Crafting children’s hearts doesn’t need to look super-spiritual. With my children, we enjoy going to garage sales. We find some old piece of junk, take it home, clean it and remake it. Think of the possibilities of conversation in taking someone’s leftovers and redeeming them. Other fun activities we do include painting pages of old novels with watercolours. We collect stickers with cool designs and pithy statements. We read Calvin & Hobbes comics together. We watch Disney’s Frozen by request of my one-year-old every day while the rest of us complain about the plot holes, but then we all sing every song (even my oldest) at the top of our lungs. We watch the wildlife around our yard and marvel at its quirkiness and resourcefulness. I give spontaneous compliments and make sure that I specifically seek out a child just to tell them something neat randomly, instead of only when I need them to do something.

By sharing my hobbies with my children, I open my life to them and they start to see my heart. My heart is for them out of an overflow of my heart for God. I let them walk in on my business meetings and overhear my discussions. I answer their philosophical questions (although I do wish they’d start asking them before 9pm). We play Mario Party and let the little ones team up with the older ones. We go for walks and discuss everything that enters their minds. When I seek out a space and time to be by myself and they seek me out, I welcome their presence (but I do wish they’d wait until after I have left the bathroom). My children walk into my library and see that I value books and knowledge, which has taught them to value books and knowledge. When I don’t do this perfectly, which is daily, I correct myself in front of them and seek their forgiveness. I reiterate that, as a poster we made and placed at the top of the stairs states: “You are loved! You have value! The world is better because you were born. Our family is better with you in it.”