Patience
“And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” 1 Thessalonians 5:14 NIV
This week’s verse is hard. I think the kids are getting it better than I am. We have been practicing in the car. I can’t tell you how much it helps to hold up four fingers for the four urgings. While I encourage you to practice your Bible verse daily with your kids, I also compel you to find simple ways throughout the week to teach patience.
A great way to practice patience with kids is playing board games. Learning patience through games makes a lesson fun and relatable to real life. That’s what we did today. We played one of their favorite games, “Cooties.” This was one of my childhood memories also. Thanks, Mom. Board games teach kids patience because they need to learn to wait their turn and wait for the outcome (the right number rolled in this case).
There are so many skills children learn from board games colors, counting, communication, friendly competition, sportsmanship, sharing, encouraging and alas…patience.
While this is a simple lesson today, I do want you to overlook the value in talking your kids through the concept of character traits in every day living. If we focus on the word of the week while we are doing simple things like playing a board game, it reiterates all that we are trying to teach our kids about becoming people of high character.
