5 ways to incorporate faith
In this culture of staying busy, it’s easy to forget to make time for an important foundation like faith. Growing up, I remember having family members who had daily devotional time with their kids before leaving for the day. I remember my parents trying that, we were not morning people so we always had to choose between being on time or devotions…being on time to school/work always won. Morning devotional time works for some families, but definitely not for all. Here are some ways you can incorporate faith into your kid’s lives outside of the morning devotional time.
Listen to Christian songs on your drive
One of the things my 2-year-old and I have in common is our love for music. At an early age, my little guy showed a love for music. I used to find myself listening to popular music on our drives and truthfully, these songs weren’t always child-friendly. When my son was 20 months old, he would ask me to play certain songs and I was unhappy that he was asking for adult songs. The first day he asked me, I made an instant decision that we would only listen to Christian music.
His interest in wanting to listen to a specific song taught me two things; one, he was listening and taking in the music I enjoyed. Two, this was my chance to plant the right seeds of faith through music. When you think your kids aren’t listening, they are, use something as simple as your commute to listen to faith-based music.
Listen to the Bible
On the topic of listening to faith-based music, you can listen to the Bible with your children in the car. Yes, the comprehension level might hinder them from understanding depending on their age but, they can still listen. This practice will expose your kids to the Word of God while helping them learn new words and sounds and teaching them their faith.
Sunday School
If you attend church with your family on Sunday, make it a habit to drop your kids in Sunday School. Sunday School provides the opportunity to create friendships with other children of faith while learning more about God. The stories and lessons learned in Sunday School are great because they present the stories of the Bible in a child-friendly way to peak interest and keep them engaged in the applying these lessons to their daily lives.
Watch Wholesome Movies
Spending time together as a family is an important part of raising children with the right values and ethics. An easy way to do this is to incorporate a movie night into your weekly plans. There are many outlets available for you to do this, but a great portal to strengthen faith-based morals is by watching Christian movies on Pureflix. Choose movies that relate to their current Sunday school or Bible Study to strengthen and solidify the morals they are learning.
Daily Devotionals
This list wouldn’t be complete without a return to the daily devotional, but this can be introduced with a twist. If your family does not consist of morning people, consider having devotional time during your bedtime routine or at the dinner table before clearing the table. Devotional time doesn’t have to feel overwhelming, a simple recipe is to pray together as a family and pick out Bible passages to discuss together. Another simple easy practice is counting your blessings. Don’t force the devotional time to a set schedule, rather let it be organic. If there is a lot to discuss on a day, let it happen. If there’s a day when there isn’t a lot to discuss, let everyone feel free to wrap up the time.
Whatever you choose to do, find what works best for your family as you try to teach the morals and values of the Christian faith to your kids.