Parenting The Kids We Love

Are We Spiritual Beings?

5 Senses Emphasis on Body

A Sensual Faith

Touch; sacramentals,

affection

Taste;After Church traditions?

Smell;Incense, flowers

Visual;Books, movies, sign

prayers, sacramentals

Hearing;Music, prayers

Seeing Is Believing

Subjective vs. Objective

Belief Systems

Subjective Objective

Birth to Three Years

Infants and toddlers learn through watching and touching the world around them. They are curious, trusting and imaginative. They are very willing to mirror or copy what they see.

Three to Six Years

Interested in love, morality, boys and girls, babies and God and even their own mortality. Simple answers are best. Age appropriate words help them to grasp a foundation from which you can build upon later. Focus begins to be placed on the same sex parent as they begin to identify who they are and what it means to be a boy or girl.

God Made Us To Love and Be Loved Up To Age 6

1.) GOD created the World and Everything.

2) God made us in His image and likeness, Male and FemalePhysically and Spiritually.

Feminine and Masculine gifts

3)The Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit

#1

God is our creator.

The Creation Story. World,

Plants, Animals,

Human Beings

#2

God made us with a Body, which we can

see and a Soul, which we cannot

see. We are made Male or

Female

And it was Very Good!

#3The Trinity; God

is love. God is a family

of three persons; Father, Son and

Holy Spirit .

We are His Children and are

called to love like the trinity.

Teaching The Faith

Movies, Books, Music

Conversation Starters

Seven to Ten Years

Maturity varies especially between boys and girls. Boys usually (but not always) mature at a slower rate. The attitudes, convictions and character traits that will serve your child later in life are developed here. It is important for parents to teach self possession, faith, prayer life (i.e. meals, bed time, guardian prayer etc) as well as teach them their PERSONAL importance to God and to all who love them. The focus begins to be placed externally from family life so Friends, Movies,TV, internet, Gaming, should be monitored.

Ten to Thirteen Years

Physical and emotional changes and growth are accelerated yet psychologically they are still trying to catch up. We can forget they are still just kids and not young adults yet. The rapid changes in their development can make them feel awkward confused and uneasy. Body image begins to be a part of their identity. They can become self-conscious, have difficulties making decision, be unable to understand consequences to their decisions. The opposite sex is now on their radar. This is where the 5 “things” begin (more on this later).

Human Sexuality; The Teen Years

Start to Notice opposite sex

God’s plan, Human Sin and Jesus’ Love

Up to age 131.) FREE WILL

Love and dignity of person2.) SIN

Concupiscence, Redemption, Sacraments and Grace, self-possession is KEY3.) Love Vs. Use; True Loves involves Self-sacrifice

God so love us that He became one of us, Jesus gives us The Church and with

it, the sacraments from which to grow in holiness. Mary’s yes gave God the body

and blood from which to offer for the world on the cross.

4.) 7 SACRAMENTS & CHURCHGrace, body and soul

5)VOCATIONS A calling from God. All called to be Mothers and Fathers

(spiritual/Physical) and each of us are unique unrepeatable persons with gifts and

charisms for living out that calling.

Free Will Adam & Eve

Choice, Personhood,Dignity

, Love

No Choice, object for use

Human SinThe Need For “Grace”

Concupiscence temptation and the body

Self-Possessio

nUnderstanding

their temperaments

Practicing Mortifications i.e.

fasting

Love Vs. UseTrue Love Requires

Self-Sacrifice

Sacraments, Body and Soul,

Grace

Baptism: Original Sin

Reconciliation; *mortal sin, venial sin

Eucharist; communion

Confirmation; apostles

Anointing of The Sick; Byzantine Catholics annoint with oil on what we call “Ash Wednesday” to help us on our marathon to God!

MarriageHoly Orders

Unique and Unrepeatable Gifts/Persons

As disciples, we offer our entire selves to God–including our personalities,

natural talents, education, life experience, and background–to be used for his

purposes. But when we serve God, we are not limited to just the gifts with which

we were born! Our natural talents can be wonderful tools for God’s purposes,

and sometimes a charism is added to an existing natural talent by the Holy

Spirit after an individual has undergone a deepening conversion.

Some charisms may seem “extraordinary” (such as prophecy, healing, or

discernment of spirits) and others quite “ordinary” (such as

administration, service, hospitality, or mercy), but all charisms are

empowered by God. We use our charisms together with our natural talents and

all that we are to serve God and our neighbor.

