Creativity and Fun With Kids and Links and Sons 8:04 pm
I found this great post at an Australian “simple living” blog that gives ideas for activities for little boys. Be sure to read the comments! They are chock full of creative ideas!
And we don’t want to leave our girls out, do we (although most of the boy ideas are good for girls as well)? Here’s a link to some adorable printable paper dolls.
Creativity and Frugality and Homemaking and Sons 1:19 am
If you’ve ever been to my house, I’m sure you’re laughing by now. I really should have enlisted the services of a guest blogger for this one. Or I could just say, “Watch Design on a Dime.” I’m about as qualified to write a post with “decorating” in the title as I am to write a post with the words “fitness,” “organization,” “spotless home,” or “gourmet cooking” in the title. In other words, not.
But I’ll give it a shot and show you some pictures of Silas’s room from our last house. (Here in the new house I haven’t really figured it out yet.) I ended up being pretty pleased with how it turned out, all things considered, and it was frugal.
He loves to sleep with his army sleeping bag, which is just fine, but it didn’t look very inviting, or very neat. I’ve been wanting to buy him a spread, but for now I simply asked, “What Do I Have in My Hand?” I dug around in the cedar chest, looking for something, anything, to put on his bed, and found this pretty afghan that Billy’s great-aunt made us when we got married. I had forgotten all about it. It was just right. No money spent.
The bed itself came from a garage sale. I am not sure; it might have even been free.
The big middle picture is a signed pen and ink print that we got at a garage sale. I got the other pictures from an outdated calendar I bummed off my brothers, and framed them in frames people had given us. Total cost for this little arrangement: $1.
These beautiful signed lab prints belong to Billy. I believe he got both of them as gifts. They went perfectly on the big wall opposite the bed.
This kid-sized gun rack came from a garage sale, too. I think Billy got it for $2 or $3.
The thing about “What do I have in my hand?” decorating is that you can’t be too much of a perfectionist. I think it boils down to contentment. Silas’ room does not look like a designer room, although if I had the time and went to the effort I could do that for a reasonable cost as well. But I’m happy with it the way it is. He is too, and that’s what matters. Thrifty decorating also means patience. Most of the time, if you want to save, you don’t just go out and buy the whole ensemble at once. You have to wait for those good deals to come along. But I don’t mind. I guess I’m strange, but it brings me a great deal of satisfaction to have made my little guy a cozy space so frugally.
Books and Discipling Our Children and Sons 1:33 pm
I have 3 daughters and 1 son. It’s hard to raise girls in today’s twisted culture, but it’s equally challenging to raise boys. Consequently, Billy and I are on a quest to find out what it takes to raise a strong and godly man of character. Here are a few resources that I’ve found helpful (not all Christian, but all insightful).
The Bible book of Proverbs. Many chapters of Proverbs are written to young people, specifically giving counsel to young men. If every Christian boy knows Proverbs backward and forward by the time he’s a teenager, I believe that he’ll have an amazing foundation in godly character. If you’re looking for a good Bible to read with your son, The Life Application Study Bible in the New Living Translation is an excellent choice.
Bringing Up Boys by Dr. James Dobson. It’s been awhile since I read this and it’s time for a refresher. Nevertheless, it’s an excellent manual for raising sons. Dr. Dobson candidly points out the strikes our boys have against them, while at the same time giving parents tools to raise godly sons. I can’t find my copy at the moment, so that’s all I’ll say for now.
Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men by Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D. This is a secular book, and I can’t advocate its every word 100%, but Dr. Sax has great common sense. I found it a fascinating read. Dr. Sax contends that five major things are contributing to the epidemic of unmotivated boys in our culture. They are: video games, which disengage boys from the real world; modern teaching methods, which unintentionally turn a lot of boys against learning and school; the overuse of ADHD medications; endocrine disruptors in our environment which may lower boys’ testosterone levels; and the devaluation of masculinity in our society, which has caused many boys to not have a solid understanding of manhood. Although apparently not a Christian, Dr. Sax is a gender traditionalist in many ways, and this strongly flavors his book. I appreciated that although his theories and findings go against the societal flow, he manages to present his case fairly and in a well-researched manner, without coming across as an alarmist Chicken Little. Use discernment as you read, but I think you’ll find this book very insightful.
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The Dangerous Book for Boys. I’m not a boy, but I love this book! (A mini aside: The Daring Book for Girls, a companion book but by different authors, was a great disappointment.) It’s like an old-fashioned manual for all kinds of adventures, like building a tree house, making a bow and arrow, great paper airplanes, knot tying, how to play soccer, and even how to treat girls. I’ll let this video speak for itself:
