You might remember that I have an author-reader crush on author Sally Lloyd Jones. She is the author of THE BEST BOOK IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD: The Jesus Storybook Bible. She also authors several other Bible story books one of which is Tiny Bear’s Bible. My son got this as a baby present (or I got it as a shower present, whatever.) and I really love the short Bible story poems with a personal application at the end. And Asa likes it because…well, look:

Sally Lloyd Jones has a new baby Bible storybook out called (are you ready for this?) Baby’s Hug-a-Bible. Yep, a huggable Bible:

(oh, you can’t tell from this picture–it’s furry!)

However, beneath the funny fur is a really sweet (and very practical) Bible story book. Each story is laid out in questions like, this one about Moses:

Who saved a baby in a boat?

Who kept that baby’s boat afloat? …

Who cares for you in just that way?

And gives you all you need today?

Yes, God’s the one who, day by day,

Will care for you in every way!

For babies (and toddlers and preschoolers), this kind of story is perfect—the rhyme, the questions and the most important: THE PROMISES! I love hearing stories that show God’s promises to be true. I’d love to plant this whole idea in Asa’s head NOW so he will remember it always!

And can I tell you something else that might sound weird? When I was in college I interned at a church that had one of the premiere children’s ministries in the country. In their nursery department they introduced the Bible by singing the B-I-B-L-E and by helping the kids hug the Bible.

Can I just say that there is nothing cuter than watching a toddler see a Bible, pick it up and hug it. Since we’ve had this Hug-a-Bible, I’ve been making helping Asa hug it. And he does! Oh, with a fierceness! But can I tell you something? He loves this book. Are there any other books we hug? He knows that we think this book is special because we hug it. And that’s what I want. I want him to know the Bible is the most special, the most important book in his life.

I’m not suggesting that hugging a Bible will make your kids love God. I’m just all about introducing kids to God on their level. And right now, the Hug-a-Bible is showing my 18 month old son how important the Bible is!

For more fun book recommendations visit The Adventure of Motherhood’s Feed Me Books Friday! Also linked to The Other Mama’s Friday Favorites, & Read Aloud Thursday at Hope is the Word.

Disclosure: I asked to review this book. I was given the book to facilitate that review.

A few months ago I picked up a picture book/CD combo at our library. It’s one of those follow-along-and-turn-the-page-when-you-hear-the-tone-things. There were only a few CDs to choose from (most of them were tapes. remember those?) so I randomly picked up Imogene’s Antlers by David Small.

We hunkered down in the car to drive home, popped the CD in and were MESMERIZED. The book tells the story of a cute little girl who wakes up with antlers on her head. Her family is completely freaked out but she rather enjoys them. It is hilarious and has adorable illustrations. The kind you want to look at for several minutes—they add such depth to the story.

We listened to Imogene’s Antlers about 25 times before we returned it. I finally bought it for my daughter, Lydia for Christmas. She was disappointed that the CD didn’t come with the book. I am apparently not as entertaining of a reader. Hmph.

A few weeks later, I found another CD/book combo called The Journeyby Sarah Stewart. It is the sweetest story of an Amish girl who travels to Chicago for a special vacation. Her trip is shared through entries in her diary. She falls in love with the city but still has a longing for home. As soon as we pulled into the garage after listening to it, I made Lydia hand me the book so I could flip through the pictures. It is just LOVELY.

As I was looking at The Journey’s cover, I realized it was illustrated by David Small. The same man who wrote Imogene’s Antlers. How fun! That made me like The Journey even more!

{Let’s keep going because the story is just getting started…}

Last week I picked up yet another CD/book combo called The Gardener. I didn’t even read the back. I just liked the picture on the front and it wasn’t a casette tape. We pop it in the CD player immediately.  It reminds me a lot of The Journey. The story is told via letters written by the main character. She’s a young girl who has to leave her family’s farm to help in her uncle’s bakery in the city. It’s during the Great Depression, so it’s got a sad undercurrent to it. But it’s also upbeat and positive. At the end of the first letter, the little girl signs her name, “Lydia Grace.” Well, my daughter could not contain herself! She thought this book was written just for her! A book! With her own name?!!

Lydia listened enraptured on the way home. Then we took the book inside to read it again and look at the pictures. Well, lo and behold, who wrote the book? Sarah Stewart. And the illustrator? David Small. Apparently I am drawn to them like flies on butter!

