Times of Transition June 5, 2007
Posted by Erin in : General Lessons , trackbackJoe,
Great idea on leaving a letter to our posterity. I would love to have that sort of thing from my family line to hear about where they came from and especially to hear an encouraging word to seek hard after God.
So we have officially entered the time of transition that we always have when we move. You know we are in it when half of our things are in suitcases. I am thinking we will be in this stage for the next week, so I am trying to get mentally prepared.
One of the ways transitions have been made easiest for us though is to have a plan for the kids. Transitions are tough on us as adults, but on children they are usually even harder and more confusing. So here are a couple of ways that we try and make those times of change easier on our kids.
1. Make sure they get plenty of sleep. There is nothing worse than traveling with a tired child. And as we know from ourselves, sin is much harder to fight against when the physical body is weak!
2. Slowly introduce them to the idea of leaving. When the child is young, like Elijah (13 months), he or she will not understand anything, so nothing needs to be said. But for our daughter, Abby (3 years), the idea of a change needs to be slowly explained. This time we had her stop school a week before, then slowly started packing day by day, explained that we would be headed home and even showed her on a map how we would be flying over the ocean.
3. Keep the same level of discipline standards. We made the mistake when we arrived in Spain of taking it easy on Abby because of the time change and loss of seeing family and friends. But all the little compromises on discipline left us with a little monster. So even though it will be tough on them, do not lower the standards of obedience.
4. Come up with a plan for integrating them into the new environment. Decide before hand how much you want to expose them to when you are in your new place. Abby has a very intense personality that is easily “fried” by overstimulation. Decide before hand if it is wise for your child to see 50 new faces in the matter of 24 hours!
5. Expect that it will be difficult. Get your battle gear on, store up those promises of God and know that the transition will not be easy, but you serve a God who will faithfully supply all things. Preach to yourself and keep the perspective of how much better you are doing than what you deserve. This is a season and it will pass quickly. The hardest thing on a child is often a parent who is not at rest in Jesus in these times. They so easily sense our anxiety and stress.
Transitioning back home with you,
Erin
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