In this Bonus Episode of Playfully Faith Parenting, I talk with guest Wendy Schulz about the only 4 toys you need to start Bible play.
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Show Notes
Episode Summary:
In this Bonus Episode I chat with Wendy Schulz about spiritual parenting, play, and the only 4 toys you need to start Bible play, Hint, hint… you probably already have them at home!
We also talk about how she encourages mamas to play through modern day pilgrimages to Europe.
It is a fun conversation that you won’t want to miss!
Verses from the episode:
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Matthew 18:6
Links from the episode:
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Transcript
Here is a rough transcript of Playfully Faithful Parenting Bonus Episode 4 Toys with Guest Wendy Schulz. This isn’t meant to be pretty and perfect but is here as a resource for those who want it.
Transcript
Joy
Hi Wendy, thank you for being with us on playfully faithful parent team.
Joy
Can you introduce yourself for us?
Wendy
Hi joy.
Wendy
Thank you so much for having me.
Wendy
My name is Wendy Schultz.
Wendy
I am a mom of two girls who are 18 and 15.
Wendy
My husband and I were college sweethearts and we have been married for almost 25 years and in my career I have been in the local church serving as preschool master Director children.
Wendy
Ministry with a focus on spiritual parenting and then also as a family.
Wendy
Mr director.
Wendy
I currently am not working within the local church.
Wendy
But I’m working in serving women in leading modern pilgrimages around Europe, so I’m excited to talk to you today.
Joy
We are so excited to have you and to talk to you and I can’t wait to hear more about these pilgrimages.
Joy
But before we get to that, I want to ask you what does spiritual parenting mean to you?
Joy
We have talked about spiritual parenting, is living out your authentic faith in front of your kids and inviting them to know.
Joy
Who God is?
Joy
So what is kind of your take on spiritual parenting?
Wendy
Yeah, that’s a great question.
Wendy
I love the definition you just gave.
Wendy
I think for me, spiritual parenting always goes back to the verses in Deuteronomy Chapter 6 where it talks about just or just gives this vision of how.
Wendy
As parents we can talk about God can help our children understand the work of God.
Wendy
Just in everyday life, whether it’s when we’re waking up when we’re laying down or walking on the road and we’re going to work just everyday life and impressing upon our children’s lives as they’re growing, who God is, what he thinks about them, what he has done for them. So that’s how I look at spiritual.
Joy
Absolutely, that’s been a key verse for me as I have been learning about spiritual parenting as well, and we we met on clubhouse and so we have talked about the importance of play and so I would love to hear you.
Joy
Just share a little bit about with your experience.
Joy
In ministry and as a Mama, what do you think?
Joy
How play plays into this faith thing that we do?
Wendy
Yeah, I love that and I love your whole philosophy and I always like encouraged by hearing you talk about play and whimsy.
Wendy
And I mean, I think we have two.
Wendy
We have two options.
Wendy
We can present God as something to be feared.
Wendy
And you know very heavy handed with a list of.
Wendy
Rules for our kids to do and don’t do and and that’s a you know, not a very wooing approach.
Wendy
And so I think play comes in because we have a playful God.
Wendy
I mean, you can see that all throughout creation I mean so many animals, our family that we look at and we talk about and we’re like God has a sense of humor.
Wendy
I mean, even with humans, even with me like I have a sense of humor, you know, and so I think when we play and we look at.
Wendy
Play as a way to share about faith with children.
Wendy
It’s just part of wooing our children to a God who loves them.
Wendy
A God with a sense of humor, a God who promises us joy.
Wendy
And you know it’s a God I want to follow up.
Wendy
There’s a scripture that I won’t be able to reference, but it talks about, you know if for anyone who, for anyone who keeps children from knowing the Lord, that be better, or anyone from knowing the Lord, they be better than Millstone was tide to their neck like I think God takes seriously.
Wendy
When we create barriers for our children for coming to God and I think play is kind of the antidote of that.
