My husband had very different childhoods, but we both grew up with the same religious beliefs; we grew up Primitive Baptist. Now having children of our own we know that we want to start early with them, in teaching them about God.
We attend church often and very involved in church, and our children understand how to act in church, but do I think a 4 year old and 18 month old really understand God…not at all!
But that is why Mommy and Daddy are here to teach them more at home!
We first started with saying our Grace before eating. And now we have started saying our Prayers before bedtime.
Every night before bedtime, we started sitting with Emma and saying prayers before she gets in bed. DJ has seen us do this so usually he’s in bed first and he will stand up and listen. No matter if he stands or not we continue to pray together…but after getting into a routine of doing this nightly with one child, now both children look forward to this time.
When I was younger my mom would have my sister say a prayer that started…Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take…then you would continue the prayer by praying for everything else. However, Darrick didn’t learn that prayer…they said the Lord’s Prayer at night so we came to an agreement because all kids need to know the Lord’s Prayer that we would start now in teaching it…
Emma doesn’t have the clearest speech to know exactly all parts of the prayer. But you can tell she knows some words and the flow of the prayer. DJ holds his hands together and claps afterwards!
With so many resources around to teach children about God that we didn’t have available when we were younger, I personally feel that it’s a lot easier to teach…for instance one of the resources we use with our children are the Berenstain Bears.
These books have helped a great deal in telling the story about God but making it fun for children…especially little kids!
When Emma saw Say Your Prayers…and realized that is what she does before bedtime she was so excited! And I was equally excited that she recognized it. She also recognized on Youth Sunday when a girl recited The Lords Prayer; that, that is was the prayer we say before bedtime.
We also read from our Children’s Bible! Now I know it takes a few times of reading the stories but I feel like the more we continue to talk about God to our children…they will eventually become interested on their own. We have placed the foundation and provided the introduction…and once they get older its up to them to form their own relationship with Christ.
