the head of one who is being blessed by God.  You could talk about the blessings and benefits of following God's path. Ps. 23 focusing on verse 5, Ps. 45:7, Is. 61:1-4-3 focusing on verse 3 "the oil of gladness", Hebrews 1:9 You could literally pour out some wonderful smelling oil on them as you speak these words of encouragement to them.

For older children you could purchase some bath and body works oil or bubble bath and talk with them about these verses and about how the oil of gladness comes to those who love righteousness and hate wickedness. For those who live for Christ, he will anoint their head with oil and with blessings. :) *you could make a whole basket of blessings for them, including a loafa sponge, oil, bubble bath, lotion etc. For a special treat for an older child....you could light some candles in the bathroom and then allow them to take a bath in your bathroom....where it is even more special. We have a huge sunken in whirlpool tub...this is a real treat for our older children to use as well as our smaller ones. :) You could even make a banner with one of these verses written on it in a beautiful way and hang it in the bathroom to help make it special. Another idea that goes along this line is to give them a perfume. It too is oil of gladness! :)

You could purchase a gold crown at a party supply store in town. Then allow him to wear it for dinner. Take your child’s picture. The Bible says that a crown of righteousness will be given to those who are faithful. I know that they have some foam crowns at Michael’s. You can write on them with a sharpie marker, or glue jewels and other fun things on them to decorate them. This would store easier and last a long time as well. Read these verses and talk about it with your child and about what the means. 1 Cor. 9:24-25 is one suggestion. 2 Tim. 2:1-5, 2 Tim. 4:7-8, James 1:12, 1 Peter 5:4, Pro. 14:18, Pro. 4:9, Pro. 10:6, Is. 61:1-3 "a crown of beauty"

You could give him the treat of 15 min. extra stay up time at night. During this time you could read a special book.....like his baby book or look at photo albums and talk about how big he's growing and how he's maturing into a godly young man. You could talk about how when he was a baby he acted like a baby...but now he's growing into a godly young man and he needs to continue to be like Jesus. :) 1 Cor. 13:11 "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." You could even make a special page in his scrapbook that commemorates his special day or award and take a picture of him wearing his button or standing near the banner outside or inside, and let him help you put it in his scrapbook.

We enjoy making our children's scrapbooks also faith books. We write Bible verses that we've prayed for them in their scrapbooks. We also write and journal faith stories in there or testimonies. You could have your child dictate to you, in his own words what was special that he did to deserve to wear the badge, or have the flag hung, or use the mug...taking a picture and having him narrarate the details to you...write this down in his scrapbook. Maybe he could add some stickers to the page. :)

We enjoy writing down the important life stories and messages that we hope will one day bless and encourage our children...as they grow and when they are grown and their children, children may be reading these messages! :)  We all assume we'll always be here...that may not be true for some of us. Mark and I have wanted to write down our faith and our reasons for our hope in Christ in our childrn's scrapbooks. We also wanted to write various testimonies woven throughout their book so that it would remind them of ALL the great and mighty things the Lord has done and continues to do in their lives! :)

I know that as you begin to think about it and wander around Michael’s….God will give you even more wonderful ideas of things that you can do to bless your children and to honor them for seeking to be like Jesus and to want to walk out his truths and his way in their lives!

With much love,
Lori