Hi Daniel,
I think the Bible is pretty clear on what is acceptable to God and what isn't on the Sabbath day, and with a 10 year old son I would think that maybe a bike ride would be nice, or going to a park or something like that.
Not something like playing flag football, or something along those lines.
I went to a park one day and sat on a rock and just looked at the ducks flying in and around the pond. Our focus should be Jesus and anything that would detract from that I think would be inappropriate according to Scripture.
Hey you know even the rough oceans can be something to look at with your son Daniel. Nothing like watching a powerful ocean be stopped by some pebbles
God Bless,
Will

Here are the next two paragraphs:

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When the Lord delivered His people Israel from Egypt and committed to them His law, He taught them that by the observance of the Sabbath they were to be distinguished from idolaters. It was this that made the distinction between those who acknowledge the sovereignty of God and those who refuse to accept Him as their Creator and King. "It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever," the Lord said. "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant." Exodus 31:17, 16. {6T 349.2}

As the Sabbath was the sign that distinguished Israel when they came out of Egypt to enter the earthly Canaan, so it is the sign that now distinguishes God's people as they come out from the world to enter the heavenly rest. The Sabbath is a sign of the relationship existing between God and His people, a sign that they honor His law. It distinguishes between His loyal subjects and transgressors. {6T 349.3}

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It says that the Sabbath is a sign of relationship and loyalty to the Creator God. And who created us? None other than Jesus Christ.

How we observe the Sabbath is directly related to our relationship with Him and to our loyalty to Him.

In relation to Shelley's post, the following taken from the SDA Church Manual, pages 163 and 164, may be of some assistance:

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Let us gather round the family circle at sunset and welcome the holy Sabbath with prayer and song, and let us close the day with prayer and expressions of gratitude for His wondrous love. The Sabbath is a special day for worship in the home and in the church, a day of joy to ourselves and our children, a day in which to learn more of God through the Bible and the great lesson book of nature. It is a time to visit the sick and to work for the salvation of souls.

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If we do what it suggests in the above quote, the Sabbath should truly become a day of joy and delight.

It seems the church manual is quite open on what could and couldnt be done. There are many individual ways to worship and many ways to enjoy a day with the family, and that without dishonouring God.

/Thomas

Avalee has a good page on sabbath observance online at

http://www.geocities.com/midnightcry1950/sabbathday.html

and Child Guidance, chapter 79 is also good.

link to White Estate text

To make the Sabbath special,not only did I cook a special meal for Sabbath breakfast but also I have quiet Sabbath music that I play when I get up so that our children would wake up hearing it. We then would get ready for church.

Often we would have guests over for Sabbath dinner which would be special. We often would go for a walk in the mountains, and my husband and I would given our children special assignments--like picking up a small thing that reminded them of a story in the Bible, then when we would have sundown worship in the evening, our children would have the worship by a "show and tell" with whatever they found on the walk.

Many times we would go for a bicycle ride up our road toward the mountains or go for a walk around a lake close by. Sometimes just going for a ride in the car to see nature.

The point of the Sabbath is an opportunity to know the Lord better. To think on heavenly things. When the thoughts of weekly worries would crowd into my mind, I'd rebuke them immediately and think of a Sabbath song to get my mind off these things. I'd either hum it or sing it outloud.

Sometimes we would be invited to someone's home for Sabbath dinner. In the afternoon if the weather was bad, I'd put on a special Sabbath video for our children to watch. I also had some special Sabbath things for our children to do in bad weather. One was the little plastic beads that my children would make different objects, put an iron over it to seal it and then a magnet on the back. We'd take these to a local nursing home to visit with the people there and give out the little gifts the children had made.

I'm sure if you pray about it, you will find things you can do that your 10-year old will enjoy that is in keeping with the sacredness of the Sabbath day.

If we only see Sabbath observance as a bunch of rules consisting of a bunch of do this' and don't do thats, then are we not missing something?

Daryl I think maybe a majority of us baby boomers were raised with those do this and don't do this set of Sabbath rules. We resented it and were determined not to pass on those rules to our own children, so now the pendulum has swung the other way and we've not fostered enough respect for the Sabbath with our kids. Maybe for ya'll not raised within the SDA church you have found the happy medium.

Redfog

True, but how many rules were added to the others in comparison to the 4th?