Welcome to a place where we can share ideas about grandparenting, especially ways to pass spiritual values and family stories to the next generation.

Mary is the co-author of The Grandparent Connection: 365 Ways to Connect With Your Grandchild's Heart.
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Co-author of The Grandparent Connection: 365 Ways to Connect With Your Grandchild's Heart

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Bumper Sticker Conversation


Tuesday's Grand Connection Thought


I was driving to work earlier this week and got stuck in traffic behind a truck with some interesting bumper stickers that included:

· If going to church makes you a Christian, does going into a garage make you a car?

· A Buddha Fish (the fish symbol with BUDDHA inside of it)

After being behind that truck for maybe a minute, I felt like I knew something about its driver. There’s got to be a story behind his bumper stickers!

I wondered if he had been hurt deeply by someone who professed to follow Christ. Does he understand that churches are filled with sinners and that Christians are far from perfect? I wondered if he realizes that most people would agree with his rhetorical question about going to church. Why, if going to church made someone a Christian, then going into a bank would make me rich (at least it would have a year ago).

I wondered why the driver appeared to follow Buddha and whether he had ever been introduced to what it means to have a personal relationship with Christ.

Those bumper stickers got me thinking, and I realized that they can be great conversation starters with our grandkids. When we are in the car with older grands, we may want to ask them to read some bumper stickers aloud and discuss what they mean ... imagine the "stories" behind them.

Here are a just few other bumper stickers that I’ve seen and some ideas about how we can use them to communicate with our grands:

· My child is an honor student.
· The Christian fish
· Tolerance
· Stand up for Decency
· Peace
· Vote for ____
· Abortion stops a beating heart
· My dog is a _________


The bumper stickers about the honor student might prompt discussions about how our grandchildren feel about grades. Are they honor students and grades come easily for them. Or, do they struggle to get homework finished on time and feel panicked when taking a test?

What would it look like to have peace in the world, in the church, in the home? What does the Bible say about peace?

If our grandchildren could have any type of dog, which breed would they choose and why? What have been their favorite pets and why did they like these pets so much?

If you have long-distance grandkids, you could ask them to share their favorite bumper sticker sayings with you through an e-mail or a phone call. And you might share your favorites with your grands.

If you see some interesting bumper stickers this week, please share them by leaving a comment below, or by sending an e-mail to mary@marymaywrites.com, and I’ll post it as a comment for you.

He is able,
Mary
The Grand Connection: 365 Ways to Connect With Your Grandchild's Heart

Article 2009 © Mary May Larmoyeux. All rights reserved.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mary, I saw this on the way to Conway today on an 18 wheeler. It had a picture of angels' wings, and praying hands, and it said ON A WING AND A PRAYER

I also have a new bumper sticker on my vehicle. It says: MY SON-IN-LAW PROUDLY SERVES IN THE MARINES.
-- Sharon

Anonymous said...

So far, the only unusual bumper sticker I have seen is an Irish “Tis herself”. We’ll get more from the grandkids. RG

Mary May Larmoyeux said...

Thanks for sharing bumper stickers, Sharon and RG.

RG, what does "Tis herself" mean? My guess "It is herself" but I could be way off! -- Mary

Anonymous said...

‘Tis herself means just that. It is herself. -- RG

Mary May Larmoyeux said...

Thanks, RG! -- Mary

Anonymous said...

This idea is clever. I can remember the little cutouts with the grandkids. It’s always fun.
- Rita