CHARISMS

“Charism” is the Greek word used in the New Testament for “favor” or “gratuitous gift.” Charisms, or spiritual gifts, are special abilities given to all Christians by the Holy Spirit to give them the power both to represent Christ and to be a channel of God’s goodness for people. Whether extraordinary or ordinary, all charisms ought to be exercised in the service of God (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2003).

God’s plan for love and life Recap: Up to age 13

1. We are all called to Know GodFather, Son and Holy SpiritFree: Without strings Total: Sacrificing for good of otherFaithful: Keeps promises, Fruitful: it brings forth life

2. We are called to Love God Opposite of Love is Use. We express love in and through our bodies. We are called to give ourselves as a gift. True love involves self-sacrifice.

3.)We are called to Serve God through RelationshipsGod is a relationship and made us for relationship. Friendships: do not bully, stand up for one another, not selfish,

do not gossipIn marriages a husband and wife enter into a union with God

that is open to children because Children are a blessing from God. Those called to religious life are called to be mothers and fathers.

Fourteen to Eighteen

Adolescence is a time of intense physical, emotional and intellectual, social and spiritual growth. Youth discover themselves through interpersonal relationships. Infatuation begins, church teachings are questioned, new questions are asked as teens become more capable of abstract thought. Argumentation should be viewed as trying to make sense of information on this deeper level so that they can make their relationship with God their own. Speaking a language they can receive becomes imperative. Not all “arguments” are them arguing, but rather it can be a true form of searching for truth.

Theology of The Body9-12th grade

1.. Created For Love2. Love Defined: Giving Versus Using3. Naked without shame4. Hope and Redemption in Christ5. Truth and Freedom6. Language of The Body7. Free, Total, Faithful, Fruitful8. Marriage9. Celibacy and Religious life10. Vocations11. Dating with Purpose and Purity12. Living it out

It’s not good to be alone;

created for by love, for love, to love

The opposite of love is use;

we are gifts, not objects

Gift

Object

Naked Without Shame“In the beginning it was not so”

Hope and Redemption in Christ;

Union and Communion

Ultimate fulfillment comes when we are in relationship.

We are called to relationship and these relationships are to be free, faithful, fruitful and total gifts of our persons to another for the better good of the other person. Therefore using Free, Faithful, Total and Fruitful:

True marriage can only be between one man and one woman

Homosexual acts are gravely sinful.

Pornography, adultery, pre-marital sex are all acts to use another as an object

Truth and Freedom

Truth: Objective?

Freedom; to desire and choose the good;

accepting the responsibilities of

authentic love

Truth: Subjective?

Or Freedom; To do whatever you want?

Language of The Body

Making Visible Invisible; Not only does

our body speak a language, we need to

make sure what is saying is truth! Any act of

physical intimacy outside of marriage speaks a lie because it seeks to use the other person as an object for selfish use. Sexting,

pornography, heavy petting etc..

Free, Total, Faithful, Fruitful

Free: Jesus and Mary modeled Free sacrificial

love.

Total: Willing to die, Jesus and Mary

modeled Total love.

Faithful: Embracing the Father’s will, Jesus

and Mary Modeled Faithful love.

Fruitful: True love bears spiritual and/ or

physical fruit.

Marriage and Holy Orders

We are all Called to union and

communionVocations

We are all called to Marriage. We are all called to Motherhood and Fatherhood.

Some are called to Spiritual Motherhood and Fatherhood. Although living a consecrated single life or as a religious sister is not a sacrament, it is still a

very beautiful way to live out our call to union and communion.

The 5 Things

1.) Peer Pressure

2) Independence

3) Curiosity

4) To Be Loved

5) Pleasure

TEN THINGS

1.)More is Caught Than Taught; Our own Ongoing ConversionNot called to be successful just faithful

2.) SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE3.) COMMUNITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY4)INTERNET 5)AFFIRMATION & AFFECTION 6.) Good and Holy FRIENDS7.) GOALS; Putting the future on their radar8.)VOCATIONS; DISCUSS THEM, prepare for them9)UNIQUE UNREPEATABLE PERSONS; Identifying their gifts10.) SACRAMENTS, SACRAMENTALS AND MORE; Living out our faith

More is Caught; your own relationship with God the Father, Jesus the Bridegroom and The Holy Spirit the

paraclete

“We are not called to be successful, only called to be faithful” Mother Theresa

Speaking Their Language