- Set up play groups for our children.
- Encourage our children to pray that God will bring friends into their lives - this builds the child's faith to when he/she sees God answering the prayer. One mom testified this to God's glory.
- Get kids involved in some team sports - where they can learn to interact with team mates and through playing together, build strong bonds with each other. Being involved in a sports will also take away idle time from our kids spending too much time playing computer or console games.
- Encourage them to join ccas or uniform groups that encourage team building. CCAs like the Boys' or Girls' Brigade really draw the kids together through their team building exercises and camps and outings.
- Plan outings or holidays together with family friends with kids of similar age group on a regular basis. Do it together with families with similar values.
- Help your children start a bible study or small group with their friends even when they are in primary school. When they study God's word together and pray together, they will learn and grow together. And as they grow up together in this small group, they can hold each other accountable to the values and truth of God, in their teens years and adulthood. The bonds and ties build up during these years will last them through their life time as seen by many of us in our own lives and that of our spouses'.
- Get our children to participate in church or youth camps
- Know the friends our children hang out with. Invite them to our homes, talk to them, encourage them and help guide them.
- Empower our children to be discerning in choice of friends. Teach them through God's word.
Reflections (taken from 2004 Heart2Heart Prayer Workshop for Our Children)
· Even as we pray for our children to be surrounded by good friends, we should ask ourselves – what sort of friend will our child be to another? Friendship is a two way street.
· When we pray for our children’s friends, we are building safety nets below these children, preventing them from slipping into the hands of satan. In this way, we are also extending God’s kingdom as well. Sometimes, we may need to pray for removal of a bad influence (2 Thess 3:2-3) but other times, God may want to use our child to influence this other child and bring him/her to Christ.
· We can also pray against the following to reduce the risk of them falling into bad company:
o Low self-esteem
o Loneliness
o Adverse influence
o Negative Influence
· Pray for wisdom and a way of escape when caught in a difficult situation
· Proverbs is a good place to look up when praying for our children’s relationships and walk with God
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