Let’s fast forward to this morning. We go to storytime at the library. Which we rarely do because they are always during my son’s naps. But today, it was raining for the third day in a row and I had to get out of the house. Anyway, I picked up Not a Box. Lydia grabbed The Way Mothers Areand I Love It When You Smile. She also snapped up a kids’ book by Danielle Steel. I thought that was a little odd, so I set it down and snatched  another book off that same shelf called, The Library.”Oh, look, Lydia! It’s illustrated by the same guy who did Imogene’s Antlers!” BIG SURPRISE.

We read the book as soon as we got home and loved it. It’s a delightful story about a girl who loves to read. Like really really loves to read. She collects so many books that they take over her house. So, she…well. If you’re a bibliophile, it’s a must read.

After these four “random” selections of David Small, I had to do some googling! David Small is married to Sarah Stewart. They have written five books together (that means I need to find two more!!). David has written seven. He has illustrated over twenty. I’m officially smitten with him (and her). I am now on a mission to read any and everything they’ve touched!

You will fall in love with all the books I mentioned above. They are sweet, full tales that leave you wistful for the time and setting. The illustrations only add to the story. Please check them out right away! (And hey, don’t forget to look for those CD/book combos. So fun!)

You’ve got one more day to win No Time For Flash Card’s new ebook, Alphabet Crafts!

For more fun book suggestions, click over to Feed Me Books Friday and What My Child Is Reading! And check out more great stuff at the Other Mama’s Friday Favorites, Amy’s Finer Things Friday and Simply Sweet Home’s Friday Favorites.

The snow is gone and spring is teasing us with upper 60 degree temps and sweetly singing birds. Yesterday I took the kids to the park for a picnic and good spin around the playground. We were there for at least 2 hours. When it was almost time to go I gave Lydia ample warning: “We’ll be leaving in ten minutes.” and then, “Lydia, you can go down the slide two more times and then we’re leaving.” She was in the middle of playing with a new friend and did NOT want to leave. She walked up to me with a pouty look on her face. I bent down and said, “Lydia. What is Philippians 2:14?”

She said (slightly begrudgingly), “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” (<–I want to remember that voice forever!)

I replied, “OK. That means ‘leave the park without complaining or arguing.’ Now, go finish swinging and then say good-bye to your friend.”

She walked back to her friend, pushed the swing once or twice and when I said, “OK, let’s go!” She skipped happily to me and the car.

I kid you not.

I didn’t say anything right away. I got everyone buckled in, rolled down the windows and started driving. Then I said, “Lydia, do you know what happened back there? You wanted to disobey. But when you said God’s Word, your spirit got stronger! And you obeyed! How does that feel?”

Lydia: “Yaaaay! I was obedient! I love being obedient!! Yaaay!” (complete with leg kicks and squeals)

Again, I kid you not.

In these moments (which are not everyday, of course), I can almost see and feel that God’s Word is literally a sword. I can see how God’s Word is living and active! I’ve noticed on the days where I don’t remind Lydia of scripture and we don’t talk about God’s Word, that we all have a rougher day. Neither of us are easy to please. But when I take the first step and keep us BOTH in line with God’s Word, her actions respond to it. I can SEE the seeds of God’s Word growing in her life!

This is what God meant in Deuteronomy when he told us to talk about His commandments when we walk along the road and when we lay down and get up. We need a constant flow of conversation revolving around God’s Word.

Another thing that’s been helping us keep God’s Word at the forefront is books. (Remember Grandma’s Attic?) Well, I found two more short books about obedience that you might like. If I’m too upset to have a normal conversation, I like to pull these out at bed and naptimes. They are easy conversation starters on a child’s level.

Mommy, May I Hug the Fish?by Crystal Bowman

A little boy goes through his day with the constant question, “Mommy, May I…?” Sometimes she says yes and sometimes she says no. It’s a good book that reminds kids to not only ask before they act, but to obey.

Don’t Do That, Dexter by Jodee McConnaughhay

This book is a little more to the heart of the matter. Dexter is an imaginative, rambunctious little boy who disregards his parents warnings and then gets hurt or in trouble as a result. The best part of this book is that every page has a refrain, “Obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.” (Ephesians 6:1). So, Lydia has inadvertantly memorized that scripture.

This book is apparently not in print anymore but it looks like you can buy it for ONE PENNY from Amazon. So. Yeah. Buy it.

