CVC kids Resources
Featured
Resources
We know that music is very subjective and can even be divisive. These songs, however, are scripture…word-for-word. So, if you listen consistently, your family will be memorizing Bible verses before you know it.
Our favorite Bible storybook for preschoolers is The Beginner’s Bible, but if you find yourself looking for something a bit simpler for your toddler, the Read and Share Toddler Bible is our recommendation.
Featured Topic
Prayerfulness
Big headline about prayerfulness goes here and speaks to the intent behind this section of the webpage.
This section right here goes into the topic even deeper maybe even highlighting one or two sections or resources on the page below. Both of these statements could be long or short.
For Parents
SPIRITUAL PARENTING
Michelle Anthony
CVCKids highly recommends this wonderful resource. Michelle Anthony encourages parents to be the primary spiritual leaders of their children by creating ten environments in their homes, things like “storytelling,” “identity,” and “course correction.” These environments are meant to maximize spiritual growth and allow for God to do the work of reaching their children by the power of the Holy Spirit. Michelle Anthony’s writing style is very relatable and mixes practical tips, biblical truths, and strong narratives of personal, real-life examples. Her writing is both encouraging and convicting, leading parents to better align their child-rearing ideas with those found in the Bible.
HOMEFRONT MAGAZINE
Cristi Thomas
HomeFront magazine, produced by New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is a bi-monthly digital publication that is free to download and read. The older issues are arranged around the ten environments from the book Spiritual Parenting by Dr. Michelle Anthony, and they are chock full of articles on a variety of subjects like prayer, tough topics, and seasonal family activities. The newer issues have a different structure and focus, and can be used as a family devotional time with or without other families. There are eight lessons in each issue. The lessons have four parts: God’s Word, Create or Game, Worship Response, and Blessing. Give this free resource a try at homefrontmag.com.
PARENTING
Paul David Tripp
The subtitle of this helpful read is “14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family.” Paul David Tripp is faithful to address these fourteen principles, including topics such as “Identity,” “Control,” and “Mercy.” My biggest takeaways from the book, however, were the big-picture views of the job of a parent. Parenting is a calling to faithfully be an ambassador for Christ in the life of your child. It requires that you notice the way God parents you, and that you use that as the example of how to parent your child. Just like our Heavenly Father shows us much grace, parenting requires much grace, for your child and for yourself. Read through this book to re-focus, or even gain a different more accurate focus, on the purpose, heart, and calling of a parent.
PARENT CUE
PARENT CUE
Parent Cue may sound familiar to you because Parent Cue is related to the Sunday School curriculum we use in CVCKids. In fact, the take home paper that we give to parents in both preschool and elementary classrooms is also called Parent Cue. Today, we’re highlighting the website and app where you can find a wealth of wonderful articles, podcasts, and resources from a group of family experts and everyday parents. Even though another email in your inbox might feel overwhelming, this one is worth it! We recommend signing up for the weekly email, which curates a great selection of articles for you to peruse. Check it out at theparentcue.org.
PARENTING THROUGH THE PHASES
The Phase Project
The new school year is beginning, and you have planned out school lunches and school supplies, bought new clothing and bookbags, taken pictures and filled out forms. Have you, however, considered how you will parent your child in this new phase of his or her life? Parenting Through the Phases may be just what you need to start that process. Rather than giving you all the answers of everything you need to do for your child, it has an interesting format that is part guide, part journal. It asks questions, gives ideas, and highlights important areas to consider in your child’s life, and then gives you space to pray and plan and write down your thoughts, so that you will be an intentional parent this year, getting ready for things before they come rather than dealing with everything moment by moment as it gets thrown at you. Each phase guide informs you of how many more weeks you have left with your child until he or she is officially considered an adult, an overview of what’s changing about your child over the next fifty-two weeks, six things your child needs most, and four conversations to have in this phase. There is a different parenting guide for every year from newborn to twelfth grade, eighteen in total. You can buy a copy at orange.com or christianbook.com.
