You are already doing AMAZING, but you sense it is time for NEXT LEVEL, right? I am talking in their diet, habits, spiritual life, social skills and general life. Then this is THE POST you want to read as we all go into the BIGGEST room in the world for our kiddos, the ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT.
Door = Open…
Hey Queens,
I am so excited to share a few upgrades with you, which I have been applying to my kids, 6 and 4.
Like I said, this is for that mom who has already started to do things better, and is ready to take better to BEST.
These 5 things are not just easy investments but they pack a punch when it comes to returns.
Without further ado…
1. Upgrade from Activity to Boredom
Yes, you radically reduced screen time for your younger kids, (while COMPLETELY eliminating it for the babies I hope) and now your kids have learned to PLAY by themselves creatively, and interact with their environment since there is no easy default to screens.
The next thing you wanna do is introduce moments of BOREDOM intentionally, aka QUIET TIME.
No, not the one you do per spiritual discipline, I am saying times when the kids get to do NOTHING, just sit still. This is SO KEY and will pay dividends NOW, especially when you take them to a place where they need to have their little bums seated and not engaging in any kind of activity, and also in the future as WHITE SPACE aka TIME WITHOUT ASSIGNMENT is very key to strategic thinking, creation and even RECUPERATION.
Kids don’t ALWAYS need activities even the good ones.
Sometimes, everyone just needs to be good ol’ BORED
Cheers to NORMALISING boredom.
Now scoot over to my YouTube channel for a quick video on HOW exactly you can introduce, drive and SUSTAIN Quiet time in 5 ways.
*RAW* 5 Tips To Rock Out QUIET With Your Kids
2. Upgrade Bible stories for The Holy Bible
Yes, we have thrived and are really thankful for Bible stories, but Queen, when your kids are 4, 5 and above, and can read, then let’s start to introduce the HOLY BIBLE and read it with and to them. Yes, keep those stories with all the colorful illustrations and all, but make sure you also read the Bible unedited and pure to them. Trust me, it will amaze you how much they can grasp.
Also let them memorize scriptures too as they read.
You can use easy and child friendly versions like NIrV, ERV, EASY, Good News and the likes. You can systematically work through, for example Proverbs with them, reading a chapter or 5 or 10 verses a day, then explain.
Or you can take that fave Bible story to them then OPEN IT IN THE HOLY BIBLE and read to them.
Get them used to the Bible now, and not just stories that they now find the raw Bible boring because it doesn’t have bells and whistles
Bonus: I did a blog on tips to truly enjoying your Bible time and even though I wrote especially to adults, you sure can tweak some of my tips to kids.
MOVE OVER BORING PERSONAL BIBLE STUDY WITH MY 5 SUPER TIPS
3. Upgrade Kids story books to Books!!!
Ah, this one is so key and closely related to number 2.
Yes kiddies books are awesome and optimized for their little brains, but as they grow, by which I mean 3, 4 and above, then bring longer books with solid moral and godly lessons for them. They don’t have to have pictures and illustrations, just text mostly.
Like I said, everything I share here, I have done and keep doing with my kids and they are 4 and 6.
I was amazed just how much my sons, especially my 3 year old then, grasped and got really interested in Adaeze the true Princess by my Big Sis Dr. N.
That book is for 7 year olds, and I had had it since she launched it like 5 years ago. One day as we cleaned out their book shelf, I decided to even try to read to them, and I was just BLOWN away by all the lessons, teaching moments, their concentration and their interest. Once they told them to bring their fave books to school and my 6 year old said he would take Adaeze.
I also will be starting GOD’S GENERAL for kids with them. Just don’t rush it, even if it takes you 3months, make sure you are consistent, don’t overwhelm with too many pages and really take the pains to explain and break down to their level.
Trust me, this one WORKS like magic and would actually make them grow into Book lovers for real.
4. Upgrade Juices, Smoothies and the likes for WATER.
Yes I see you eliminating or drastically reducing those sugary drinks, and giving them healthier drinks like zobo, tigernut milk, homemade juices, smoothies and co. This is GREAT. I just want to give you permission on some days to give them WATER ONLY even in their lunch box.
When I eliminated sugary drinks, I used to give them zobo and other fruit juices to school, but it gets tricky having to keep it cold and fresh until lunch time. Yes I got flasks and all but it just seemed like too much work, plus imagine zobo pouring on their uniforms?
So one day I sat and calculated how many hours they spent in school, and realized that it was OK for them to have only water for those 6 to 8hours, and then have the drink when they get home.
And just when anyone starts to get entitled about having a drink every day, have some drink-free days when all we do is DRINK WATER.
Normalize water!!!
5. Upgrade Play for exercise
While I don’t subscribe to PLAY IS THE WORK OF A CHILD, I certainly know that kids love to play. As a mom of TWO BOYS who are HYPER ACTIVE, it is amazing just how they jump, fly, slide, gallop, somersault, etx. Since screen time is so minimal at home, my kids have learned to entertain themselves and a lot of it involves physical activities (God bless my neighbor downstairs. The amount of noise and banging? Phew)
Since they have so much energy, I had to introduce YouTube exercises for kids. Gosh, I LOVE how all that energy can be channeled to a healthy lifestyle instead and when we let them get used to exercising at a young age, it just grows with them.
There are SO MANY workouts for kids on YouTube and they are SO FUN, keeping kids sweating, engaged and working all those muscles.
Our faves are these two because the whole family can get on it.
Exercise with Pop Sugar
Exercise with this mom of 4 boys
So while they can rough and scatter play sometimes, other times, make it an exercise routine for them.
So there you have it… 5 upgrades for your sweet babies
Now, add to the list, or let me know which one you will be applying, or tweaking, or ‘Nah, this is not for me’ (I see all the moms with older kids nodding right now hehe. Kemi O, I see you hehe)
Either ways, let’s make the comments section be a learning extension for this blog post as I have been so blessed and learned even more from your comments in recent times and don’t forget to check out the YouTube video that accompanies this here.
Keep up the SWEET WORK, Sweet Mama…
With so much LOVE and CHEER
Eziaha
PS
If you have some time. I have two other posts this week on my Faith and Fitness blogs. You can find them here
5 reasons to make FASTING a part of your JOURNEY to WHOLENESS