Here is an enjoyable way to teach your children to honor their father. My children were 7, 5, and 4 when we did the following project. We were living in a remote village in the mountains of Papua New Guinea.
We couldn’t just walk down to the craft store or go to Wal-Mart to buy Daddy a gift for Father’s Day. We had to use our imaginations and come up with something that we could make out of paper and tape!
Every day, I gave the kids a piece of paper, and they drew pictures of things they liked to do with Daddy, or things they liked about him. We used cardstock paper, which is heavier than normal printer paper and will last a lot longer. We went through old photos and pulled out any that had Daddy and one or more of the children in it. Some were pictures of Daddy giving a horseback ride to a toddler, a walk in the woods, putting a ponytail in his 3 year-old’s hair, setting up a train track for the boys, reading a bedtime story, or simply holding a newborn baby. It didn’t matter what they were doing, as long as they were together.
We cut some of the pictures so we could fit more than one on a page. We didn’t have any glue, so we taped the pictures onto the paper. Then we alternated a page of photos with a page of drawing, and put them in a three ring binder. There were twenty pages in all, each of the kids drawing about three pictures each. My oldest son drew a picture of himself and Daddy splitting wood together. He put his name on it and wrote, “I like my Daddy splitting wood with me” across the top.
My other son drew a picture of himself watching Daddy climb onto the roof to fix something. He wrote, “I like when my Daddy climbs on the roof.” It was such a simple thing, yet it showed Daddy that he is being watched by his little ones every moment. They learn something from every thing that Daddy does and says. My little girl wrote, “I like being my Daddy’s Pookie Bear” and drew a picture of her and her Daddy holding hands.
Another one of my favorites was also done by my little girl. She drew a picture of herself watching Daddy give Momma a kiss. She wrote, “I like my Daddy kissing my Momma!” There were some things that they said they liked about Daddy, but we didn’t know how to draw them. So we made a back page and wrote, “Other things I like about my Daddy are: “He is smart. He believes in God. He doesn’t lie.” Then one of the children wrote, “I like my Daddy” and we taped it on the front of the binder.
Daddy appreciated this gift much more than he would have appreciated a new tie. It is something he can cherish forever, and it brings back good memories. The children look through it from time to time, and they are reminded of times that Daddy spent with them. It was simple and fun.
Deanna Noel
Dewayne and Deanna Noel have seven children. They spent two years on top of a mountain in PNG finishing the mission work Beka started.
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I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 3 John 4
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Something Right
Deanna and Dwayne were closse friends of mine. I lost contact with them when they deleted their facebook account and were living in Alaska. The last time I talked to them, they were on their way back overseas. I'm trying to reconnect with them. Do you have any idea where I can find them now?? Thank YOU, Sheila