RISEN MOTHERHOOD: GOSPEL HOPE FOR EVERYDAY MOMENTS
Emily Jensen and Laura Wifler
Sometimes it’s hard to see how God’s good news of salvation affects the small, mundane, annoying, frustrating, and seemingly unspiritual circumstances and experiences of our lives. Emily Jensen and Laura Wifler are determined to help us see that the gospel truly does affect every single part of daily living. They host a podcast called “Risen Motherhood,” in which they choose an ordinary motherhood topic and discuss how to apply the gospel to it. The success of the podcast led them to write a book by the same name. In the book, Wifler and Jensen begin with an overview of the Bible’s basic storyline, a storyline that is both the overarching narrative of the entire Bible, as well as the narrative that occurs repeatedly on a smaller scale in the stories and books that make up the Bible. They use these four words to describe it: creation, fall, redemption, consummation. After the introductory chapters, the rest of the book gives examples of how to apply the “creation, fall, redemption, and consummation” message that the Bible preaches to a variety of topics that mothers typically face. These chapters do not need to be read in order, and you can actually pick and choose the ones that seem relevant to you. The hope is that, by reading several examples, the reader will then learn to apply the gospel message to any circumstance or conundrum that comes her way. We recommend giving the podcast a try and/or getting a copy of the book to read.
THE INTENTIONAL FATHER: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO RAISE SONS OF COURAGE AND CHARACTER
Jon Tyson
We know that all parents are very busy people, but CVCKids highly recommends that every father, especially fathers who have sons, take the time to read The Intentional Father: A Practical Guide to Raise Sons of Courage and Character. This fabulous book encourages fathers to rise above the categories of “irresponsible father, ignorant father, inconsistent father, and involved father,” to the level of being an “intentional father.” Hopefully after you have finished reading it, you will be inspired and highly motivated to make a detailed and personalized plan to walk your son through the teenage years and into adulthood. Having and implementing such a plan will give your son an advantage in knowing who he is, what he believes, and which way to go in life. Tyson gives plenty of ideas, thoughtful questions, and prompts to help you prepare an initiation into the teenage years, a formation process to teach and train, and a recognition of the entrance into manhood for your son. Because Tyson actually completed this process successfully with his own son, his writing holds much weight. We recommend getting a copy no matter the age of your child, and, in fact, the earlier you start to prepare, the better off you’ll be. This book is also a great read if you have daughters or if you are a single mom or a grandparent. Many of the principles can be applied in all sorts of situations.
HABITS OF THE HOUSEHOLD: PRACTICING THE STORY OF GOD IN EVERYDAY FAMILY RHYTHMS
Justin Whitmel Earley
In Habits of the Household, Justin Whitmel Earley writes, “One of the central themes of this book is that we become our habits, and our kids become us…The most Christian way to think about our households is that they are little ‘schools of love,’ places where we have one vocation, one calling: to form all who live here into lovers of God and neighbor.” Christian formation in a household takes on many forms, and this book focuses on the simple, daily habits that we can shift ever so slightly to make them intentional in our spiritual growth. The book unfolds like a day in our lives might unfold. It begins with a chapter on the habits surrounding “waking” and ends with a chapter titled “bedtime.” In between, you’ll find discussions on “mealtimes,” “family devotions,” and “play,” among other topics. At the end of each chapter is a helpful summary of its contents. Give this book a read and your eyes will be opened to see how your habits are contributing to your formation. Then, start somewhere small, and make a change to ensure those habits are forming you and your family toward godliness
THE TECH-WISE FAMILY
Andy Crouch
The Tech-Wise Family is a fascinating and inspiring read that centers around putting technology in its proper place. The “easy everywhere” aspect of technology is taking something important away from us as human beings. We need to see technology with a biblical perspective and set boundaries in our families so that precious things are not lost. Although author Andy Crouch does not condemn technology as a whole, he does give ten tech-wise commitments that encourage parents to foster wisdom and courage in their home, examine what true work and rest look like, and create environments that promote creativity over consumerism, among other topics. So, if you’ve been wondering how technology is leaving its mark on you and your children and what to do about it, then I recommend reading this book.
