You may have spotted Michael/SKATERAK’s comment on Tim’s first Not Only A Father post.
It reads:
This will definitely be an interesting series. Thanks for whetting my appetite already. Is there any chance you could throw in some advice on how to present God to children, as well?
Just a little question, eh, Michael?
I hope it’s no surprise that I think about that a lot too. I have a bunch of half-drafts or titles for posts that cluster around the question of a parent’s role in their children’s spirituality. Now sounds like a good time to launch into a new series on such things, so I’d like to start with your input.
What do you want to talk about? Do you have questions for wise parents of grown-up kids (I plan to rope in a few) about how they present God to children? What aspects are you interested in? Language, family routines, church, spirituality, philosophy, theodicy, theology, resources, what?
Looking through the archives, here are a few related posts from here and my blogs at Kiwi Families and West Baptist:
- On godparents
- On Advent with kids
- On praying at bedtime
- On explaining and celebrating Easter
- On including kids in church life
- On practising the lectio divina (prayerful reading of the Bible) with kids (as we did at West Baptist)
- On the phenomenon of Christian family camps
Here are some of the things I have been wondering about writing about, or have on my list of drafts. I’m keen to know which ones you are interested in.
- How to sort of ‘do our working’ out loud (like showing your working in algebra test questions) so our kids see some of our interior spirituality. For example, when I tell SBJ his dad is at work, I call it ‘helping people for Jesus,’ so he knows that’s work is an expression of spirituality.
- Praying at mealtimes.
- Hospitality as a Christian practice we involve our kids with.
- A review of the best kids’ Bible I’ve come across.
- How to talk with our kids about illness and suffering in a way that shows that our value as humans doesn’t depend on being well or happy or ‘contributing.’
- What following Jesus might mean when you’re at school, and how to help our kids find their way to do it.
- Kids and communion.
- Kids and baptism.
- Kids and the Holy Spirit.
- Kids and… [insert your interest here!]
In the comments, could you please give us one or more questions you would like us to discuss – either because you’re working through or wondering about the issue, or because you have already done so and it was important for you or your household.
If you have something in particular to say about this topic that you have thought a lot about and/or practised in your interactions with kids (yours or other people’s), then please contact me to discuss a guest post (either comment briefly or send an email).
If you know a someone whose parenting you admire in this area, please let us know that, too, and we can see if they might be willing to contribute!
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