Sunday Slowdown #3- Raising Faithful Kids

Hey all! Today I wanted to talk about raising faithful kids and hopefully in this post I can offer a few tips. 

The first tip I wanted to offer is to start when you're kids are young. My kids are 4 and 2 1/2 years old. They have been attending church with my husband and I since the day they were born. My son was 4 days old and my daughter was 5 or 6 days old when we first brought her to church. It lets them become familiar with the building and the people there and kind of becomes a second home. We recently have taught out kids how to pray. After doing it every night for about a week or so my daughter my daughter will just do it automatically as part of her bedtime routine.  For us we say use the 'Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep...' Prayer every night. Again after only a couple weeks they had it memorized and both my kids just do it out of habit. That is the prayer my dad taught me when I was little and to this day as soon as my head hits the pillow I find myself reciting that very prayer, sometimes multiple times!

The second tip I have is to talk about God and Jesus everyday. When my kids go to bed we tell them how much Jesus loves them and we sometimes sing the song. The other day Olivia had an EPIC meltdown at bedtime. After about 10 minutes of nonstop screaming and crying we finally got her calmed down and in between her little sobs I heard her say,"Jesus loves Olivia." This without any mention or prompting from us. She also tells her stuffed animals not to be scared because Jesus is with her.

Next tip I have to offer is a tough one but really important. Go to church even though, especially with little kids, it would just be easier to stay at home. I'm not gonna lie, it's a lot more work getting kids ready for church than it is for a normal outing. Not only do you have to bring the usual necessities (diapers, wipes, snacks, sippy cup) but you have to bring more than enough entertaining activities to last at least an hour and sometimes longer. For us we make sure to have probably at least 10 books, coloring books and crayons, and usually a favorite toy. For my son it's his beloved trains and my daughter likes to bring her Shopkins. I read once to put new and exciting toys/items in the church bag because it will keep their attention longer with the newness versus something they play with all the time. Let's face it, kids squirm and they aren't always quiet. Bring them anyway. Our church had a nursery that we can bring the kids to place if they can't sit still or are too noisy. Also know that if you come to our church (House of Prayer) we know and expect kids to make a little bit of noise. Often times it seems much worse to the parents who are trying diligently to keep the kids from making a peep. However I will also encourage you to utilize the nursery should you child/children begin crying, screaming, or talking loudly. It's just respectful to the other worshipers.

Like I said, my kids are still very little and I don't want to sound like I have all the answers to keeping your kids on the right path. I am hoping that by starting early with them and setting a good foundation and expectation will set the stage for later in their lives when church doesn't seem the 'cool' thing to do. I'll be honest, that phase scares me even though, I hope and pray, it is many years away. I can honestly say that I never went through a phase like that and I give my dad a lot of credit for that. When I was a kid he always, and I mean always, read our kids' bible with my brothers and I every night, said our prayers every night, and set the biggest example and was a wonderful role model for us. 

Anyways, hope this post was helpful! 

SB