The Five Love Languages – Week 3 – Time Spent With

Psalm 139:1-2 (The Message) God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I’m an open book to you; even from a distance you know what I’m thinking.

This week at Bridge Kids, we reviewed each Love Language and our language focus last week, Gifts. Our main focus this week was Time Spent With. We discussed showing love to others by spending QUALITY time with the people you love. We also discussed ways God spends time with us and ways we can spend time with God – Jesus (in human form), Nature, Worship (through music, writing, dance, appreciation of creation, etc.), Prayer, Bible, People, etc.
We started out reviewing unconditional love and God’s unconditional love for us and how we don’t have to do anything to win God’s love for us – we just have it….always. Love God, Love Others as Self.

We talked about our emotional fuel tanks and how spending un-rushed time with someone we love, can show the other person, “You’re important. I like being with you.” We discussed when a person’s primary Love Language is spending quality time with another person, hanging out with them is an expression of love that helps fill up their “love-tank”. It doesn’t matter if you go on a walk, put a puzzle together, go on a road trip or even talking on the phone – as long as it’s QUALITY time, it helps fuel the tank. We also talked about how QUALITY time does not mean flipping through the channels on the television or doing something where you can’t have good eye contact and conversation – because neither person is actually learning something new from the other person. Seeking out another person, for the sole purpose of hanging out, is one way we can express our love for one another.

Today, each Bridge Kid decorated a jumbo puzzle piece and then we assembled the puzzle together. We discussed how time together allows people to understand you, and helps you understand how you "fit" with them. Every time you are "with" someone it’s a chance to show that you love them. We challenged them to spend quality time with someone they love this week and come up with fun ideas of how to spend time with the people they love!




Dine and Dish:

Ask your kids what “unconditional love” means to them. Discuss what it means to you.
Ask your kids about the jumbo puzzle we put together – How did they feel or what did they think about having their own piece of the puzzle? What did the puzzle symbolize/represent to them?

Do an activity together: Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to spend with your child – don’t rush your quality time with them….make eye contact and ask specific questions.
Puzzle – Choose a fun puzzle that will take a while to assemble and put it together with your family. During your time, be sure to talk to your kids, ask them questions about the things they like/don’t like, love/don’t love.
Go for a Walk – Get bundled up and go for a walk! If it’s around your neighborhood, talk about the neighborhood (not neighborhood gossip, but the culture of your neighborhood, why you chose to live there, what they like/dislike about where you live).
Saturday Market – Visit Portland Saturday Market together. Talk about all the different smells, colors, textures, different people and art you will experience. Ask your kids what they think about each thing. Ask if they could make something and sell it, for a living, what would they do?
Music Store – Visit a music store where you can listen to music together. Try different genres of music, even stuff you may not like and talk about how different types of music can evoke different emotions or feelings. Dance and be silly together (unless, of course, it would be embarrassing to your child).
Backyard/Basement/Living Room Camping – Go on a “camping trip” with your kids at your own home. Build a “tent” in the living room together….create a fake campfire out of construction paper and paper towel spools, get your flashlights and tell stories to one another….make S’mores in the stove (Graham Crackers, Chocolate Bar, Marshmallows – assemble the S’mores and place on a cookie sheet. Set under the broiler for about 30 seconds. Check and see if the marshmallows have begun to get poufy– they’re done!)