How do you keep God’s Word in the middle of your kids’ day?

photo by godogo

The next page in our “God Wants Me To Be” book taken from our Christian Characteristic Traits list is: Intelligent – Someone who is eager to learn!

Proverbs 1:5a says, “Let wise people listen and add to what they have learned.” I love that in God’s eyes it is not our IQ that makes us intelligent!  It is our desire to continue to learn new things… to add to what we have learned.

Many of you know that I plan on homeschooling the boys, and I’ve been using the internet/my brain to help me plan preschool-type activities for the boys for the past couple of years.  In fact, many of the things we’ve done have wound up here, on Impress Your Kids!  But sometimes, my brain doesn’t work the way I want it to, even when I’m looking at ideas on the internet.  I wind up struggling with things to do during the week of repeating things we’ve done before.

So I did it.  I bought a curriculum.  I can’t believe it… it feels like such a huge step to me – this is really happening!  And I didn’t even get a preschool curriculum – Elias already knows what the preschool set would be teaching him.  I went straight for the kindergarten curriculum!  Wow….

This is what we got… All of this is a complete year’s worth of lessons!

• Alphabet Flashcards
• Easy-to-use Teacher’s Manual {BONUS!}
• Student Materials (includes student worksheets, teaching charts, game cards, monthly calendars, short vowel song cards, and a 100 chart for math!)
• Cuisenaire Rods Alphabet Book
• Cuisenaire Rods Small Group Pack
• What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?
• Introduction to Classical Music
• Insect Lore Ant Hill {seriously, how cool is this?}

Can you tell I’m excited about this?  I’m excited about the structure, the constancy, the content, the… everything (This will not take the place of the things I am already working on with the boys – this is in addition to all the stuff I post here!)!

Now, I share this not because I want to say how intelligent my kids are – not at all.  Remember this?  Elias still does not believe what I tell his as truth or fact for most things.  This reluctance to learn from me is also combined with his desire to go to a real elementary school – because that’s where learning happens, or so he tells me.  Therefore, he does not want to learn at home or from me.  Period.

However, I am praying hard.  We are participating in a weekly homeschooling co-op with some friends who have older boys, and that helps a bit (he sees the older boys are learning from their moms and from me, so it makes it OK).  We also have some dear friends who will also be using the My Father’s World curriculum for their pre-school kids, and we will be doing some activities with them as we go through the study.  I hope that surrounding Elias with prayer and learning will instill in him the desire to learn – the eagerness to learn that God wants for us!

That’s what I’m praying for – that the boys will always want to “…listen and add to what they have learned (Proverbs 1:5a).” Being wise and intelligent on God’s terms is so much better than being wise or intelligent in the world’s eyes!

How do you try to instill the love of learning in your kids?

Disclaimer: I am not in anyway affiliated with My Father’s World – I bought the products myself and am sharing my excitement/opinion with you.  We are, however, a part of Amazon.com’s affiliate program, so if you purchase items from Amazon.comthrough the links in this post, we will receive a small affiliate payment at no additional cost to you.

This post is linked up with Homeschool Creations’ Preschool Corner!

The other night I was racking my brain to find a story that would help Lydia (and me) with these behavior problems. Out of all the books on our bookshelves we had to have one that was about disobedience–being respectful–honoring your parents or something! There was nothing at first glance. Then I suddenly remembered a story from when I was a kid–about a little girl in prairie times. She wanted to wear a hoop skirt but her mom wouldn’t let her. So, she lied and came up with a way to walk to church alone, wearing a hoop skirt. Little did she know that hoop skirts are very difficult to sit down with if you’ve never done it. (Think about it…) Needless to say, she learned that pride comes before a fall!

So, the book? It’s called In Grandmas Attic by Arleta Richardson. It’s full of short stories (2-3 pages) about Mabel, a little girl growing up in the time of log cabins, water pumps, horse drawn buggies and hoop skirts. The stories are told from the perspective of Mabel’s granddaughter who finds buttons, quilt squares and other items that jog her grandmother’s memory. I dug mine out of our bookshelf (next to my Mandie books and Betsy-Tacy books) and we started reading one chapter before naps and bedtime.

Lydia loves every single story. Sometimes it’s a silly tale like when Mable gets her tongue stuck on the frosty metal water pump. Or serious like when Mabel hides the dirty dishes so she can go outside to play. But in every story, Mabel learns a lesson—usually in obedience, pride or self-control.

