I love music. My taste in music is rather eclectic and I often use music to adjust my energy levels or moods or just sing along for fun. One day, when I was a single young adult living paycheck to paycheck my car radio went out. Since the car still worked and there wasn’t extra money, I drove without music for several months. (This was before cell phones!)
At first, I thought I would lose my mind. The silence in the car was deafening on my long commute to and from work each day. Gradually though, I began to appreciate the quiet. I found it helped me to think more clearly. It encouraged me to pray. It gave me time to listen to God (not His actual voice). It gave me a quiet space to dream godly dreams. When the time came to get a new car with a working radio, I was as sad as I was excited.
Your kids are surrounded with constant noise. That noise can drown out their conscience. It can drown out their questions. It can drown out processing what they are learning about God. It can discourage them from praying. It can make it harder to think through moral choices. It makes it very difficult for them to reflect on scripture or God’s commands and promises. In short, noise may be stunting their spiritual growth.
Help your kids create a quiet time each day. It doesn’t always have to be used for Bible study and prayer, but it’s great to encourage them to use part of the time for that. Your introverted children will probably find this relatively easy and even pleasant. Your extroverted children may struggle. As an extrovert, I have found walking – especially in a relatively quiet place like a forest, makes it easier to be in quiet.
As a bonus, you may find a time of quiet each day calms and soothes your children. Some may even catch some extra needed sleep when things are quiet and calm. In the end, your kids need silence each day for spiritual and mental health. Try to help them make a daily habit of spending time in quiet.