Joy
I love that and I love the image that you just shared of wooing our kids to God.
Joy
I like totally agree.
Joy
I think I’ve said often that Jesus and faith are too serious to take it too seriously.
Joy
Yes and so.
Joy
I think finding that balance of keeping the play and the life and the abundance and also you know the appropriate fear of God is can be a difficult.
Joy
You know tightrope to walk at times, but.
Joy
That verse that you referenced.
Joy
I believe it’s in Matthew looked that that up and included in the show notes, though it is one that I have also read and just been like this is important to God and teaching.
Joy
Kids in a way that they want to meet God and know God is so important to him.
Wendy
Yeah, I often say, like I, I feel like as parents our role is to be Jesus biggest hypeman in our house.
Wendy
You know, I want to talk about Jesus in a way that you know, my kids just feel comfortable and they feel excited and and hyped up about that.
Wendy
You know that.
He’s asking.
Joy
I love that and I can really see that like Jesus is just like another member of your family, just the way you talk about him and it just that makes it so approachable for kids and and especially when they’re younger and they can’t have the like they don’t think concretely yet.
Joy
Just the way you talk.
Joy
About him and the way you talk about talking about him and your family makes such an abstract idea for little kids like something that’s really approachable and understandable.
Joy
I love that.
Joy
I’ve heard you talk about this idea that you have 4 toys that you can do a lot of faith play with.
Joy
Would you tell us more about that?
Joy
I think it’s so practical and helpful for parents.
Wendy
Yes, well, I mean, I think that there are so many great products out there.
Wendy
There’s books and there’s there’s there’s so many different things, but sometimes that can become a uhm.
Wendy
It can.
Wendy
It can paralyze us to think like do I have the right things or do I have there?
Wendy
I don’t know what to do and so this is just like a really simple way to look at.
Wendy
How can I keep a few things together that are easy for us to grab?
Wendy
You probably most parents already have these in the home, doesn’t cost any money, and together they can be just something they get.
Wendy
Reach for over and over again to playfully tell Bible stories so those items are a basket, which is super ’cause you can put the other things inside a baby doll.
Wendy
Some animals and the animals could be little wooden animals.
Wendy
Little plastic animals could be stuffed animals, anything and a set of blocks, so just some regular wooden blocks and those things together.
Wendy
You can pull out if you threw a scarf in there that would be super too.
Wendy
But those are, you know, like really inexpensive average things.
Wendy
I think it’s great for grandparents to have a basket like this too, to just.
Wendy
Out of the house, but you get.
Wendy
There’s so many things that you can just play out and we could talk through some of that if.
Wendy
You want me to, but.
Joy
Yes, I would love to hear at least one or two ideas for each of those objects.
Wendy
Yeah yeah, well the baby doll.
Wendy
You could of course do any baby story from the Bible and little people love baby stories.
Wendy
They love babies.
Wendy
You know.
Wendy
There’s just like a real draw to that, and so you can be.
Wendy
You can talk through the story of the birth of cry.
Wendy
At least you can talk about the story of Moses and using your basket you can talk about how his mom and his sister Miriam had to put baby Moses in the basket and put him in the river and trust him to God to protect him.
Wendy
You can also use that baby doll, not.
Wendy
As a baby with the basket and talk about the story about the man who his friends brought him to Jesus for healing and they put him in a basket and cut a hole in the roof.
Wendy
And lowered him down because they couldn’t get to Jesus through the door.
Wendy
And that’s just such a great story for kids.
Wendy
Because, you know, it’s just, you know, just talking through like what a mess that would make.
Wendy
You know, making a big hole in the roof.
Wendy
So that’s really fun for those, the basket can also be used for talking about.
Wendy
Jesus multiplying the loafs and and the fish and feeding everyone.
Wendy
Has lots of purposes for the animals.
Wendy
Of course you can talk about Noah’s Ark and gods protection.