I love reading them because not only are they true stories with a great historical lesson, they are beautiful teachable moments and springboards for conversations. It makes me very disappointed that not more of the kids’ books from the Christian publishers are about real life problems and heart issues. It seems like most of the books in the Christian bookstores are just watered down Bible stories (with one exception, of course). And if there is a moral tale it’s more like a Saturday morning cartoon–loving your neighbor and saying kind words. This is exactly why I love our blog! I think many parents don’t know (or believe) they can actually STEER their child’s heart toward God. I don’t think most people realize they have the ability (and mandate) to help their kids OBEY God’s Word.

{gingerly stepping off soapbox}

So, I was so pleased to pick this book up again, dust it off and share it with Lydia. She’s been able to see a real life girl (because these are all true stories) learn to obey her parents, think of her brothers first and follow God’s Word in everything. I highly recommend this book (or any in this series) your child will love them! And so will you!

“The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26

About a year ago I was graduated from counseling. I had spent some time dealing with issues from my childhood and early adult life and it was no accident that a particular book came into my life at just the right time. I thought it would be a good complement to the other Christian-based parenting books I had, but had no clue how much it would single-handedly change the way I communicate with my children and also accept Christ’s unyielding, unwavering and undying love for me.

First, a little background: I was raised in a Christian home, my parents were followers of the Biblical law, but I was never taught what it was like to live in relationship with the Lord. My parents didn’t really know how to live in relationship with me, in all honesty, and I spent most of my adolescence seeking their affirmation and approval. What I didn’t realize at the time was what I was really hungering for was their blessing over my life. And just as Esau begged his dying father for a blessing, knowing it had already been given to Jacob (Genesis 27:38), I, too, would never receive my blessing from my parents. I spent a journey of over fifteen years searching for acceptance and approval in relationships only to find heartache and disappointment instead. Reading this book made me come face-to-face with what left a gaping wound in my heart and allowed the Lord to not only heal it, but teach me to avoid inflicting the same wound on my children.

The book is called The Blessingand it is aptly named since it teaches you how to give the biblical blessing, not only to your children but to your spouse, to your neighbors, even to the cashier at the grocery store. It begins with the history of the Biblical blessing in accordance with Jewish law, but then extends to the five elements(meaningful touch, spoken word, expressing high value, picturing a special future, and an active commitment), what to do if you were withheld the blessing (as was in my case) and how to receive healing and God’s blessing over your life now so you can extend it to those around you. I thought I was giving the blessing to my children before reading this book but it really showed me how to bless them from a place of purity and love, not just so I could say I did for them what was never done for me.

While this book has radically changed the way I feel towards and relate to my parents, it was not always an easy read. It hurt. There were moments where I had to stop and grieve what was my reality. In a particular chapter the authors talk about about giving the blessing to your parents and how we have been commanded to do it. I had to put the book down and let that idea sit for a few weeks as the Lord softened my heart. He gave me the grace and the courage to finish it, bless my parents and in doing so I felt His blessing pour over my life, which strengthened me to go out and be a person of blessing.

On a battlefield where we know the enemy is fighting tooth and nail for our relationships with our children, this book is a must. Studies have shown that children and youths who participate in disobedient and deviant behavior are doing so in response to the relationship they share with their parents. While this book is not a fix-it for all your parenting concerns, it will arm you with the knowledge and the desire to give your child a healthy sense of well-being, and also let them know how much they are loved by you and also by their heavenly father.

With Valentine’s Day approaching, I have been trying to choose books about love for my daughter, Juliet, and I to read together each night. I want her to know how deeply and unconditionally I love her and also how God’s love for her far surpasses my own great love.

As I looked at our shelves the other night, The Runaway Bunnyby Margaret Wise Brown jumped out at me. “That’s perfect!” I thought to myself. We’ve read this book a million times before, but we’ve never had a conversation about how God loves us as unwaveringly and as fiercely as the mother bunny loves her little bunny.

If you’ve never read the book, it begins like this:

“Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away. So he said to his mother, “I am running away.” “If you run away,” said his mother, “I will run after you. For you are my little bunny.”

“If you run after me,” said the little bunny, “I will become a fish in a trout stream and I will swim away from you.” If you become a fish in a trout stream,” said his mother, “I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you.”

The story continues in this way with the little bunny coming up with another and yet another thing to turn into and his mother responding with how she will chase after him and find him NO MATTER WHAT. It’s a beautiful story of unconditional love.

