EMAIL 1
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Subject Line: The Madness of Spring
Dear Parents,
As we begin to move into spring and all that it brings, weâd like to encourage you to resist succumbing to a certain chaos that we all feel. Now sure, thereâs a March Madness that you might get into (if youâre a sports fan), but we need to do everything we can to steer our kids away from developing patterns of living in a madness that will lead them to a life that is far less than the one God wants for them. You know what I mean; busy schedules, school, sports, pressure to achieve, and developing fears all have a way of taking over our kidsâ thoughts. As parents, you have the opportunity to model to your kids how to live differently in the world and teach them the principles and skills that will help them build a healthy perspective on how to live. Instead of marching through the madness, we can learn to develop a peace that comes from God and will guard our hearts. If we develop this peace ourselves, we just might be able to pass it on to our kids.
During this month of March Madness, we want to provide you with some ideas, tools, resources, and a slam dunk of encouragement to equip you to help your kids build a healthy perspective on how to live outside of the madness.
To watch this monthâs Online Parenting Class video, click the link below.
[ INSERT LINK TO ONLINE PARENTING CLASSÂ VIDEOÂ ]
Thank you for allowing us to team up with you as you lead your family. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Cheering you on,
[INSERT LEADERâS SIGNATURE HERE]
EMAIL 2
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Subject Line: Marching Away from the Madness
Dear Parents,
If you had to rate how crazy your world is right now, what would you say? What about your kidâs world? Your answers likely revolve around how busy your family is, how much you pay attention to current events, and how good your relationships are. We can all point to parts of our lives that can make us believe weâre going mad, but there is hope. There is more. There is a different way of life that we can all step into if we will simply stop focusing on and joining in on all of the noise, chaos, and madness; stop letting it lead our thoughts and our actions.
Check out this month’s blog article that might just give you a different perspective on the noise youâre experiencing, as well as some tips on what you can do to decrease all the noise and distractions âdingingâ for your attention. And if you haven’t watched this month’s encouraging Online Parenting Class video, you still have time. To read the blog article or watch the video, click on the links below.
[ INSERT LINK TO M2P ONLINE PARENTING BLOG ARTICLE ]
[ INSERT LINK TO ONLINE PARENTING CLASSÂ VIDEOÂ ]
We are in this together! Let us know if there is ever anything we can do for you or your family.
Praying for you as you lead at home,
[Â INSERT LEADERâS SIGNATUREÂ HEREÂ ]
M2P March KIDS Parent Video Script
âPeace In The Madnessâ
Often when I have the chance to talk to parents, I have a couple of assumptions. Now, I know what assumptions can sometimes do to us, but weâre not gonna go there ï.
I assume that we all want to be great parents. We all want to do everything we can to offer our kids what they need as they grow up. I assume that we all want to have a healthy, sustainable pace of life that doesnât overwhelm us and doesnât suck the life out of our family. I assume that we all want for our kids to develop the skills they need to have a healthy, sustainable pace of life that doesnât overwhelm them in the future. I assume that we all want for our kids to grow up with a real faith that makes a difference in their lives.
Weâre in a month that is affectionately referred to as âMarch Madnessâ by anyone who follows college basketball. Itâs a month where we get to watch this basketball tournament that often takes crazy twists and turns and can be kind of chaotic. And we love it ⊠unless our team is supposed to win, and they donât, but thatâs another story.
We love the madness. But you see, itâs not just the tournament and the month of March that are madness ⊠our lives can sometimes spiral into a different kind of madness that leads us away from all of the things I started our conversation with. We lose focus of being great parents and offering our kids what they really need. We develop an unhealthy pace of life that drains us and leads us, as adults, to a place of fear and worry, and anxiety. We fail to teach our kids that they donât have to live in the madness and they donât have to settle for a chaotic pace of life and a cluttered brain and heart.
And I think all of this madness and the noise around us all is so loud that itâs REALLY hard for our faith and our kidsâ faith to take root and grow. Because I know for me, and hopefully for you, the ultimate goal is for our kids to know and love Jesus and live from a peace that only comes from Him.
If you have figured out how to live in a way that you can effectively go through life, but block out the madness, then more power to you. Keep it up, and send us some tips on how youâve been able to do that. But if you struggle with all of the madness, we would encourage you to do a few things. First, Take some time to sit down with a piece of paper or a journal and a pen. Write down what parts of the madness are getting to you. Part of any attempt to change is identifying where you are and being honest about the current state of things. Second, find someone who you can talk to about this. Maybe itâs your spouse; maybe it needs to be a close friend or possibly a pastor or someone at your church. Whoever it is, have a conversation! We are not meant to do life alone, so just ask someone to sit with you and hear about whatâs going on in your heart. They donât have to solve anything; they can just be in it with you. And finally, spend some time asking God to show you how things can change. Prayer is powerful, and even though God doesnât always take things away or make things smooth, He is always with us, and that matters.
Philippians 4:6-7. It says, âDo not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.â
God doesnât want us or our kids to live in the madness. He wants us to live in the peace that He offers. And if we can learn to do that, we can step more into being the parents we all want to be and the parents our kids need us to be.