Wendy
Your basket can become the ark.
Wendy
You can talk about Creation, which is wonderful.
Wendy
So lots of things with the animals.
Wendy
Also the animals in our house.
Wendy
At Christmas time our kids did have like a little people nativity set and those animals came out and I remember my the Christmas.
Wendy
My youngest daughter was for like every day.
Wendy
She just loved to tell me this story and she would go get all these.
Wendy
Animals, I mean she bring like my little ponies to me.
Wendy
Jesus, like everyone, gave to me baby Jesus and it was super, you know.
Wendy
And people would come into our house.
Wendy
They’d be like you have the most interesting nativity scene happening here and it’s true.
Wendy
But it was, you know, just touchable and engageable.
Wendy
And Emily just loved you know, telling me who was coming to meet Jesus that day.
Wendy
Giraffes or you know whatever so so the animals are wonderful and then blocks.
Wendy
You can build all sorts of things.
Wendy
And blocks you can build that Manger scene.
Wendy
For Jesus, you can build.
Wendy
Of course, Jericho is a great, really fun, you know, wall to make and tear it down.
Wendy
And and Jericho is a great opportunity to talk about brave women, which you know, raising daughters myself is really important for me to tell the stories of faithful women throughout Scripture.
Wendy
And and, you know rehabs, bravery in hiding the spies, and saving their lives, and so that’s great with that, blocks can also be turned into anything blocks, and we turned into know, as our block blocks can be turned.
Wendy
Into any story you want to tell whether it’s a house or a barn or stable or a boat, it can be a whale.
Wendy
Blocks can be anything, so we don’t really need.
Wendy
You know to go spend a whole bunch of money.
Wendy
We can just keep a few simple things together and be creative together.
Joy
I just love that the first time I heard you talk about that concept, I was just like, uh, like a light bulb.
Joy
I mean, that’s just so.
Joy
Amazing and I love that it also.
Joy
Equips families to be creative and I love tools and resources that are kind of a starting off point that equips equips Mamas to know that they can be the ones who disciple their kids, and I think giving.
Joy
You know moms this.
Joy
These four simple toys ideas of toys can give them the confidence.
Joy
To say, hey, we’ve got these things we can do this.
Joy
Let’s read a story together and see how we can play it out.
Joy
Or, you know, when they’re doing their own Bible study and they’re like, oh, this story would play out really well with the doll and the and the blocks.
Joy
Let’s you know I can do this and it just I think we’ll encourage them.
Joy
And give Mom confidence that they.
Joy
They that they can be their kids, you know, minister and to pastor to their own kids, yeah.
Wendy
Yes, I I try to encourage moms all the time like you and ask you are God best plan for your child matter how your child came into your household.
Wendy
You are God.
Wendy
Best plan for your children to learn about him.
Wendy
And so yeah, absolutely.
Joy
Absolutely, that’s and that’s our goal here is to, you know, help.
Joy
Equip and encourage moms to do that and.
Joy
And I think you know, both of us have been in children and family ministry before and so we love the church and we love the Ministry of the church.
Joy
But we also know its place and it’s not to be the primary disciple are of children.
Joy
So yeah, so I just love.
Joy
I love the place.
Joy
That those four toys can take families together and and practice creativity and intentionality with with the Bible stories.
Joy
I love that.
Joy
So you are a mom and a man and you are someone who values play and I.
Joy
You know I’ve seen that in.
Joy
In your answers and in our conversations.
Joy
So how do you as a mom play and how do you encourage other moms and women to to play?
Wendy
Ah, I love that question one.
Wendy
We just all need to be talking about this, right?
Wendy
Like I think our kids need to see playful moms and and smiles on our faces.
Wendy
And so I love that I.
Wendy
Have have a number of just everyday things I do, whether it’s I really love walking.
Wendy
I live in North Carolina and we have access to some great greenbelts and wooded forest paths from our house.
