Wednesday, 15 July 2009
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How Do You Teach Your Children God's Word?
For Christian parents, often the central goal of their lives is to pass on their faith in Jesus Christ to their children. This is often easier said than done. It's difficult to talk to small children about matters of faith. In some cases, children have the most innocent, beautiful faith and rarely doubt. For other children, it can be difficult to believe in something they cannot perceive with the senses.
From the youngest age, I was brought up in the faith. My parents always brought me to church, even when I was too young to comprehend everything that was going on. I remember having a children's Bible that explained Bible stories in simpler words alongside pictures. I was always told that Jesus loved me, far more than I could imagine. As I grew older, I learned more about this love He has for me.
I just read an article that offered "7 Ideas for Teaching Toddlers God's Word."
Here's the list the author provides:1. Have an open Bible on your lap during story time. This reinforces where the story comes from—God's word.
2. Use short sentences and few words. Too many words overwhelm young minds.
3. Be animated in your facial expressions and tone of voice. This will help keep children engaged.
4. Incorporate movement into the story and singing. Children this age need to move their bodies. Movement helps them learn and remember what you're teaching them.
5. Create routines during the story/circle times by using songs, finger plays, etc.6. Use repetition to cement biblical concepts in children's hearts and minds.7. Keep it short and sweet. A story time of 5-10 minutes is the maximum children this age can attend to and sit for.
What do you think of these tips for teaching children God's word? If you are a parent, what methods do you use to help your children understand your faith? If you're not a parent, did your parents play any role in teaching you about the Christian faith? How did they go about doing it?
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About the Author
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- From: Winds_of_Change
- Name: Winds_of_Change
- About Me: Hi, I'm Amanda. I'm an English major in the Journalism Certificate program at the University at Buffalo. I love to write, and through this Revelife blog, hope to integrate that passion with my other love, my Catholic Christian faith. I'm a big fan of Christian music...Casting Crowns, Mercy Me, Chris Tomlin, Michael W. Smith, Stephen Curtis Chapman..you name it. I sing at my churches both at home and school and am a firm believer in "He who sings prays twice." Most importantly, throughout the last few years, I've deepened in my faith and come to know that God will always be there to guide my steps. I often live by this passage and trust its message: "'For I know the plans I have for you,'" declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."' - Jeremiah 29:11
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Comments (7)
Great ideas, good post, very timely for me!
I've always been one to think you should teach children to figure out things like this for themselves. I can't imagine teaching my child that they MUST believe the same as me.
I had a bible that was all pictures(comic book style). It was pretty cool. My kids will be free to pick up religion on their own. I won't be promoting any kind of religion.
Well, apparently Americans in the 1950s felt a great way to teach your children Christian values is to take them to the local public lynching.... But I guess we just settle for spitting on women at the local abortion clinic protest....
I think they really underestimate young kids. If you're teaching Sunday School and have a whole flock of toddlers you might need to employ a lot of these, but if you are teaching your own kids with a range of, say, 6yo to 2yo or 10yo to 4yo or even 10yo to 2yo, I wouldn't pay any attention to anything except the animation and repetition. And of course the open Bible. I would read directly from the Bible and then explain. You know your kids, you can see if they're tracking. Explain whatever necessary to get them to track, in however small words are necessary. Don't worry about fancy fingerplays. Do ask them questions and get them repeating back simple answers to you. Put in movement IF you see them getting antsy, but don't feel like you have to put it in every time. If you pitch your Bibletime to the level of the oldest and purposefully involve the youngest, the youngest will comprehend much more than the experts say they will. It's like the old days of a one-room schoolhouse. Kids learned much more younger and faster, because they could hear the older ones reciting their lessons and because they wanted to be like the older ones. Same thing will happen if you teach all your kids together. Just do what is necessary to keep everyone's attention. This is what my mother did with us, and it worked great.
We read from the Bible itself at dinner time and encourage the kids to read several verses themselves. Right now we're also teaching our 8 year old to learn how to pray on her own - using the ACTS acronym for prayer. I think that helping children learn how to pray is one of the most important things you can do. You want them to become comfortable with praying - so that they can do so in public as well.
My mom sometimes read the Bible to us: It was boring and long and I hated it (and I was one of the freakish children who would sit on the couch for hours reading books from the library). I did, however, enjoy Bible class during school (I was homeschooled until fifth grade). They also sent my sister and I to AWANA and Sunday School, which I loved. I think it's important to keep things on grade level (NIV is a 7th grade reading level, KJV is 12th) so they don't get bored.