Category: Faith Sharing

God is GOOD Challenge for Kids and Teens

The "God is GOOD" Challenge for Kids and TeensIt doesn’t really matter if you are reading this post the day it went on the website or days, months or even years later. The world is filled with evil and lots of people who are more than willing to act in incredibly evil ways. Sometimes, they conduct their evil under the pretense of it being what God wanted them to do.

Yet God is GOOD. The Bible tells us all good things come from God. It also tells us “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 ESV)

In the process of teaching our kids everything in the Bible about how they should behave, we sometimes forget to tell them their purpose as a Christian. We are to worship and obey God and serve Him by serving others and sharing our faith. Those last two things are what the scripture in Matthew is all about. Serving others allows us to point them to God and share His message with them.

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Raising Kids to Be Joyful Christians

Raising Kids to Be Joyful Christians - Parenting Like Hannah

 

Have you ever seen people walk by kids having fun? Many times it will bring a smile to their face or they will stop for a moment and just enjoy watching carefree children at play. That childhood joy is contagious.

Joy is a very important spiritual characteristic we need to help our children develop. You see joy acts like a magnet. People see people who are joyful and they are drawn to find out how someone could be joyful in this fallen world.

There are several things to remember as you help your kids be joyful:

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Parenting and Communication Skills

Parenting and Communication Skills - Parenting Like HannahIf you listen to most parents talk for very long, it becomes obvious many problems in families are actually communication problems. If you have ever said things like “They don’t seem to hear me” or “No matter what I say she gets mad” or almost any sentence involving listening or speaking, you may have communication issues too.

I was intrigued by the title of a new book I was offered to review. You Can’t Text a Tough Conversation by Mike Bechtle attempts to teach basic communication skills to a generation who has spent a lifetime condensing speech into a text. Although in some ways a primer, it had enough great reminders and new information to be helpful to even a somewhat practiced communicator.

The author breaks down the book into four main sections. The first basically makes his case for the need for teaching and learning how to communicate well. In the second section, he gives six tools for healthy conversations and six skills needed in the third section. The final section he uses to more or less put all of the pieces together into some general thoughts on communication circles, technology and more.

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Fun Activities for Helping Kids Understand the Bible

Fun Activities For Helping Kids Understand the Bible - Parenting Like Hannah In Helping Kids Understand the Bible, I shared how knowing the various levels of understanding the Bible will help you move your child from someone who is able to repeat Bible facts to someone who is equipped to put godly principles into practice and serve and share their faith in creative ways.

You may be wondering what you as a parent can do to help move your children’s understanding of the Bible from level to level. As with anything in life, this progression is rarely in a straight line. Your child might be able to understand and apply some godly concepts easily and struggle with even remembering others. That’s okay. If you keep talking about all of the Bible stories and godly principles and commands and doing some activities to encourage the higher levels of understanding, it will happen over time.

So what are some fun things you can do with your kids for each level? There are probably lots of things I didn’t even think of, but here are some of my favorites:

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Helping Kids Understand the Bible

Helping Kids Understand the Bible - Parenting Like HannahDo your kids know the basic facts of several Bible stories? Can they win Bible trivia contests at Church? Can they sometimes correct adults on the details of their favorite person in the Bible’s life? If, so they have made a great beginning on understanding the Bible. Unfortunately, that’s where many Bible school classes stop.

Our children may learn lots of Bible facts, but they don’t necessarily know how those stories and people fit into the big picture of God’s Plan. They may have no idea of how God has principles for a godly life He reveals in the Bible or how to put them into practice in their own lives. Sadly, they may not even understand why any of it matters.

Education majors are introduced to Bloom’s Taxonomy. It explains there are actually several layers of understanding needed to thoroughly understand and use new material. It starts with remembering details and ends with having the ability to take the information learned and create something new to put it into practice. With apologies to Bloom, I have adapted his taxonomy to show how it can apply to our children understanding the Bible.

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