Stages
bandage needed
the other day we discovered a cut on our daughter’s finger that had become infected. it was red and swollen and needed attention. as i cleaned it and bandaged it and worried that the infection was a bit bad, i began thinking how that at the stage she is now at, i don’t give her a once over look as often as when she was a baby. when chloe was a baby, i checked frequently her ears, eyes, nails, fingers and toes, and all other created parts to know that she was okay and healthy. i took care of her nails and all of those things. but she is growing up. now, at almost nine years of age, she takes care of of a lot of those things on her own. but this injury made me realize that i still have to do some checks to make sure she is healthy.
avoiding the spiritual bandage
what became my next realization was that i need to do a spiritual check in as well to see that she is healthy and moving in the stages of spiritual growth. here are a few things that we can do as parents to check on and develop our kids spiritual growth:
look and listen–hear what they are talking about. it will tell you what they care about and can give you a reading into their relationship with Jesus. once you know where they are, you can take them to the next stage.
keep upgrading their Bible–as a child grows, they stop reading the picture books, so we need to upgrade their Bibles as well to fit their development. there are some awesome Bibles out there that will work for all kids, at all stages (there’s even a comic book version!)
grow together as parent and child–choose some things that you can do together that grows both of you spiritually. worship together to music you both enjoy in the car, read psalms either in the morning or evening and share what you are thankful for that day, use the parent cue cards given out at One Life KIDS to give ideas, or begin teaching your child how to journal.
what are things you do to check in on your child’s spiritual health and things you do to keep them spiritually healthy and growing?