Hi Christine,
My name is J. and I've been reading your blog for a couple years now. I rarely comment, but do want to thank you for all that share. Your love for the Lord is evident, particularly in your desire to love your husband and children. This is exactly why I thought I'd email you with the following question: How do you seek to teach your babies/young toddlers about God?
My husband and I have one daughter, E. (13mo). We pray with her, read Bible story books to her, will soon be making a Daddy/Mama tape (have you heard of this?). As I go throughout the day, I share with her that God made everything she sees (trees, sky, food, etc.). The books I've come across, though, seem a little too detailed. We've trained her to sit and listen to them, but I'm wondering if there is something more appropriate for her age. Most resources seem to be for 2y/o and up. Right now, we mostly read the following to her: The Big Picture Story Bible I'm so eager to teach her and train her up in the fear of the Lord. Perhaps I'm looking for too many "tools", but if there are solid, Bible based one's out there, I'd love to know about them!
Also, any tips on teaching your children to sit with you during church service? We're trying, but are the only family we know of in our church that even has this desire, so it can be hard....
Thanks in advance for any recommendations you have!
In Christ,
J.
Dear J.,
It fills my heart with joy to hear of the godly vision that you have for your daughter. It wasn't until I had my second child, that I realized God's plan for diligently raising one's children in His Ways. It sounds like you are doing an excellent job teaching your daughter, both through reading excellent books, and teaching her as you go about your day. You and your husband are already following Deuteronomy 6, with a precious one-year old! What a blessing!
It can be challenging to find resources for one-year old's to learn about God. I think that your daughter will benefit, even if she is listening to books which are slightly advanced for her. We really love the Big Picture Story Bible, which you mentioned. My two-year old loves looking at the pictures, and the story truly is captivating, even to those with short attention spans. There is a set of books, God Never Changes, God Has Power, God is Everywhere, God is Kind, which are short, board books, and do a tremendous job explaining theological truths to little ones. My favorite character learning resource, as of late, has been Teach them to your Children. You daughter may not be ready for this until a year of two, but I highly recommend it! Each letter of the alphabet is featured, as well as a poem, a verse, and a story depicting biblical concepts. This can even be used as a tool for basic phonics instruction. During crafting time, my children enjoy listening to Patch the Pirate's cds. One cd is called Harmony at Home, and it contains 20+ songs about obedience, responsibility, giving thanks, and kindness. (The website contains a few samples of each cd, if you would like a better idea.) Another resource that we have enjoyed is The Children's Bible by Catherine Vos. Your daughter may be ready for it at about 3 or 4 years.
My husband and I really enjoy the Alice in Bibleland series for teaching our children Bible stories. These can be a challenge to find sometimes, but Ebay generally carries them. These have made the Bible stories come alive for my children. Lily (6 years) and Stephen (4 years) enjoy selecting a book to act out. It is such a blessing to see them enjoy imitating their favorite Bible characters!
