I need help and ideas with Hope chest and purity rings. HELP!

[mom2agang]

My children are becoming teens (AGHHH! They were just born a week ago!) Well my son is 14 and my 2 oldest dd are almost 12 and 11. I would like to do Purity rings type things with them and hope chest with my girls. My DH doesn't want my son to do a purity "Ring" So does some one have a different Idea? And what age do you do the purity rings? Anyone have a other ideas? And Hope chest What age do you start? What do you put in it? I'm open to other ideas and stories. I really want to teach purity to my kids and importance of marriage. Is there good webpages? I don't know much about either one. This a whole new road for me.:confused:

[itsheresomewhere]

Personally, I hate the original hope chest thing. It was filled with stuff that people think you will love like the ugly neon pink, green and orange quilt and you are stuck with. I would do a when you get married/move out on your own chest. Write a letter every month to each child. Set aside a small amount of money each month to put in the chest. When they get married/ move out, you can go shopping together and pick out what she wants. Maybe make a nice album of family pictures to include.

 

IMO- on the purity rings, I think that purity is in the heart and the rings are a waste of money. But that is my opinion.

[Chris in VA]

I'm teaching dd to wait for marriage and to prepare for it, too, but to be open to whatever God wants for her life. That's hard to do when there's so much pressure otherwise, but I'm not going the ring route. I do love the idea of a hope chest. I see it as a place to put special things you yourself have made or bought to set up your household--an old-fashioned idea, but sweet to me. She doesn't have one, yet. A friend gets her dds one made by the Amish when they turn 13. I like that as a rite of passage type thing.

So, it'd contain some special linens or things she's embroidered, or special baby stuff that I'd like to hand down (like her baptismal gown and a couple of her handmade baby blankets), or even a set of placemats and that sort of thing. Pretty things, practical things, but mostly cherished things.

 

I don't think it'd be very full, honestly, because we aren't that handy around here, but they do make a nice piece to store at the foot of your bed and keep special things in after you move out.

[happypamama]

I like the hope chest idea, and I think for boys, it could include household items too, but more practical stuff than frilly. Maybe not lace for boys. :) (Although, you could give him a head start on a way to honor his wife, if he can set up a romantic meal with a nice tablecloth and candlesticks for her.)

 

(I hope my DH will build a hope chest for each of my children, and I would expect that DD's would include cast iron as well as the ones for the boys.)

[swellmomma]

I do not do purity rings, they seem creepy to me. Something about a dad putting a ring on his daughters left hand just doesn't feel right to me. We do talk about waiting until marriage and keeping your heart pure but do not signify it with a peice of jewelry.

 

But my dd12 has a hope chest. We are working through the book "preparing your hopechest". Eventually the hope chest will hold the practical things she needs to move on her own. BUt for now ti holds her finished products from this book. SO she is learnign to crochet dish cloths, once she gets it down she puts them in there. Then she learns to sew and puts finished products in there etc. The idea to to build the skills needed to move on from her parent's home. For me it was not about waht she was bringing into a marriage like a dowry but what skills she can learn to benefit her when she moves out either on her own, or with a man.

 

THe chest we got for $60 at an antique store. DD loves it. Eventually it will be used as a blanket box or for storage or something of her chosing. It will serve many purposes and she loves having one.

 

DS13 does not have a hope chest. I am hoping this year on his birthday to get him a nice tool chest, and like I am teaching dd the skills to take with her when she moves on I am going to teach him the skills needed to build things, do repairs etc using the tools he will obtain over the next few years to fill that tool chest.

[Caroline]

We do the hope chest thing a bit differently. The children BUILD theirs their senior year! The girls have then picked out dishes--so far two different Pfaltzgraff patterns and one of Fiestaware. And then we've added some Le Creuset. And each child gets a quilt, sewn by me.

 

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=431&site=ROCKLER&filter=woodworking%20plans%20trunk

 

Not sure what we'll do with ds--he'll build the trunk/chest with dh but probably not buy dishes... :D Maybe we'll add to his collection of cast iron.

 

I love this idea.

[Denise in Florida]

I do not do purity rings, they seem creepy to me. .

 

Me too (the bolded part):001_huh:

 

OP, it looks I you have received some good ideas. :001_smile: I understand and agree with the need to discuss preparing for your future life and the importance of purity. I hope you find a great fit for yours kids. :001_smile:

[Beth S]

--Purity Ring=Dh and I dislike them, but dd wanted one! We found one she liked on ebay. Mmmm. A Used Purity Ring!

 

--Hope Chest=Dd uses the chest my grandfather made in her room, to store her treasures. However, it will be staying HERE. She is free to collect things, but I think it's "clutter".

[mommaduck]

We teach purity, but we don't do "purity rings" either. We've been in groups in the past that were big into that and there were a lot of issues in those groups/churches. I really don't want to associate with them.

 

Hope Chests: boys and girls...and I'd make it for when they leave home, not necessarily when they marry (not everyone marries or is called to marriage). Tool kit, books on sewing, cooking, woodworking, gardening, etc., a few niceties, etc. They can also make things to add to their own hope chests (using said books). Buy them each a photo album where they can collect family recipes. It doesn't need to be a fancy, handmade, wooden chest (that can be expensive and take up room, especially with a large family). You can use a large, plastic storage container.

[Rebel Yell]

Diamond wanted a purity ring- it says "true love waits" in Spanish. She picked it out herself.

 

We had no special ceremony or anything- in fact, she was volunteering at church camp for a month last summer, and I had it shipped to her there. So she received it while she was in the office icing an injury, and her camp friends got to see. The Spanish verse is a great conversation starter. When someone asks what her ring says she tells them in SPanish. :D

 

We don't do hope chests- we barely have space for the things we use NOW.