Baiting the Hook
Image credit: sandralise / 123RF Stock Photo
In his excellent book Bringing up Boys, Dr. James Dobson shares a story with great insight into how to motivate boys. The principle highlighted, however, doesn’t apply exclusively to boys. If you have kids of any age or gender, this willhelp you!
During the NBC coverage of the 2000 Summer Olympics from Sydney, Australia, a man named Bill Dolan related this experience from his home life: “I can remember the night at the dinner table when Tom wouldn’t drink his milk and I made an issue out of it. I said, ‘You’re not leaving until you drink the milk.’ He said, ‘I don’t want the milk.’ I said, ‘That’s not the question. You’re drinking the milk before you leave the table.’ We were at a real Irish stalemate.” How might you have handled this standoff?
Dolan went on to say that at last an idea came to him. He poured himself a glass of milk and then turned the tables on Tom. “I’ll race you!” he said. Tom thought that was really cool and downed his milk rapidly. When they’d finished, Bill had won the race, so Tom said, “Let’s do two out of three.”*
The value of competition is but one principle gleaned from this episode between a child and a caring adult. Another equally important principle is this: Appropriate and attractive “packaging” has the potential to turn an uncooperative child into an enthusiastic participant.
Bible activity pages from SundaySchoolZone.com frame biblical truths and events in ways that effectively “bait the hook” of biblical learning for children.
But don’t take my word for it. Begin by exploring these activity pages highlighting events in the early church.
Paul’s Conversion Jigsaw Puzzle
Paul and Silas in Jail Match Game
*Dr. James Dobson, Bringing up Boys, (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2001), 147.