TRIGGERS: EXCHANGING PARENTS’ ANGRY REACTIONS FOR GENTLE BIBLICAL RESPONSES
Amber Lia and Wendy Speake
This is a great book for any parent who has lost their temper or found that the conversation in their home isn’t what they hope for it to be. Lia and Speake remind us of God’s wonderful truths, giving convicting reasons why we should choose gentle responses. This book gets to the heart of the matter and to the results of the biblical responses. The format is helpful because it is 31 short chapters, which fit perfectly as a month’s worth of devotions. What an encouragement to start the day with a reminder of God’s heart and where He wants your heart to be as a parent!
PRAYERS OF A PARENT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
Kathleen Nielson
Do you find yourself praying the same prayers for your children again and again? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, (and you should keep up those petitions!), but sometimes it’s nice to be inspired to pray for things you hadn’t thought of yet. It’s also nice to hear how others use different words or phrases to pray for the same things that are in your heart already. This simple book helps with just that. Included are 31 prayers that are based on Scripture and filled with gospel truth and hope. They are short, beautiful, and inspiring. Nielson also has versions for teenagers, young adults, and adult sons and daughters. Pick up a copy and add a spark of newness to your intercessions for your child.
5 THINGS TO PRAY FOR YOUR KIDS: PRAYERS THAT CHANGE THINGS FOR THE NEXT GENERATION
Melissa B. Kruger
Contrary to its title, the book 5 Things to Pray for Your Kids has more than five things to pray for your kids! That’s because the book is divided into twenty-one areas of prayer (each based on a specific verse or Bible passage.) For each of the twenty-one prayer topics, there are five prayer prompts (again, based on that same specific Bible passage.) This is not a thick chapter book with anecdotes and verbose philosophies on prayer. This is not a book of eloquently written prayers. Rather, this is a simple, yet valuable, guide that nudges you toward Scripture-based prayers for your child. Because this book is close to pocket-size, I like to keep it in the console of my vehicle and pray through the prompts while I am waiting in the car before soccer games or school pick-up. Whether you use it in the car or elsewhere, try adding it to your prayer habits!
PRAY WITH ME: HELP YOUR CHILDREN ENGAGE IN AUTHENTIC AND POWERFUL PRAYER
Erica Renaud
Simply by sharing her testimony, Erica Renaud makes a very strong case for the importance of guiding our children to build prayer lives of their own. We want our children to have an actual relationship with God, not just learn about Him, and prayer is a key component to encourage that to happen. After her compelling plea for adults to take this seriously, Renaud then gently encourages them to be guides for their kids. She also presents a wealth of practical, simple, and brilliant ideas for the nuts and bolts of how to teach your children to pray. She gives examples, tips, stories from her own life, and even words that you can use to explain difficult concepts to a child. I especially liked her testimony at the start of the book, as well as the chapters about “preparing to pray” and “helping them to pray on their own.” We recommend the book as an inspiration to not only deepen your own prayerfulness, but also to teach your kids to deepen theirs, too!
THE ONE YEAR PRAYING THROUGH THE BIBLE FOR YOUR KIDS
Nancy Guthrie
The One Year Praying Through the Bible for Your Kids devotional from Nancy Guthrie covers a lot of bases. First of all, Nancy insists that you don’t have to search out passages that are specific to parenting in order to pray the Scriptures over your children. Working with the popular “One Year Bible Reading Plan,” which takes you through the entire Bible in one year, Nancy pulls a few verses from each daily reading, followed by a beautifully written and wonderfully thoughtful devotion full of insights for parents, and finally a prayer for your children with blank spaces which can be personalized with their names. So, you are not only covering your children in prayer each day, you are also reading through the Bible in one year, and spending time meditating on a deep truth from a portion of what you read! I have found that praying God’s Word for my children is the absolute best thing I can do for them, and it also softens my own heart toward them because God’s Word is alive and will do its superb, convicting work within me when I immerse myself in it. You won’t regret adding this book to your home library.
