Do you remember as a child sitting at your kitchen table or lying on the floor with your coloring book open and the scent of new crayons standing at attention in their nifty double or tripled tiered box? Do you remember how you roamed through the book to find the best picture to color? Every child did that. Coloring times as kids produced good memories and was a great way to pass the time on a rainy day or slow morning.

Today, coloring time is still a great source of enjoyment. Yet, we all know that coloring books are not created equal. So many stores and internet options offer childhood market commodities that serve to promote movies, videos or television characters that fall short of human likeness, let alone Godly virtue. Coloring is still fun but it often lacks educational purpose and direction.

Now coloring can be fun while promoting values and virtues that mean something to you. The Growing Kids God’s Way coloring book offers a great learning experience while introducing biblical themes taken directly from Growing Kids God’s Way class sessions. This is a practical way to bring your class lessons home to the kids.

We wish to offer many thanks to cartoonist Ron Wheeler for making this project a reality. We would be remiss not to thank our associate Joey Link for pushing the project off the back burner, where it has been sitting for years. Joey’s insights and valuable assistance in putting together our Growing Kids themes for each page is greatly appreciated. We also provide some sample pages on this site to download. You can order a copy of the Growing Kids God’s Way coloring book from the GFI Store under the Other Resources section.

When was the last time you picked up a crayon and began to create a world of color? Why not join your little one in some fun play that reinforces what Mom and Dad are learning week by week. Enjoy coloring again, this time with your children.

Gary and Anne Marie

Question:

“I have been reading through On Becoming Preschool Wise and have a question about teaching my son to fold his hands to help him gain self-control. We’ve been working on this for several days and he just doesn’t seem to be getting it. Do you have any ideas?”

Answer:

“As explained in Toddler Wise and Preschool Wise “It is important to teach this technique to your child when things are calm.” With each of my four, I found that games were a great way to introduce new skills like this. This particular skill is challenging because “Be still” is such an abstract concept. Just how still is still? My guess is your preschooler has a totally different idea of what “still” means!

So try this. Set two chairs in front of a large mirror and have your preschooler sit in one with you in the other. Then tell her you are going to play the “self control” game. This works so well, because when you demonstrate what “fold your hands and get some self control” looks like, your child can look at herself in the mirror and compare herself to what you look like in the mirror. You can make this a game, by having a “silly break” and seeing how wiggly you both can get, and then as soon as you say “Let’s get some self control” the two of you see who can get still the fastest and hold it for at least a minute.

When first introducing this skill, try playing games like this a couple of times a day for the first several days, and then work in a refresher every few days or so, until you see that she understands and can use the skill in other situations.

Finally, don’t forget another important concept from Preschool Wise, “Parents should always try to help a child gain self-control before he crosses the bridge of trouble, not afterward.” There will come a day when you can use this technique to help an out-of-control child gain self-control, but that is a skill that comes with lots of practice and maturity. Until then, use this as often as you can. Before you get to the check out stand, tell your children to fold their hands and get self-control. Before you walk into Great-aunt Mary’s house, talk to your kids about keeping their hands folded around her heirlooms. Before you approach the dessert table at the church pot-luck, tell your children to fold their hands and ask permission before selecting a dessert.”

Question:

“My husband and I don’t practice “couch time” per se, but we DO try to make a point of “catching up on each other’s day,” while we get dinner ready. Isn’t that good enough?”

Answer:

“There is such a good reason why “couch time” is encouraged throughout the On Becoming books, from Babywise to Teenwise. There is just no substitute for mom and dad taking a few minutes each day to stop everything and totally focus on each other. Think of it like this. There are plenty of times during the day when you and your children will “work” together folding laundry, picking up after play time, working in the yard, etc. but do those times in any way compare to those special moments when you take your preschooler on to your lap to read her a book, or when you give your 7 year old your undivided attention while he tells you what happened at school that day? I can promise you that your child knows the difference! ? In the same way, your children will be able to see the difference between you and your husband “laboring side by side to maintain their world,” and the respect and loyalty communicated through “couch time.”"

Here are some great coloring page resources for your children.

The following documents are in PDF format and require the free Adobe Reader.

Respect for Age

Interrupt Rule

1st Time Obedience

Couch Time