How wonderful that you and your husband have a conviction to keep your daughter with you, in the church service! When I was expecting my first baby, a friend showed me the bible verses about nurslings being in the congregation. I also had strong convictions about the child being entrusted to the parents, and we felt called to be the primary teachers. At the time, we attended a traditional Baptist church. After my daughter was born, we kept her with us in church, for the first few weeks/months, as she was napping, frequently. It didn't take long until she was having a difficult time sitting still in church. We were the only parents who didn't want to just drop our children off in the nursery, so I often just stayed in the nursery with Lily. Because we were in there so frequently, my husband and I were assigned nursery duty. Instead of being able to focus on just our child, we were having to keep track of a roomful of children. We tried our best to listen to the sermon, via the loudspeaker, but it was a struggle. We tried on occasion, to take her into church with us, but if she made even the slightest noise, I began to feel extremely uncomfortable. When I was expecting my second child, and Lily was nearly 2 years, we felt led to join a family integrated church, near our house. It was such a blessing to know like-minded families who felt called to have their children worship with them. I find 1-2 year old's to be the most challenging to train to sit still for church time. I almost always have at least one child who is going through training to sit still for church. It definitely is possible and your efforts will be rewarded! Sometimes putting your young child in a baby carrier such as an Ergo, can really be beneficial. That way, you can stand in the back of the church, and get the child used to being calm and still. I also try to make sure that my children's needs are met before going to church. Any hungry, thirsty, or sleepy child is going to have difficulty sitting through a church service. I do generally bring water and a snack like raisins, for my children, as well as something to occupy their little hands.For more ideas on what to bring, please see my post on Church Bags. Having said that, it can be a struggle at times, to get any/all of your children to behave during church. It is a blessing to attend a church where no one scowls at you if your child makes a noise. I am certain that every parent who shares this conviction will tell you that it can be challenging, but it is a great blessing as well. One tip that I would share is that if your child has to be removed from the church building, not to make a reward of leaving church. (For example, if a child was screaming in church, it might not be a good idea to take him/her out to play on the playground.) Some mothers blanket train their children at home, and then use this same method at church. Your family devotion time is an excellent time for training little ones to sit still. Starting with a short amount of time, such as 5 minutes, can be extremely effective. Please know that I share all of this very humbly, as I face many challenges in this area with my own children, and I am still learning a lot.
May God bless you, J., as you journey this wonderful path of motherhood. Many Blessings!
Dear J.,
It fills my heart with joy to hear of the godly vision that you have for your daughter. It wasn't until I had my second child, that I realized God's plan for diligently raising one's children in His Ways. It sounds like you are doing an excellent job teaching your daughter, both through reading excellent books, and teaching her as you go about your day. You and your husband are already following Deuteronomy 6, with a precious one-year old! What a blessing!
It can be challenging to find resources for one-year old's to learn about God. I think that your daughter will benefit, even if she is listening to books which are slightly advanced for her. We really love the Big Picture Story Bible, which you mentioned. My two-year old loves looking at the pictures, and the story truly is captivating, even to those with short attention spans. There is a set of books, God Never Changes, God Has Power, God is Everywhere, God is Kind, which are short, board books, and do a tremendous job explaining theological truths to little ones. My favorite character learning resource, as of late, has been Teach them to your Children. You daughter may not be ready for this until a year of two, but I highly recommend it! Each letter of the alphabet is featured, as well as a poem, a verse, and a story depicting biblical concepts. This can even be used as a tool for basic phonics instruction. During crafting time, my children enjoy listening to Patch the Pirate's cds. One cd is called Harmony at Home, and it contains 20+ songs about obedience, responsibility, giving thanks, and kindness. (The website contains a few samples of each cd, if you would like a better idea.) Another resource that we have enjoyed is The Children's Bible by Catherine Vos. Your daughter may be ready for it at about 3 or 4 years.
My husband and I really enjoy the Alice in Bibleland series for teaching our children Bible stories. These can be a challenge to find sometimes, but Ebay generally carries them. These have made the Bible stories come alive for my children. Lily (6 years) and Stephen (4 years) enjoy selecting a book to act out. It is such a blessing to see them enjoy imitating their favorite Bible characters!
