Guest Blog Post: Tammy Largin
My brother and I would have been known as free-range kids in today's society. It was 1975, and I was eleven when my parents decided to buy a guest ranch. We grew up on five million acres owned by White River National Forest from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Although my parents sold the ranch when I was twenty-one, those childhood experiences influenced my parenting.
Unlike most children today, we were never told we were too young to participate in everyday life, including working at the ranch. By twelve, I was a wrangler who earned a paycheck like the rest of the workers. This was not a requirement of my parents; I chose to work. Their willingness to teach me how to wash and fold laundry, help with the dinner dishes, and use a rock to saddle the tall horses taught me the three most important things we desire as people…to be known, loved, and challenged.
At thirty-six, my husband and I had our first and only child, Lilly. We raised her the same way we had been raised. He, too, was a free-range kid. Allowing her to participate in everything we did allowed us to know her the way God knows her. Lilly traveled in our quiver from birth until the day she left for Cape Verde, Africa, and God showed us how to love her unconditionally. Born with a banded right hand was her challenge, but she didn’t let it define her. With very little help from us, she learned how to ride a bicycle, swing on the monkey bars, and write left-handed.
Other parents began asking questions about the time she hit middle school. They wanted to know what made her confident in her everyday choices and commitment to Christ and the Great Commission. As a high school teacher, I saw many students who were unprepared for their futures. Parents started asking me to write a book to help them launch young adults.
I prayed to God to show me a way to connect all of the Lilly stories. In a dream, He brought me Psalm 127:4: “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.” This sent me on a quest to understand why God calls our children “arrows.” From that study, a book was born.
An arrow has three main parts: the shaft, the fletching, and the arrowhead. In my book, I teach about how the shaft of an arrow can be compared to the foundation of teaching biblical truth to our arrows.
My BOOK
In the pages of Children Are Like Arrows in the Hands of a Warrior, you will find both overarching parenting principles and nitty-gritty details, including:
Embracing God’s love for yourself and your children so that you can help them find love and faith.
Modeling biblical decision-making skills so that your children learn to make smart choices as early as possible.
Developing age-appropriate manners and communication skills.
Instilling freedom in your children without allowing them to control your household.
Bolstering your children’s confidence, equipping them to do whatever God calls them to do through the appropriate skills and community.
Shaping your child to be a person of service in the world of self-focus and so much more.
With useful tips both called out and listed at the end of each chapter, you will refer to this informative book again and again. Any parent of grown children will tell you that “release day” comes faster than you ever thought possible—so start preparing today!
Challenge-by Choice
Using the challenge-by-choice method, our children make choices with consequences, both good and bad, which help our arrows straighten their shaft on which to attach their fletching and arrowhead. Seeing your children as God designed them will open up a conversation about what tools they need in their toolbox (the fletching).
Asking questions helps them form their own opinions of their world using biblical truth so that God can shape their minds and hearts (arrowhead) for His glory.
The comparison of a craftsman making a traditional handmade arrow and the stewarding of our children is remarkable. Both are created with a specific purpose: to penetrate. The arrows of a warrior are made by the warrior and are used for protection and provision.
Our arrows are meant to penetrate the hearts around them with the love of Christ. A warrior’s arrow created without careful attention could lead to death from starvation or war. Our arrows, without careful stewarding, can also lead to death. If we don’t know, love, or challenge our children, we leave a gap that the devil will use to steal, kill, and destroy.
Are you ready to be the warrior to your arrow? Then join me as I integrate biblical parenting and archery concepts with personal anecdotes of raising our daughter “differently.”
Join us on the Beacon of Light Podcast on September 3, 2024, at 6:30 pm Mountian
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