You MUST Be Crazy...or from a different world than me!

There I was in the check out lane at the grocery store, a VERY full cart and a VERY empty tank of patience. It had been a long day and with four children ages five and under, grocery shopping always took longer than I thought it should (or at least if felt like that). As I was ending the transaction, I remember hearing the clerk sweetly tell me, “Enjoy this time with them, they grow up so quickly.” With two children still in diapers (one of which I think needed changed at the moment), one in the midst of potty training (not too successfully) and one highly “independent” five year old all I could think was, “you MUST be crazy…or from a different world than me!

Those same children are grown adults now and I have surprisingly found myself telling more than one young parent that same thing about enjoying those moments. It’s funny how when children are young, the moments do seem to go by so slow. Maybe that’s because there is so much going on in each moment. Diaper changes practically every hour, feeding at least 5 times a day, cleaning up after them…well that feels never ending.

As parents, it is important that we make the most of those moments that God has blessed us with. And especially because there is so much going on when children are so young, it is important to think about ways to be intentional about making some of that time focused on God specifically.

For years I tried to be the “good mom” and carve out time specifically for us to read the Bible, pray, maybe sing a song or do an activity. That lasted maybe 2 days, 3 days if I was lucky. I actually found that I was most successful when I simply connected with my children during moments when we were already together throughout the day. I no longer felt like it needed to be structured, complex or detailed. It was simple and based on what they were interested in that day.

I created In The Moments Blog with this idea in mind. Each post will help give you simple ideas for you to make the most of your own moments with your children.

One of my favorite times to make these moments was during car rides. The great thing about car rides is that you have a captive audience (unless they are sleeping!) and you have time-the amount it takes to get from one point to the next to be exact. Below are a couple of ideas we loved:'

1. I Spy

I love this because it is flexible based on the ages and interests of your kids. But it goes something like this:

Someone says: “I spy something that God made that is the color green.”

And then the guessing starts until someone gets it correct (let’s say it was the grass).

You follow up by saying “Yes, God made the grass and He made it a beautiful color of green!”

This is also great because you can change it to be shapes, what letter it starts with, etc.

2. First Letter

This is also flexible based on their ages and interests. It goes something like this:

Someone starts by picking a letter, and says “Look high, look low, look all around, find the things God has given us that start with a D.”

And then things get called out, for example, Dog, duck, doo doo (my kids would giggle at that), etc.

You follow up by saying “Wow! God made so many amazing (and maybe gross smelling) things that start with the letter D.”

This is also great because you can mix it up to be colors or shapes, etc.

3. Find It

This is based on where you are driving, their ages and interests. It goes something like this:

Someone starts by saying, “try to find three different animals God has created.”

And then as you pass them on the road, things get called out such as, there is a horse, I see a cow, etc.

You follow up by saying, “Wow! God made all those animals for us to enjoy, He is awesome!”

This is also super flexible because it can really be based on anything that is around where you are driving; types of buildings, types of transportation, etc.

Try these out and leave a comment on how it went or ask me a question if you aren’t sure about how to approach one of these activities. Also be on the look out for my next blog where I will talk about moments when diapering/potty training.