What Would You Do?
That’s a question we asked our kids often during their growing up years.
We made it into a little game that the kids begged to play. It was fun.
- You are with a friend and he is about to pick the neighbor’s raspberries without permission. He wants you to join him. What should you do?
- You hear of an elderly man at church who is recovering from surgery. You wonder if there are things he might need done around his home. What should you do?
- Your baby sister grabbed your Bible and tore out several pages while you were out of the room. What should you do?
We would think of situations of temptation that we were pretty sure our kids would have to deal with in whatever stage of life they were experiencing. Then for family time, we asked our kids, “What would you do if…..”.
This exercise served two purposes:
- It prepared the kids in advance for situations of temptation. When they were tempted, they KNEW what to do. That didn’t always mean they chose to do what they knew was right, but they did much more often than if they hadn’t been prepared.
Listen to what our oldest had to say about being trained this way:
- Secondly, it helped Rick and I to come to an agreement on how to handle sticky situations. It is so important for mom and dad to be on the same page. I’m sure your kids have done what mine did many times……“Hey Mom! Never mind, Hey Dad!” They would anticipate the responses from mom and dad and choose to ask the person they thought would be more likely to give them what they wanted.
The way you choose for your kids to handle various situations may be totally different than what we chose, but it was important to help us clarify in advance what we thought was the best thing for our kids at the stage they were at in life.
We actually recently made our questions into a little game you can use with your kids at the dinner table or during family times. 
Our Kids of Character Bible Study has simple short answer questions for each of 45 essential character qualities to teach your children and these “IF’s” for each one.
It worked so well for our kids.
Advance preparation is so much better than “trying to clean up the mess” from bad choices.
And the sooner in life your child learns to think wisely, the more heartache you can spare them.
Like we often did, you can call, “Hey guys, let’s play “If’s”! Our kids always begged for more!
GRAB YOUR FREE IF’s GAME HERE. 
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