Preparing Your Kids for the Real World (Part 03) – Physical Development (Part A)

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I.       Physical development

1.      Make sure your children get adequate sleep which is crucial for physical health and growth.

1. Sleep is important for good mental and physical health (Psa 127:2; Joh 11:12-13; Pro 3:24; Ecc 5:12).
2. Sleep is critical for children from infancy through adolescence.
3. Infants need to sleep a LOT (up to 18 hours per a day).
4. Growth (of the body and the mind) happens during sleep.
5. School-aged children need sound rest for both the development of their body and mind.
6. I have been told that the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth is a good reference on the subject.
7. Encourage your children who can read to read before bed. This will help them fall asleep and is good for their mental development.
8. Parents, it is your responsibility to make sure your children get sufficient sleep.
9. Establish early bed times and enforce them.
10. Create a bedtime schedule and make sure the whole family knows it.
11. Even if your children say they are not tired, make them go to bed and be quiet.
12. This will improve their mental and physical health and it will help you maintain your sanity.
13. You will then have a few hours of quiet time to spend with your spouse and to unwind, read, pray, meditate, etc. before you go to bed.
14. It’s also necessary for young children to take naps during the day.
15. Establish a napping schedule and stick to it.
16. This will give your young children a much needed couple of hours of sleep during the day.
17. If they don’t want to sleep, make them stay in their beds without any video games or other electronics and remain quiet for two hours.
18. Make your older children who no longer need naps read or at least remain quiet during that time.
19. This will give mothers a much needed break to rest, regain their mental health, or accomplish things that require their concentration.

2.      Teach your children to eat right.

1. Food gives us strength (1Ki 19:8; 1Sa 14:28; Mat 15:32).
2. It is lawful to eat any food (1Ti 4:4-5).
3. In the NT the only food restrictions are eating blood and animals that were strangled or offered to idols (Act 15:29).
4. There is no Christian diet.
5. A vegan diet is not a Christian diet (Rom 14:2-3 c/w Rom 14:17).
6. A paleo diet is not a Christian diet (Rom 14:2-3 c/w Rom 14:17).
7. There is nothing that we can eat besides the above mentioned that can defile us (Mar 7:18-19).

iii.    While it is lawful to eat any type of food, it might not be expedient to eat certain foods (1Co 10:23).

1. While it is lawful to eat any type of food, it is not wise to eat too much of sugary foods (Pro 24:13; Pro 25:16; Pro 25:27).
2. While it is lawful to eat any type of food, it is unlawful to eat anything excessively to the point to gluttony (Pro 23:20-21).
3. Teach your children to not waste food.
4. Lazy people waste food (Pro 12:27; Pro 18:9).
5. They are too lazy to plan out how much food they need for a meal and to plan their meals ahead of time so that food doesn’t go bad in the refrigerator.
6. They are too lazy to put it in a container and preserve it in the refrigerator for the next meal.
7. They are too lazy to box it up and take it home from the restaurant.
8. It is easier to just throw it in the garbage.
9. Jesus did not waste any food, nor throw away leftovers (Joh 6:12).

iii.    Wasting food leads to poverty (Pro 18:9 c/w Pro 20:13 c/w Pro 24:30-34).

1. Do not allow your children to waste food.
2. Teach them by your example.
3. If you waste food, so will they.
4. Make your children clean their plates and not leave so much as a grain of rice uneaten.
5. Note: leaving a spoonful or more of food on a plate is NOT finishing your dinner!
6. Explain to them that there are millions of people in this world that would be very grateful to have the food that they want to throw in the garbage.
7. Teach your children that food costs money.
8. Explain to them that they would have had to work for hours at their current earning potential to pay for the meal that is in front of them.
9. Explain to them that we are to be good stewards of what God has blessed us with.
10. Dealing with children that won’t eat.
11. How do you discern between a small appetite and pickiness in your child?
12. If your children can’t or won’t finish their meal, don’t try to force them to eat it.
13. Just put it in a container and save it until the next meal or the next time they are hungry.
14. Don’t give them any other food until that food is gone.
15. If they want to play hardball and refuse to eat it, just keep giving them that food for every meal until they eat it.
16. They certainly will not starve themselves to death (Pro 27:7).
17. You need to be stronger than your children and win this battle.
18. Otherwise they will turn out to be picky eaters and food wasters when they grow up.
19. Make your kids eat whatever is prepared.
20. Don’t allow them to decide what’s for dinner.
21. Only ask them what they want to eat if they are paying.
22. Of course you can consider their suggestions and go along with them sometimes when it is reasonable, but don’t put them in control.
23. Don’t give your kids hotdogs, chicken nuggets, snack food, etc. because they don’t want to eat what’s for dinner.
24. Not only is this very unhealthy for them, it also puts them in control.