As I thought about the picture of love presented in this book, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the love stories of the Bible such as the book of Hosea, the story of the prodigal son, and the greatest love story of all: Jesus coming to earth and becoming human just because He loved us so much. No matter how far we ran from him, and no matter what we became, He was willing to leave heaven behind and give up His life because we are His children and He loves us.

I thought to myself, “This is going to be great! We’re going to read a great book together AND have a meaningful spiritual conversation!”

It didn’t exactly turn out that way. Here’s what happened:

As we began reading the story together, Juliet asked me, “Mommy, why is that bunny running away? and I said, “Why do you think he is running away?” and she said, “To join the circus!” (Towards the end of the book, the bunny tells his mother he will join the circus.)

I took this moment to tell her that I was like the mother bunny and that if she ever ran away, I would always go after her because she was my little bunny. She just sort of nodded and then we continued reading.

A few pages later, Juliet suddenly jumped up, and exclaimed, “I’m the little bunny!” and ran away. I put the book down and proceeded to chase her down the hall and tackle her in my room.

I again reminded her that I would always catch her because she was my little bunny. She smiled, giggled, and then announced, “I’m a butterfly, I’m going to fly away from you!” and ran down the hall. I responded with, “I’m a net and I will catch you!”

We played this spontaneous little game over and over again—she was a little bird; I was a nest. She was a lady bug; I was a little girl with a bug-catcher. She was a roley poley, and I was a pile of dirt. Again and again, she ran away from me, and again and again I caught her.

Then we sat down, finished reading the book, and got ready for bed. As I tucked her in, I said, “God is like the mother bunny, too. No matter what you do, no matter how far you run away from Him, He will always come after you because you are His little bunny and He loves you.”

And she said, “Hey. You have hair in your nose.”

So maybe we didn’t get the meaningful spiritual conversation in, (we did have a discussion about the benefits and purposes of nose hair) but we did make some memories and invented a fun, new game! Even though she wasn’t really ready to talk about God’s love for her, I think the seed was planted.

And like that mother bunny, I’ll keep chasing her down and telling her tirelessly about God’s love, over and over again. And the best part is, I don’t have to do it on my own. He won’t stop His pursuit of her either.

Vanessa is a regular contributor to Impress Your Kids. She is a stay-at-home mom to an energetic three-year-old, Juliet. They spend their days together reading books, attempting crafts, and occasionally beating tree trunks with large sticks. You can read more about their adventures at Silly Eagle Books.

Last night I was bored with our bedtime stories. I didn’t want to search through the shelves and shelves of books we have to find something that sparked my interest. So, I picked up my Eeboo Tell Me A Story – Mystery in the ForestStory Cards. I know, it’s a long name but basically it’s a huge deck of beautifully illustrated cards that help you tell a story to your kids.

With my best magician impersonation, I let Lydia pick five cards. I glanced at them and tried to put them in a logical order. There was none. So, I held up the first card and started talking.

Our story began with Princess Perriwinkle and her best friend/confidant/servant Petunia the Pig. Petunia the Pig and Mr. Squirrell the Milliner tracked down a thread theif. The contrite thief, Little Racoon apologized for being disobedience and worked hard to rectify his misbehavior.

If you didn’t quite get the progression there, don’t worry, there were lots more details and five beautiful picture cards to illustrate. Lydia was enthralled and when it was over, we actually had a teachable moment about Little Racoon’s repentance. How’s THAT for a good bedtime story?!

There are so many ways to use this deck of cards. You could just pick one card at a time and tell a funny story based on what pops up. Lydia loves to pick a few out and lay them on the ground, then tell a story about what she sees. Asa just likes to pick up the cards and look at the pictures. Today we laid them all on the floor and tried to jump over them—so, whatever works!

I just love this because this whole idea fosters creative writing, imagination, comprehension for a pre-reader and understanding of sequence. Not to mention bring in some art appreciation with the lovely vintage-y illustrations! But my favorite part is that you get to spend a few minutes creating something for your child. It will be a one-and-only story that’s just for that moment. It’s a gift!

You should check out Eeboo’s website. You will want one of everything. And in case you were wondering, this isn’t a paid post. But it should be. Seriously. I love these things.

What do you do when you are bored with bedtime?

For more great products check out Diaper Diaries Things I Love Thursday!

Today Asa pulled a blanked into the bathroom as I was brushing Lydia’s teeth. She thought this was quite funny and said, “Mommy! How does a blanket get into a bathroom if no one is carrying it?”

Me: I don’t know.