How wonderful that you and your husband have a conviction to keep your daughter with you, in the church service! When I was expecting my first baby, a friend showed me the bible verses about nurslings being in the congregation. I also had strong convictions about the child being entrusted to the parents, and we felt called to be the primary teachers. At the time, we attended a traditional Baptist church. After my daughter was born, we kept her with us in church, for the first few weeks/months, as she was napping, frequently. It didn't take long until she was having a difficult time sitting still in church. We were the only parents who didn't want to just drop our children off in the nursery, so I often just stayed in the nursery with Lily. Because we were in there so frequently, my husband and I were assigned nursery duty. Instead of being able to focus on just our child, we were having to keep track of a roomful of children. We tried our best to listen to the sermon, via the loudspeaker, but it was a struggle. We tried on occasion, to take her into church with us, but if she made even the slightest noise, I began to feel extremely uncomfortable. When I was expecting my second child, and Lily was nearly 2 years, we felt led to join a family integrated church, near our house. It was such a blessing to know like-minded families who felt called to have their children worship with them. I find 1-2 year old's to be the most challenging to train to sit still for church time. I almost always have at least one child who is going through training to sit still for church. It definitely is possible and your efforts will be rewarded! Sometimes putting your young child in a baby carrier such as an Ergo, can really be beneficial. That way, you can stand in the back of the church, and get the child used to being calm and still. I also try to make sure that my children's needs are met before going to church. Any hungry, thirsty, or sleepy child is going to have difficulty sitting through a church service. I do generally bring water and a snack like raisins, for my children, as well as something to occupy their little hands.For more ideas on what to bring, please see my post on Church Bags. Having said that, it can be a struggle at times, to get any/all of your children to behave during church. It is a blessing to attend a church where no one scowls at you if your child makes a noise. I am certain that every parent who shares this conviction will tell you that it can be challenging, but it is a great blessing as well. One tip that I would share is that if your child has to be removed from the church building, not to make a reward of leaving church. (For example, if a child was screaming in church, it might not be a good idea to take him/her out to play on the playground.) Some mothers blanket train their children at home, and then use this same method at church. Your family devotion time is an excellent time for training little ones to sit still. Starting with a short amount of time, such as 5 minutes, can be extremely effective. Please know that I share all of this very humbly, as I face many challenges in this area with my own children, and I am still learning a lot.
May God bless you, J., as you journey this wonderful path of motherhood. Many Blessings!
4 Comments:
Hi There! I recently came across your blog from another blog, and enjoyed reading this post.
I have a brief testimony to share with you and your readers. My husband and I have been married for almost 3 years and have a gorgeous baby girl who just turned one on August 20th. We attended a wonderful Baptist church in which there was a nursery, sunday school classes, youth group, etc. Segregated worship. We began to feel conviction from the Lord regarding having our daughter in the church services with us. No one in our church did this. Babies went to the nursery. Simple, right? Well, not for us. On a Sunday morning, we had our daughter out in church with us. As I was the pianist there, my husband held her during song service then I joined them when I was finished playing. The pastor was 5 minutes into his lesson and stopped preaching. He told us that we needed to take the baby out of the service as she was being distracting and he could not focus. I looked to my husband and waited for his direction. After further rebuke from the pulpit, my husband told me that we would speak with the pastor later and instructed me to take Hannah out. So, I did and sat in the foyer with her. I did not put her in nursery. To make a very long story short, we ended up leaving the church as we were told that having children in the service was not the Pastor's conviction and was not what the church did. It was a very heart wrenching thing as I had attended there for 9 years and was there long before I even met my husband. But, God had other plans for us as He always knows best.
We are now in a very family friendly church that is 10 minutes from our house. There is no nursery and our baby girl is learning how to sit. Being quiet is something that will come with training, but she is only 1. So we are working with her at home. I sit with her on my lap for 1/2 hour stretches at a time with a preaching tape playing. I give her some books and her juice, and train her when she gets fussy. It is VERY HARD work, but in the long run it will be worth it all!
All that said, thank you for the post and your wisdom and encouragement. I also noticed that you are expecting...congratulations and God bless!
Blessings,
Sally
Wow.... *smiles*
thank you! What a wealth
of rich information!!
Love~ Miss Jen
Thank you, Christine, for posting my question. I really appreciate your wisdom and encouragement. Sally, thanks for sharing your testimony as well.
This was a very informative post.
I have four little figety brothers who have successfully learned to sit still, thanks to bribes (a sugary treat after church if they're good) and habit. The first year or so weaning from Junior Church was difficult, but they've gotten used to sitting through the sermon.
(As a bonus, our pastor's sermons are 1 hr.+, so whenever we visit another church, the boys are like, "What?! Time to leave already?") You wouldn't know it, but sometimes they actually listen to the sermon at 5 or 6 years of age.
To Sally-
How sad! Church has come a long way, hasn't it?
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