We grow a handful of vegetables at the back of our garden. It’s great to see Tomos, our five-year-old, taking on some of the responsibility of looking after the plants. (Luc, our two-year-old, is still at the stage where he just loves digging in the dirt!)
This year, we wanted to grow parsnips. On the back of the seed packet were details about the month we could expect to see them grow, and the month we needed to have planted them by—which had been and gone.
We couldn’t just “have parsnips” because we wanted them—we needed to have already planted the seeds and been watering them ahead of time.
The same principle applies when it comes to teaching our kids about Jesus.
If we want conversations about Jesus to flourish as our kids get older, we need to work ahead of time to be planting the seed of Jesus in their hearts and helping it grow.
When Do I Start?
Tomos is now at an age where he asks questions about Jesus during Bible story time. And he will occasionally start conversations about God himself. This hasn’t just happened. It’s the result of over three years of introducing Jesus into his world, even before he had any idea what it all meant.
Our decision to introduce Jesus to our kids before they seemed ready came from some friends’ advice.
Their kids are in their twenties now and one of the parents said, “It was always good to pray with our kids when they were young and have family time together reading Bible stories. I wish we had done more of that.”
The later we leave it to start talking about Jesus, the more potential there is for their self-seeking, self-focused instincts to have taken root.
They realised the best thing they had done for their kids was to establish a routine that had God at the heart of it.
That makes sense to me. After all, the Bible warns that “there is no one who seeks God” (Romans 3:11). In our sinful world, that is the default setting of every human heart—even for our kids.
As this is their default, it is important to start showing them a better way as soon as possible, developing a routine in which God’s love and goodness are clearly presented, and in which opportunities to get to know Jesus are frequent.
The seeds of self-seeking, as it were, are planted in our children at birth. It is never too early to start planting and tending seeds of God-seeking. The later we leave it to start talking about Jesus, the more potential there is for their self-seeking, self-focused instincts to have taken root.
So, what does talking about Jesus from young look like?
Praying
Continual prayer is meant to be a hallmark of Christian living (1 Thessalonians 5:17). So let’s allow our kids to see it.
Our friends with the older kids told us they always had this phrase at the front of their minds each day: “Let’s pray about it.”
They wanted prayerfulness to be their first response to whatever came up, and to model their dependence on God to their children.
When we are prayerful, we trust our kids to God, and our kids will see it and take note of what it means to rely on God.
When Tomos was stressed about starting school at four, we prayed with him. I don’t know exactly what impact that had at the time. He didn’t verbally join in the prayers. But I do know that last week, when we heard Granny was ill, he initiated our bedtime prayers, saying, “We need to pray for Granny now.”
Whenever I’m about to read a Bible story with my kids, or whenever Tomos asks a question, I say quietly to God, “Please use this time to make Yourself known. My kids’ hearts are in Your hands.”
When we are prayerful, we trust our kids to God, and our kids will see it and take note of what it means to rely on God.
Reading the Bible
We read Bible stories to our boys, even though they are both in their formative years and there are nearly three years between them.
We are working through a Bible storybook with Tomos. And we are reading much shorter, simpler—and often rhyming—Bible stories with Luc.
Why do I read stories about Jesus to Luc? For the same reason that I keep telling him that cows are the ones that say “Moo”.
Some people might ask, “Why bother reading Bible stories to a two-year-old?” I understand their point. Luc is still convinced horses say “Moo”. When I suggest anything different, he gives me quite a withering look.
Why do I read stories about Jesus to Luc? For the same reason that I keep telling him that cows are the ones that say “Moo”. These things are true, and one day he will be old enough to get it. In fact, he will understand that cows say “Moo” quicker because I am continually reinforcing this truth.
The same is true of his understanding about Jesus. I will keep reading him Bible stories—because how else will he begin to grasp the story of salvation?
Setting Aside Time
We like to try and have one or two moments in our week where we sit as a family to read the Bible and pray together (normally after our evening meal).
The intention is not to “tick a box” and feel like we have done our Christian duty. Rather, it is to develop a continual, open, and ongoing general conversation about God.
It only lasts five or ten minutes at the moment. We read a verse from the Bible, talk about one question, and then say a prayer.
The intention is not to “tick a box” and feel like we have done our Christian duty. Rather, it is to develop a continual, open, and ongoing general conversation about God.
It is simply a platform from which natural and comfortable conversations about God can grow.
Making the Most of Our Kids’ Formative Years
In all of these routines and practices, our aim is to provide a space for our kids to have a real journey with Jesus themselves.
One pioneer in education (who paid particular attention to children in their early years) said: “If we compare our ability as adults to that of the child, it would require us sixty years of hard work to achieve what a child has achieved in these first three years.”
Kids in their formative years are like sponges—they just soak up everything that’s going on around them, often without us realising.
The point is that kids in their formative years are like sponges—they just soak up everything that’s going on around them, often without us realising.
So, there is every reason to be starting the conversation about Jesus in these early years and allowing those seeds to start growing straightaway!