Quest Children’s Ministry

Side-by-side Family Growth

I came across a very simple article this week and will share it with you below about how to teach a child to tie a knot.  In the article it discusses how velcro steals away a child’s rite to learn and a parent’s rite to teach.  It discusses further in its “tips” segment how it is important to patiently guide your child while going through the steps deliberately step-by-step and with them side-by-side.  What an incredible picture of the dilemma parents face in today’s culture.

What is the velcro for your family?

Today’s culture is filled with velcro opportunities.  Easy fix solutions to parenting, but what is the cost of allowing the culture to teach and shape your children rather than mom and/or dad?  Velcro’s may include:  My child will learn all they need to learn in school; Our church’s Sunday School program or Parent’s Day Out Program will suffice; If we let my children watch only good and decent shows they will get the right impression.  There are probably countless other “velcros,” but the question is who did God give this child to “train a child in the way he should go?” (Prov. 22:6)  Parents are the ones God calls to lead a child.  While there are many velcro-like distractions, it is not the velcro that is bad, it is the full reliance on something else other than God working in His parents to guide children to righteousness.

Overcoming the temptation to rely on velcro is not something that happens overnight.  It is a process just like learning to tie a shoe is a process.  It takes one step at a time as well as continual side-by-side effort.  Thankfully, we have a great God, a great teacher and lord in Jesus, and a guide in the Holy Spirit who works in ways sometimes we couldn’t imagine.  Remember that Jesus encouraged parents to bring children before Him during His ministry and His prayers for children continue with us as parents even today! (Matthew 19:13-14; John 17:20-26).

Now for your reading pleasure here are some steps on how to tie shoes (excerpted from WonderTime Magazine):

How to Tie a Shoe

We face a crisis in this country, brought on by a seemingly benign menace called Velcro. Yes, Velcro-closed shoes may make parenting easier and old age more appealing, but they also threaten to destroy a childhood rite.

Help preserve traditional skills and teach your child to tie shoes!

Tips: Tying a shoe requires a level of dexterity most kids don’t possess until they’re between 5 and 7, so take it slow. Teach tying side-by-side or sit your child between your legs and practice on an old shoe with soft laces. If you like, color one half of the lace with a marker to make the two sides less confusing.

Step 1
Take one lace in each hand and make an X. Draw the top lace through the bottom of the X and pull the two laces tight. Then make a loop out of each lace. Hey, look — bunny ears.

Step 2
Cross one “ear” over the other, in the opposite order of your overhand knot.

Step 3
Explain how “the bunny runs around the tree” by bending one loop over the other (okay, suspend disbelief — one ear has become a tree).

Step 4
Now “the bunny sees a dog and jumps in the hole”: Pass the tip of the bent ear through the hole.

Step 5
Pull loops tight. For extra security, you can double the knot by making another overhand knot with the loops.