In Your Opinon

[hoolibug]

So this goes out to everyone.

I'm curious how do you have Christ involved in your family? Be it a single family of just a mother and child or father and child or mother and father with 8 children.

Do you have any activities or fun things to do with your kids that involve the Word of God?

I have known many many people with children literally praying at the age of 3/4 praying. I'm blown away by it. I know it takes tremendous strength and energy to teach children basic education, basic life skills and adding God into the mix is sometimes difficult.

I have a toddler. We watch Veggie Tales everyday 50 times a day! She knows how to pray (she puts her hands together and closes her eyes). I even read Veggie Tales Devos with her as well. I've talked about God and Jesus and read the kid's bible. I don't know if there's much more I can do...or if I am doing the right thing. Does this that I do qualify as "preaching" the word to them? Or am I doing it all wrong? We don't attend a church as a lot of them are superficial and no day care.

Is there any suggestions you might be able to give me that you do with your family or children?

Thank you so much.

Hooli

 

[Rosann]

Hoolibug, sorry for such a late response to your post. I'm a newbie!

In my opinion, it sounds like you have a great start in teaching your child about God. There are other ways to teach about God that you could add to what you already do.

For example, many christian book stores...or even Amazon.com, for that matter, have christian music CD's that are really catchy songs, and teach scripture in the lyrics. We have a multi-disc player in our car, so we keep a few kids worship CD's in the player as well as a few grown-up worship CD's. Then we all get a nice mix of music and it's all really great to listen to.

You can also search a family christian store or online for daily devotional books that are age appropriate content. I'm currently reading one with my daughter in the evenings. She's five. The book we purchased is called "Me and God! : Daily devotional for girls" and it's for ages 2-5. It's a great discussion opportunity and is written for her interests and in a way she can relate. Each day also offers a page to color or connect the dots or some other fun activity after the discussion.

Additionally, even if you don't attend a church in your area, many of them offer a vacation bible school that is about a week long during the month of June (usually). They are either free at some churches or low cost. Kids have a great time and learn SO much in these programs. And you don't have to be a member or actively attend church to register for VBS.

Hope that helps.

Rosann

 

[quinntanyad]

Sounds like you are doing great at home teaching your child about God Hoolibug. I think the only thing missing in your lives is a church. I do believe it can be hard to find one that is honest and to accommodate childcare... but I think you should really try looking for a church. I believe a family can only grow closer to God by regularly gathering with other Christians. Satan will find all kinds of reasons for not being able to find the right church or even not wanting to go. I know there have been many times I didn't feel like going to church... but by the end of the service I'm glad I had gone. I've also found that being part of a church family has helped in many ways - being part of a small group to study the bible together is like having an extended family and having many people praying for/with you is a great blessing. I'm thinking there must be some churches in your area that probably has families with toddlers too! That would be wonderful for you child to grow up with other Christian children so they will be more likely to keep their faith during difficult times (like being a teenager ).

I myself have only just had my first baby (she's 3 months now). We've been bringing her to church since she was 2 months... and we've been really blessed by our church family, it really does make a difference in our lives.

It is really important to pray to God to help you find a church. I would start with just praying about it... if you would like, I can pray for your family too

 

[cajunpita]

I think you are doing a great job so far!!

My son is 15 months old, and we are going through the same hoops. I want him to know Jesus! You know the movie SuperSize Me? The man making the movie held up a picture of Jesus, and children had no idea who it was... but they could tell you who Ronald Mcdonald was!

We have family bible time, and my son watches the "Baby Faith" dvds. They are like Baby Einstein, but tell books of the Bible. My son loves the story of Moses!

We even got WWJD bracelets as a family... corny but we love it!

Our church has children's church, but for the little ones 2 and under, they have a VBS type of thing. He loves it!! He colors me pictures and learns about God's Love.

I hope it's something he always holds dear.

 

[JRSut1000]

It may be too early for toddlers to understand a lot of it, but it's never to early to start immersing and surrounding him with the things of God. My little one is 17 months and I read her Bible stories and sometimes pray over her and ask her 'how do we praise God?' and she throws up her hands. But I know she doesnt understand yet.

Recently I've been convicted that part of teaching her about the ways of God is by her observing US (my husband and I). This means not neglecting prayer time and choosing to include her or let her watch, reading our Bible and letting her listen, and having a time of worship. I even pray that though she can't understand with her mind yet the things of God, I do pray that she has godly dreams and visitations and that as she grows up, she will sense the presence of the LORD in our home.

 

[cutie76]

I think everyone's advice here is GREAT!

I'd like to add that another way to teach young children about the LORD is through singing. You can sing hymns, modern songs, children's praise songs, etc. We've done this with our children since they were babies and we'll sing and raise our hands to God while we sing. Your local Christian book store can direct you on good CDs. Though, since you're already doing Veggie Tales, you may want to try something else for variety.

Young children love songs and singing. If you're able to, think about volunteering in your child's Sunday school once a month or something. A lot of times they sing all kinds of songs with hand movements or other movements that are lots of fun! Before I had kids, I did that for many years and learned all of the cute little praise songs for young kids with movement.

Another thing we've done with our kids is place a CD player in their bedroom at night and softly play Christian kid's music on repeat. They fall asleep with praise to God and wake up with is in the morning!

 

[gracefulone1980]

I always talk to the kids about our Lord, I read them bible stories and relate lots of everyday things around the Word of God. We have discussions and read books, but I would say that one of their (mine as well!) favorites is listening to christian music. We listen to contemporary christian music and my kids love it. They sing the songs even when they are not on. Here are a few of our favorites, Chris Tomlin, Paul Baloche, Jeremy Riddle, Joy Williams and sometimes I find a good artist just by whatever youtube recommends. lol I created a youtube account and I added all of our favorites and hit play all. My kids are younger too, 8, 6 and 4.