Build Your Child’s Core with Spiritual Training

Making a heart connection with your child is a special part of parenting. One reason connecting emotionally is so important is that the heart is a person’s spiritual center; that’s why God chooses to live there. It’s also where parents can impact their kids spiritually. When you connect with your children on an emotional level, they’re more willing to listen to spiritual truth and less resistant to your leadership.

It’s also through relationship that values and convictions are passed on to kids. So, having an open, close relationship with your child is strategic. When we ask children to whom they talk when they’re upset, answers vary greatly. Children and teens talk to their friends, their parents, other family members, youth leaders, or teachers. And some children don’t feel comfortable talking about their problems with anyone.

Spiritual training is more than taking your kids to church or praying before dinner. In order for children to face a world that is hostile to Christianity they must have a strong spiritual core. In the same way that exercise strengthens your physical core, having spiritual conversations with your children strengthens their spiritual core. A strong sense of spirituality increases a person’s strength of identity and gives them an enhanced ability to deal with their own emotions. It provides a sense of purpose and meaning and helps children to be more resilient in life.

Children must wrestle with four spiritual questions and your dialogue, interaction and teaching can go a long way to help them. Here are four questions to focus on.

1) Is God real?

2) Is Jesus who he claimed to be?

3)  Is the Bible the Word of God?

4) If the answers to those questions are yes, then how does it change your life?

As you make the tough trade-offs in life, be careful not to minimize the value of time spent on spiritual training with your kids. If you don’t have time to do spiritual training then you don’t have time to have your children involved in sports, the arts, or other activities in their lives.

Passing the faith on to your kids is your number one responsibility. We designed a four page infographic called “Boost Your Child’s Development at Any Age with Spiritual Training.” We’d like to send it to you. It’s free. Just hit reply to this email or send a request to joanne@biblicalparenting.org Ask for the Spiritual Training Infographic and we’ll get it right to you.