Becoming Your Child’s Faith Conductor - Encouragement Café - October 31, 2017

Becoming Your Child’s Faith Conductor
By Heather Bleier
Tuesday, October 31, 2017

“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6

The routine is fairly universal. The whistle blows each morning giving us fair warning that the train is preparing to leave the station. Our kids wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, come home, begin homework, break for dinner, finish homework or do chores, get ready for bed, sleep, then repeat until the weekend.

Whew! These are scheduled stops in our kid’s day from the moment they wake up and in some regards, this mimics our own jam packed schedules as well.

As the conductor of your child’s day, you have the ability to help your kids include God as an important stop.

Here are three very simple steps to help foster faith in your children that will help them stay on track with God.

1.    Pick up a Ticket: Visit your local Christian bookstore as a family, allowing each child to pick a devotion book that’s just for them.

•       Choose one with at least 30 days, includes a Bible verse, and short prayer. You can also find one to use as a family. Over time, children can trade devotion books instead of buying a new one each month.

2.    Schedule God Stops: Guide each child to decide when they will have their God Stop. Starting your day with God is always preferable, but mornings may not always work best for your schedule. Most devotions take 5-15 minutes depending on age.

•      Planning stops before dinner, affords you an opportunity for great dinner conversation as each family member shares what they have learned. For younger children, using their devotion as a bedtime story provides a wonderful bonding experience.

•      Just like homework, chores, eating, and more, make devotion time an important part of their day by placing your God Stop Schedule on the refrigerator for all to see.

3.    Set the Example: Though schedules may be hectic, if we want our children to value their time with Jesus, we have to show them that it’s meaningful to us as parents.

Planning your own God Stop and including it on the schedule is a wonderful way to set the example, in addition to sharing your God Stop experience with your children.

Once or twice a week, plan a family devotion instead of individually; dinner is a wonderful time to schedule this stop. When we take charge as the conductor of our children’s faith, we help them learn good habits now, providing growth opportunities for later.

Go deeper…

●      Invite older children to write two or three sentences in a spiral or journal about their devotion, this will help them process what they have read.

●      You can also invite older children to lead one of the family devotions, or share one of their favorite ones from that week.

●      Younger children can draw or color a picture. Write the Bible reference on the back, keeping these in a three ring binder as a record of their growing faith. The internet is a wonderful resource for FREE printable coloring pages.

Father, You have given us the task of Conductor for our children and You guide us with each stop. Thank You for providing us with opportunities to help our children grow in their faith. Amen.

© 2017 by Heather Bleier. All rights reserved.

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