Encourage, Encourage, Encourage Parents!

Yesterday I wrote about being intentional when it comes to encouraging parents. Today I want to talk a bit more about this. It can be exhausting to be a young parent, working to provide and care for your family. Unless your child excels at something, you are rarely told you are doing a good job. But, heaven forbid, if your child behaves like, well, like a child - since they are a child - you are nearly guaranteed to hear from others what you should be doing and have your parenting skills called into question.

Let me pause to say, there are times when a child's misbehavior indicates something needs to change in the home and we do need to be alert and watching for this and offer our help and support to parents who may be single parents or just parents who feel overwhelmed. But, we also need to be alert and watching for opportunities to support and encourage parents who are doing their best to raise their children. It isn't difficult to do this, consider the following . . .

• Be generous with your kind words - compliment parents on the everyday things - like their child's smile, their sense of humor or fashion style! Complimenting "little" things if you are sincere can go a long way in lifting a parent's spirit!
• Take a moment to mail a note - or use a free e-card from DaySpring.com to encourage parents - and children!
• Set aside an hour each week to call families and ask what you can pray about for them - tell them you are specifically praying for families throughout the year and are praying for them in particular this week. 

These are just three simple ideas of ways you can encourage families . . . what do you do to encourage the families in your church?