Instead of re-inventing the wheel and trying to craft a story to pass on this information, I thought I would just share the real question from a mother of preschoolers that was asked of me this week and my response.
Question:
Lately, I’ve been thinking of a way to be more transparent with my kids about my faith. How do you do that exactly? I tend to do my Quiet Time or Biblestudy when my kids are napping or sleeping at night and I’m not quite sure how to carve out that time when they are awake.
My response:
At the age your kids are, there is not a ton you can do but to begin setting the stage for what you want to build into them in the future. I understand your need to do your Biblestudy while they are sleeping. Been there! However I’ve found that I was struggling to get my Biblestudy done during their “down times” because I was falling asleep myself. So I had to come up with a new plan.
Basically, I began having my “quiet time” when I got up in the morning, but before I took a shower. I established with my early birds that this was Mommy’s time to read her Bible and they were welcome to play quietly around Mommy or go to play elsewhere. I put a basket of Bible story children’s books near my quiet time area and encouraged them to read their own Bible. Obviously, your children’s attention span at this is going to be short, but it’s a start. I also put quiet things to play with near my area. Puzzles, lacing cards, stickers, paper, crayons or markers–things like that.
At first, my expectations were not high in terms of a long attention span so I would take whatever I could get and maybe finish some of my study later in the day, but over time, my children have just come to understand that this is Mommy’s time to read her Bible and they don’t really bother me. Now they either play quietly or just crawl right up in my lap and talk to me while I talk to God. Sometimes I’ll read them what I’m reading or we’ll sing a song together.
As they’ve gotten older, they have increased their ability to take care of themselves in the morning so I’ve set up things to allow them that freedom so that I can have that time to myself in the morning. The night before, I set out what they should eat for breakfast. They get themselves up, turn on the TV and then eat their breakfast on their own, but they know that my door is always open if they need me.
Another thought with the stage you are at is that maybe you could get breakfast prepped the night before so that it’s easier and faster in the morningfor you to make and then do your Biblestudy at the table while they sit at the table and high chair to eat their breakfast. Chances are good they’ll ask you what you’re doing and you can share with them what you are doing and why. My kids understand, because of our conversations, that if I do not “fill my cup” each morning then I am not able to be a very good Mommy.
Another thought is that as they get older, you can also create a time in your schedule to allow them to do the same as you…read their Bible and pray. I had kind of forgotten about how I was trying to help them establish their own habits–it just got lost in our busyness. We’re not perfect, but we are working on making prayer together each morning a habit of ours. My next goal is to re-establish that Bible reading time for them that we’ve lost track of. The main reason I haven’t done that yet is that I find it hard to find Bibles or Bible stories that are written at a level that they can read it themselves. Maybe I should work on writing some of my own…hmm…that’s a thought!
you always have amazing ideas.