Hi Yes FM friends & family!
I’m Jennifer, a part time DJ with Yes FM and a Pastor in the northwest Ohio area! I graduated Mount Vernon Nazarene University with a Bachelor of Arts in Children’s Ministries…and I love working with children sharing the Gospel of Jesus and watching them grow in their own faith journey.
Something I’d like to share with you from time to time, are ideas for spending time with your children, simple devotionals that help explain what a child may be experiencing in the world today, silly dad/mom jokes, sharing some of my favorite children’s books and/or parenting books, and leading you closer to Jesus as a family!
Today, I’d like to encourage you to stop sometime this week and spend time with your child. I have three boys, ages 19, 16 and 9. Something that I did recently was purposefully take a chunk of time out of my day to spend time with them individually.
For my 19-year-old, we went to breakfast and talked about how life was going now that he was being in the real world. He’s a very animated and passionate person who often just wants someone to hear his heart and his ideals. He wanted to know my thoughts on religious things, the world that seems to be falling apart from the inside out, and I wanted to know what he thought on the same issues he brought up. It was a very special time, and when he left for work, walking out the door of the local restaurant, he said with a hug, “Bye Mom, this was fun! Thanks for breakfast!” He loves pancakes by the way and almost couldn’t finish these large pancakes this specific morning! I assured him we would do this again, but the next time he’d pay for me! After all, he has a real job now! He smiled and laughed as he got into his car leaving for the day.
With my 16-year-old son, we went shopping. Yeah, I know you’re probably thinking what boy likes to go shopping with their mother, right? But he had an agenda, he knows that I don’t particularly like to shop, but with an agenda we have a purpose to look for specific items, then we’re done & out of there. So that’s what we did. Looking for homecoming attire, he entered the changing room, coming out to show off his chosen outfit, his smile so big, it nearly took my breath away! After homecoming shopping was complete, he asked me for some ice cream! If you get to know me or my family, you may realize we LOVE ice cream and will eat it year-round! So, we found an ice cream shop…went inside, sat down and started laughing like we hadn’t done together in such a long time!
It’s a little easier spending time with the 9-year-old especially when his big brothers are at work. But we found something that he’s been wanting to do for a while now, to go to the pumpkin patch and go on a hayride. You should have heard this kid, he talked non-stop all day long! You would have thought his jaw was sore by the end of the evening. There are times in this little guy’s life that he is confused with the way his brothers are changing and growing up so fast in front of him that he doesn’t understand it. I have learned that in these moments of fear or panic that he needs a grounding hug…like a full big bear hug, where your arms so tight around you that you almost can’t breathe type of hug. We hold each other for a few minutes and then he’s calmer and can listen better.
Each of these boys felt loved, appreciated, and heard on their specific days with Mom. They needed to be seen and to be respected as young men. They wanted this but didn’t know how to say it. So, I ask you, how are your kids asking to spend time with you? Not time sitting with you while you’re both on your phones, or at the movies or in front of a tv screen, but truly spending quality time with you? Check out these pictures that a counselor (Ask.Courtney -a trauma counselor- on TikTok) shared on Facebook recently. It challenged me. I am sure it will challenge you. Take the time. Listen with your ears but also with your heart. God gave you these children for a reason. Celebrate them. Encourage them. Listen to them. Pray for them and with them. For in these times, you will be reminded, that they are only here with you for a little while longer…and the days are getting shorter of your time together.
Time. It’s such a tricky thing.
Make time for each child in your life.
You won’t regret one second, minute, hour.
-Until next month-
Jennifer