Lydia: It rides on top of someone! *bursts into laughter*

This hilarious joke began a whole slew of jokes following this same formula. “How does a panda get into a closet if no one is carrying him…how does a chicken get into a store…how does a cow get into a farm?” She giggled and guffawed for twenty minutes.

I honestly was hoping she’d never discover jokes because for whatever reason kids LOVE to make up jokes. And repeat them. Over and over again. But this joke was actually kind of (KIND OF) funny because she got it from a book called Miss Hunnicutt’s Hat.

My friend Becky bought me this book at her school’s book fair because Hunnicutt is my maiden name (TMI for the internet? Oh well, it’s on my facebook page…). And lucky for us, it turns out to be an adorable book regardless of the name! The illustrations are whimsical, funny and very detailed—you could look at them for days!

The story is what sparked my Lydia’s funny bone: Miss Hunnicutt is just a normal woman who decides to be very UN-normal one day. On the day the Queen is to visit her little town of Littleton, Miss Hunnicutt decides to wear a chicken on her hat. It causes quite a fuss as the entire town thinks she should remove it before the Queen comes to visit. Hilarity ensues as Miss Hunnicutt stands her ground. But what happens when the Queen stops to look at Miss Hunnicutt’s hat?

We haven’t read the book in months, so today when I got to the final page, Lydia laughed out loud at the ending! She thought it was hilarious. And it was still on her mind a few minutes later when she made up her “it rides on top of someone” punchline. Thanks to Miss Hunnicutt for letting her chickens ride on her head!

He will fill your mouth with laughter. Shouts of joy will come from your lips. Job 8:22

PS: I found this cute online joke booklet from Clubhouse Magazine. In case you want your kids to know some actual jokes: Lots O’ Laughs.

photo by malenga

I have avoided the Big Green Bear for a long long time. When Boz first came out several years ago, I said, “Honestly, Christian Companies. Can you be slightly original? Big Green Bear. Big Purple Dinosaur. Please.” I passed Boz over for Veggie Tales or well, anything.

Fast forward to Christmas. I get a big box of products* from Mom Select and the companies with which they work. They asked me to blog about any or all of it. (And I’m pretty sure they wanted me to do this BEFORE Christmas so people could buy this stuff for, you know, Christmas gifts. Alas, this is my life.) Anyway, inside this box was a set of BOZ DVD’s.

One of which was A WowieBOZowee Christmas. Already I’m rolling my eyes. But I pop it in and my TV-lovin’ daughter is spell-bound! She laughs, she sings, she interacts! Even my huh-is-the-tv-on 1 year old was watching it! And as I started watching it, I knew I was right–annoying green bear who giggles too much, little kids that love him, parents that don’t think it’s weird their kids play with a big green bear and really, not a lot of Bible stuff going on.

But as I sat through the whole show (and the second DVD: Thank You God for Bananas, Bubbles and Busy Bodies), I started to get it. Boz and the kids were just playing in the snow, or having fun exercising or making a veggie pizza—all things you’d see on Playhouse Disney or Nick Jr. any time of the day. But interspersed would be little phrases like, “God made all these fruits and vegetables to make our bodies strong!” OR “I love all the different seasons God made!”

It is exactly what we try to do here at Impress Your Kids: “talk about [God's Word] when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

The two Boz episodes we watched were examples of how to incorporate God into normal every day activities. There were a few more obvious Christian parts, of course—the kids pray before bed/dinner in every episode and Boz ends the show by saying, “God loves you!”

After watching both shows, I clicked over to the Boz website and read a little more about the philosophy behind the show. One of their main goals is to show “healthy family interactions with Mom and Dad (and even Grammie and Grampie) [as] an integral part of the kids’ everyday world”. I LOVE THIS. One of my pet peeves about kids’ programming is the lack of parents! Or if there are any parents, they are complete morons. So, this is refreshing to see a show with parents who love their kids and kids that respect their parents.

Not to mention the website is full of lots of fun online activities for the kids (including clips of the show) and printable parent-kid activities/lesson plans!  Plus, Boz is hooked up with MOPS. And last but not least, Boz is produced by Exlaim entertainment who made the best Christmas DVD ever: The Very First Noel.

So. I guess I’m eating crow. I like Boz. And I might even buy another DVD next time I’m at the Christian bookstore.

*I was given these DVDs. I was asked to blog about them. The fact that they were free to me in no way affected my post or my feelings about the product.