Summer Discipleship Idea - HERO TRAINING CAMP

Are you looking for an easy to use format for building honor and real heart-change in the attitudes of your kids? Hero Training Camp is an awesome tool from the folks at the National Center for Biblical Parenting. While they have curricula designed to be used in summer camps and VBS for churches, they also have a great version for families to do at home.

They have a special format designed for families to do through the summers, which is perfect for what we are talking about this week on INFO for Families.  Here's the lowdown, directly from their blog...

--------------

Dear Friend,

After listening to Mr. and Mrs. Carver talk for a half hour about the challenges they were having with their eleven year old son, I looked at them and said, “I know what Jacob needs… He needs therapy…AND… I believe you’re the best therapist for your child if you have a plan. I want to help you form that plan.”

From that moment on in our discussion the parents were eager to listen. In fact, in just a few short weeks of work they saw significant change in their son. Here’s what I told them.

Therapy is just another word for training. Your son has developed patterns of resistance to your instructions, bad attitudes, and complaining that are draining your family of the energy it needs to do its work every day. The goal will be to train your son to add energy to family life instead of draining energy from it.

The parents were eager to hear more. They were convinced that we were on the right track. So I continued…

The Bible uses the word “honor” to describe the way we treat others. It sounds to me like you’ve been working on obedience in your family and that you need some honor therapy to get the relationship side back on track. Honor deals with how we relate to each other. The Bible instructs children to learn honor at home. How will Jacob learn it unless you teach it?

This is just what we need. How do we teach it to our son?

I’m glad you asked. First, have a sit-down meeting with Jacob and talk about the present drain your family is experiencing because of an honor deficit. Then define honor in practical terms so that it means something specific for him. For example, you might say, “honor means having a good attitude even when you don’t feel like it.” Or, “honor means doing more than what’s expected.”

Then you’ll want to set up honor practice sessions. Be proactive. Ask Jacob to look for ways to add energy to family life. You might need to have him sit down and think of something honoring that he could do for his sister or for his dad who will be home from work in a half hour. You might send him into the living room to take an honor look to see what he could do to the living room to make things better.

When Jacob complains you might tell him that complaining focuses on the problem and that honor focuses on the solution. He needs to either be quiet or think of a way to solve the problem and report back to you.

When you give Jacob an instruction, he now has the assignment of not only completing the task but also thinking of one extra thing to do before reporting back. That’s what honor does. It looks to do more than what’s expected.

The parents began to practice new strategies with Jacob. Change started happening right away and within three weeks they were ready for more. Are there other biblical principles we can teach to our son that will help us train him like this?

That’s when I invited them to join Hero Training Camp, the conscience development course for kids. Jacob was learning to be internally motivated. Parents were seeing significant change. But they needed more.

You too can join with other families across the country to do spiritual enrichment with your kids this summer, beginning June 19.

For 20-30 fun-filled minutes a day, four days a week, your children will learn how to become internally motivated. Using Bible stories from the life of David, science experiments, games, activities, and even snack ideas, your children will experience the training they need to grow closer to God and add energy to your family and to their worlds.

Join Hero Training Camp at Home this summer. Learn more here.