Wendy
And so I love to just get outside, see what’s blooming and active and nature get into the woods.
Wendy
Many mornings week as I can and I love nature photography and taking pictures of mushrooms and whatever you know stream changes and and birds.
Wendy
We have great hummingbirds here and and so many things like.
Wendy
That and then I love travel so travels a big part of my life.
Wendy
Our family travels quite a lot, especially outside of global pandemics.
Wendy
Yes, so one way that I encourage Mom’s to play is by leading modern pilgrimages to France and Italy.
Wendy
So that is just a way for a small group of women to go to encounter a new culture and new.
Wendy
Place we eat well we stay well.
Wendy
And we travel in a small group so that women can really get to know each other.
Wendy
You know one of the things that we have heard time and time again talk about these trips with women.
Wendy
My partner and I as women saying, I just want to sit at like a long table under some twinkly lights with some women who love Jesus and have fun.
Wendy
Unrushed uninterrupted conversation and so we aim to create those opportunities so.
Joy
That sounds so amazing and I hope to be able to go on one of those sometime.
Joy
I told my husband about him and he was like, oh, that sounds great for you.
Joy
It’s like yes, when is that gonna work?
Joy
But I didn’t start planning.
Joy
Yeah, we.
Joy
I want to know what what does France have to do with faith?
Wendy
Ah, that’s a great question so.
Wendy
France one has its own great faith history to it, but we fly into so so it was my partner.
Wendy
Her name is Amy Carroll.
Wendy
She’s a Christian author and one of her books that she has coauthored is called Exhale and the subtitle is lose who you’re not love who God made you to be.
Wendy
And live your one life well so our France tour is around those three.
Wendy
Names in France.
Wendy
In Paris we do some work around art and losing who we’re not, and Christian art, especially for women, has misrepresented or represented well women throughout the eras, and so we have a really great partnership there, with an artist and work through the Louvre.
Wendy
And through different art in this city about like, have women been represented and how have we represented ourselves or lies?
Wendy
We’ve come to believe about ourselves.
Wendy
And then we literally pilgrimage on to Mull sammichele, which is one of the great pilgrimage sites of Europe.
Wendy
And we spend it overnight on the Mont.
Wendy
We do a sunrise service with the monks who still live there.
Wendy
And that’s where we talk about losing, losing who were not and loving who we are.
Wendy
And then we go onto the beaches of Normandy.
Wendy
We stayed at Chateau for four days in Normandy, and.
Wendy
Do some touring there, specifically learning about women’s roles in the French resistance in World War Two. That led to the Allied landings at north.
Wendy
Andy, there were a group of women who made that happen and it’s pretty incredible.
Wendy
The stories that are in that area of women who use their lives well, very faith driven, many women, and so that’s the itinerary.
Wendy
And like what we do in France and and it’s pretty incredible.
Wendy
And in the meantime we eat really well.
Joy
It sounds fantastic.
Joy
Yeah yeah, keep doing it. ’cause in 2-3 years. Hopefully once my husband can handle all five girls for a week or 10 days. However long it is I I’m going to want to be there so that sounds fantastic.
Joy
Is there anything else that you would like to share with our listeners?
Wendy
You know, I think this podcast is such a great concept and I really just encourage parents to continue to, you know, listen to a podcast like this.
Wendy
Look for content of people who are encouraging you.
Wendy
That you can do this like you are God’s best plan.
Wendy
And so just to let go of those lies of you know, maybe feeling that maybe you didn’t grow up in a household where faith was taught.
Wendy
That’s definitely my story, but that doesn’t mean that has to be your children story, and so just keep leaning into positive sources.
Wendy
That can encourage you and equipped you as you said to do this.
Joy
Great, thank you so much Wendy.
Joy
We’ve loved having you and maybe we’ll have you again in the future.
Wendy
Thank you, hope you have a great day, thanks.
