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Faith Topics
Nurturing Your Child’s Spirit
Build a Foundation
What are your children concerned about when it comes to the spiritual? A lot depends on their ages.
Young children can often be confused about what is and isn’t real. They hear of a man named Santa who knows if they’ve been bad or good, a tooth fairy who gives them money for missing teeth, and a Lord who will take a soul “if I should die before I wake.” At the same time, kids are filled with wonder and fascination as they explore the world. They want to grasp how it all fits together and find where in the world they fit.
“Point your kids in the right direction — when they’re old they won’t be lost.” Proverbs 22:6, The Message
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As they take in the world around them, they learn that bad things happen to good people and wonder why. Why does grandmother have cancer? Why did my neighbor get into a car crash? Why do people in faraway places not have enough food to eat?
They wonder how they can make things better. They have an abundance of “childlike faith,” so they believe they can.
If the concept of God is introduced properly by loving parents, they don’t need to know all about who God is or where He’s from. They simply trust that He is there, aware, and cares.
Pointing in the Right Direction
There will come a time when your child’s faith will become personal. Right now, you can help him or her develop a solid foundation upon which to build. As parents, now is the time to consider that foundation.
So how can we do that? Here are several ideas:
- First and foremost, be a part of your kids’ lives. Find out what they like to do, and do it with them. In the midst of quantity time, the quality time they need will help your kids make sense of the world around them.
- Talk to your kids about how you practice your religious beliefs. Do you read the Bible? Do you pray? When life gets tough, where do you turn for answers? You can be sure that if you don’t talk about these things, someone who may not share your values will.
- If you’re not already part of a local church or religious fellowship, find one, get involved, and help your kids get involved. You’ll be surprised to hear your kids describe what a blast it is to get spiritual answers and learn about God!
- Practice what you preach. If you don’t believe in smoking or drinking, don’t smoke or drink. If you believe in showing compassion to the down-and-out, volunteer at a soup kitchen and ask the kids to join you.
- Talk to God about your kids — and let your kids know that you do. Tell Him that your children are much too important to trust their destinies to chance. Ask Him to guide and protect them.
Too much is at stake to let our children “go it alone” when it comes to spiritual matters. In fact, much more is at stake than we often realize. Let’s build upon our kids’ childlike faith and give them a firm foundation for their future.
Do you have thoughts, questions, advice on this topic? Post your stories and comments in the forum for other parents to respond to. Enter the forum now.
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