It Takes a Village

"It Takes a Village"

"It's easier to build healthy boys than it is to mend broken men."

If we want influence kids in a healthy kids way we must...

1.  Be intentional

"Children don't operate well on auto-pilot."

Proverbs 22:6, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."  

Deuteronomy 6:4-7, "Listen, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children.  Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up."

2.  Be fully present  

"I will never forget the gasp from my TV audience when I asked a six-year-old boy what he'd take to Heaven if he had his choice.  He replied, 'My mother and dad, because I think they would have more time for me up there.'" -Art Linkletter

3.  Sweat the small stuff

"Don't sweat the small stuff."  

4.  Be consistent

"When there is a lack of consistency it confuses kids and inevitably destroys their healthy respect for those in authority."

5.  Give them a place to belong

"We need to love kids into a sense of belonging."

6.  Invite the village in

"Our children are the living messages we send into a time we shall not see."