Train up a Toddler

In becoming a parent, I knew it was my responsibility (and not the church’s) to train my child and teach him about the Lord.

I did the usual books, Google searches and talking to people. I found many great suggestions, but it was difficult to find a step by step practical guide. So I thought I’d share what I’ve pieced together so far.

Year by Year
The Voddie Baucham sermon 'The importance of Biblically disciplining children' got me excited with his breakdown by age.

In summary, for the first 3 years, you are focusing on obedience, so that you can prepare the children to learn from you. Then, secondly, whenever they begin to talk they will be learning the facts of the Faith. This is done through memorizing Scripture, catechisms and songs. And thirdly, when the children are about 12 years old, true discipleship begins as you are able to walk with your children through life experiences.

We have been able to start the first two phases with Judah (he turns 4 later this month). ‘Obey’ was a mantra in our house when he was two, and the word is on repeat again now that Ezra just had his 2^nd birthday. Obey Mama. Obey Dada. Obey God. Judah started speaking fairly early, so he could say Ephesians 6:1 at that age too.

Day by Day

A good friend of mine gave me this Bible Story Book. It is 100 stories and flows chronologically from Old to New Testament. But it isn’t dumbed down. I sometimes have to pause and explain things. It was great timing, because I didn’t know what to do with Judah on a daily basis. He was a toddler, so I kept it simple:

1.  Songs

2. Bible Story

3. Prayer

He loved the songs best. We’d do  both lively songs and slower songs. Sometimes it was just Mummy singing and Judah banging, making a ‘joyful noise’. But the idea was to teach him the concept of spending time with the Lord. And that it was something we enjoyed and looked forward to. After singing, he had to sit quietly for mummy to read the Bible story. This took some time to get used to, especially if he spotted a toy or wanted to sing more. But I kept at it and he got used to it. I never had any experience with reading to children, so there was also a learning curve for me to do voice intonations for certain parts of the story, or to pause and ask him to try pronouncing someone’s name or to do an action to keep his attention.

Then thirdly, is prayer.  Sometimes only I will pray, but I always ask if they want to pray. And sometimes I have to ‘encourage’ Judah to have a go. With Ezra just turning 2 and not being very verbal, I have him try his best to repeat after me. Here’s an example of a prayer we did today :

‘Thank you for Daddy, thank you for Mummy, thank you for Judah and thank you for Ezra. Amen’.
For Judah, he usually just mentions something we have said in devotions like ‘thank you for healing the people’. He will even look around the room and say ‘thank you for the window’, lol. But he is free to say whatever he likes and we practice ending with “through Jesus’ name I pray”

Ezra is at an advantage, in that he has his brother to observe and follow. I have had much less of a fight to get Ezra to sit for the story times, or to know when to say ‘Amen’, because he sees Judah doing it, so then it must be normal. And Judah is a wonderful big brother and will often remind and encourage Ezra about what he should do.

Devotions maybe takes a total of 15 minutes each day. So it isn’t a huge time commitment and is pretty doable in a busy schedule. We’ve gone through the Bible Story book twice, and since Judah keeps saying “ we read that one already”, we’ve decided to read through the book of John. I was intimidated at first to read actual Scripture, but it has worked out fine so far. We may get through many verses, say, if it is a story, but sometimes not. I don’t expect him to remember everything, but I am satisfied that he understands the concept of ‘Jesus can heal’, for example.

Other than devotions, throughout the day we will pray for meals. When I remember, I may randomly sing through the books of the Bible so that they will get used to the tune and learn it. Memorising Bible Verses is something we don’t do very systematically, but Judah likes to use it to stall his bedtime, lol. Sometimes it happens in devotions too, just depending on how much attention they have that day.

I do daily devotions with the children each day, but Mario teaches them the Catechism some Saturdays.

To Catechize or Not to Catechize
While driving in the car,  Judah asked: ‘Mummy, does Jesus know everyone’s names?’

I said yes then asked: “Judah, who is God?

He replied: “God is the creator of everyone and everything”

He said it without thinking. He didn’t even pause for a second. I continued to explain that if God made everyone, then he must know everyone’s names, and that Judah doesn’t because he is not God.
How did Judah know the answer to ‘Who is God’? That’s the second question of the New City Cathecism we’ve been doing. We have been going through it very slowly and are only at question 4 now after a few months. I knew that it was good for him to have the information from memorization, but I was greatly surprised that it would become a part of his mind and that he could use it so easily and so soon after learning it. I never learned a Catechism growing up, but I knew many many Scripture verses. Even though I was saved as a child, I was still learning basic doctrine in University. I’m glad my parents taught me to look to the Bible and I can easily pull on Scripture verses to support the doctrine I now understand. But my children will be at an advantage in that, not only will Bible verses be memorized, but  also doctrine that isn’t necessarily covered in a single verse or passage (eg. The trinity). And because this is new to me, I am also enjoying learning doctrine with him in a systematic way.

Judah is pretty young, and I am glad that I can teach this to him now, before he has to memorize Pythagoras’s Theorem. In the grand scheme of things, I want him to love the Lord more than anything else. I can’t make him be saved, but it is my job to ‘bring the horse to the water’. I may douse him with it too, lol. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks: What is the chief end of man?’ The answer is: To Glorify God and enjoy him forever.

I truly believe that training our child in the things of the Lord is the most important ‘education’ he will need for his life. No matter what he becomes (Flash at the moment), I want him to be fast but more than that, to Glorify God with his speed.
I am going to put effort into him getting good grades in school or exposing him to extra curriculum activities, but they are not the priority. I won’t minimize those things, it just means I must do more when it comes to Spiritual training.

I hope this was helpful. What ways are you training your children in the Lord? I’d love to hear from parents with older children of what to add or do differently, or for ideas of what to do next.
Bird