Kids

Love, Lead and Play

Posted on by Jason Nicholas

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Being a Dad is hard. You have to learn when to discipline, when to encourage, when to love, when to play, when not to embarrass, when to embarrass and do all of those at the exact same time in different ways, in different places for your different children! As Father’s we are helping shape our children (either good or bad) whether we realize it or not. Much responsibility is placed on the Dads in our culture and rightly so. When people excel they thank their Dad. When things go wrong they blame their dad (Same can go for Mom’s too but since its Father’s day you get a break).

 

These statistics show just how important Fathers are in our society. (Now I understand that there are single moms that have no choice because of a father leaving and are doing an amazing job raising children without a dad!!)

  •  78% of the nation’s jail and prison inmates grew up in a fatherless household.
  • 80% of young gang members are out of fatherless homes.
  • 64% of girls are more likely to have premarital sex when there is no father figure.
  • 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.
  • 80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes.
  • 85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes.

That is sad….

Now there are always exceptions to those stats of people who got out of theses situations or decided they wouldn’t allow family to dictate their future but for the majority having a Dad matters. I’m not talking about a Dad that was man enough to help create you, I’m talking about a Dad that is man enough to be a Father and that is there for you.

If you’re a Father, or  if you ever want to be a father, take responsibility now. Learn to communicate with your children and wife and learn to say I’m sorry. Being a Dad and a Man are 2 different things. Your children (and even wife) need to hear you say you’re sorry for things. Asking my children for forgiveness for blowing up or for saying something hurtful is very humbling. It also shows them I care for them, love them and I’m leading the way in being willing to apologize.

I have 2 children. Jonah is 12 and Jada is 9 and they are so different. I can see my strengths and my weaknesses in them. Everything I do or say can influence them now and for the future. Whether we like it or not, we as parents, are raising mini me’s everyday!!

What to do now….

Love, Love and Love some more. Men, the way you love and treat your wife will be an example to your son. He is learning how to treat a woman from you. Your daughters will look for a husband that loves and cares for her as we do.   It’s ok to have feelings and to show them to our kids.

Lead strong. It’s not too late to start no matter what age your kids are. Lead them to Jesus, lead them to church, lead them with everything you are and even with the things you are not.

Play, wrestle, do nails, Xbox, dolls, sports and everything else your kids like to do; let them win some too. Sometimes Dad’s are tired and we just don’t want too, but for me those are the times where I end up having the most fun.

Just be encouraged on this Father’s Day to be the man, the father and the dad that God created you to be.

Go Dad Go,

 

J

 

If you need any kind of photos you need to get Spanglish Studios!! Follow the link to the website!

Photo by Spanglish Studios

 

 

 

Concrete Jungle,Bird Funerals and You

Posted on by Jason Nicholas

Our church parking lot which is also our “yard” has turned out to be the local hang out of 2 -25 kids at any given time. At any moment there could be a Basketball game, Lacrosse, soccer, water gun fights, Nerf wars, hide and seek, tag or all of them going on at the same time. You can image 20 or so kids with bikes at one time……its cray cray.

As a follower of Christ we talk about living out the Gospel and walking out our faith and a lot of time if were honest, it really is talk. I think these kids have really helped my family and I walk it out and live it even more.  It took some time to build relationships with them and we really started to see them grow when they would invite other neighbor kids to come and play. I think we doubled in numbers every couple of days. Now there’s a knock on the door  almost everyday from someone , kids are waiting for our car to pull up so Jonah and Jada can come play. In our house we will have boys playing Xbox or girls doing nails and makeup. We have even had a funeral for a bird that was taken out by one of the kids.

If there’s one thing I can see in all of them it’s that these kids crave attention and love. In some little way I really believe my family has loved them. They come to our house to have me fix their bikes or to help work out fights. Little kids yell across the street asking If I can come to their house and play!  I’ve seen my son and daughter be an amazing example to these kids and they don’t even realize the growth and training they have gotten from it. This is in no way a pat my family on the back because were awesome post. There are times where I wish I was there Dad so I could whip them (don’t freak out and yes I spank my kids). There are times where I have to go talk to parents. There are times where I don’t want to play or I don’t want them in my house but I have to remember it’s not about me. These kids love being around our family. I am bias but I think my family is special, they love the people who some would call un loveable. Brandi and I have tried to be and example of what a Mom and Dad should be to their kids and how a family unit actually looks like. It’s not easy and it takes time but we are doing our best to love them.

So what is this all about anyway?

Is your house the one the kids run to or run away from? Are you the person that complains about what they have done or are you giving out the full size candy bars on Halloween?

Here’s a quote from Maya Angelou that can summarize it all up.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

People want to feel loved, especially kids.

Bottom line….

If you can impact your Neighborhood, You can Impact Nations.

 

J

Jada

Bird Funeral

Bikes

Put To Shame

Posted on by Jason Nicholas

Last night my kids embarrassed me. Actually they put me to shame. I guess really they put most of you to shame.

We took our kids to a Braves game for Jonah’s Birthday and after the game we were heading to our van and we came across a homeless gentleman.

Now I don’t have a problem giving money to someone on the street so I reached into my pocket and gave him what change I had.

Jonah (who’s 10) asked me for his money and was going through it.

He passed his ones, then his ten and went straight to the twenty-dollar bill. Thats right, he gave the dude TWENTY DOLLARS!! Talk about putting me to shame.

At that same moment I became overwhelmed with how awesome my son is and at the same moment I realized how lame I am.

But It continues…

I took a wrong turn heading out and went into downtown ATL. People were sleeping everywhere. Really, if you haven’t  been out of your small town you have no idea what im talking about.

Next up to the plate….JADA

She looked and looked and asked questions and then just kept saying she couldn’t stop thinking about them.

Here heart was moved with compassion and she just couldn’t understand. She was really worried about them. Brandi’s parents were with us so Pam prayed with Jada and talked to her about it some.

How many of us see those situations and walk by or drive by and judge them or even question what they are going to do with the money we give them?

Jesus said “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Luke 18:17

THE POINT

Forget all your adult mumbo jumbo junk and have a child like heart.

We have complicated almost everything. Really…We have!

Jesus knew that…thats why he told us to have a childlike heart!!

FINALLY  –   Stop analyzing everything and just love.

J