Biblical Womanhood: In the nurture and admonition of the Lord

Monday, September 18, 2006

In the nurture and admonition of the Lord

I wanted to see if I could get some help from you. I have a 2-year-old daughter who is a special needs child. Her cognitive ability is between 6 and 8 months of age. I have really felt convicted lately to begin teaching her about God and Jesus. However, I don't know where to begin and what materials to use. Because her cognitive ability is so young, I'm not really sure what methods to use. I know that you homeschool your young daughter, and I wanted to know if you would share with me what kind of teaching you did when she was 6-8 months of age. I know that God wants me to train her up in spite of her disability, but I just don't know how to do that. This is my first child, and I did not grow up in a Christian household, so training children up for God is so unfamiliar to me. -M

Hello, M! Your desire to raise your precious daughter in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord" is so wonderful and exciting to me! I'm no expert in this area, but I'm happy to share some things I've done with my daughter which you could easily implement in your home as well.
The most important thing you can do to teach your daughter about the Lord is to pour the Word of God into her little heart and life and to model a Godly example before her. Even when children are very young and even when they are a special needs child, they are able to understand so much. Deuteronomy 7:4-9 says:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

From these verses, here are just some very practical and simple ways to apply these verses:

1. Talk of the Lord to your daughter. Even if she can't understand much of what you are saying, still talk to her. Show God to her in the simple things. When you are walking outside and admiring creation, tell her about the God Who made the trees, the flowers, the birds, etc. The God Who cares enough about us to make the world so beautiful. Keep it really simple. Just in the everyday moments, take a moment to remind her of God. Maybe she doesn't understand right now, but it will eventually sink in!

2. Read a short passage of Scripture to her before she goes to bed. Keep it simple. We want our children to love the Word of God. Be expressive when you read, stop to explain things, keep it short. Consider also letting her fall asleep listening to the Bible being read on CD. This is another great way to easily implant God's Word upon the hearts of young children.

3. Sing hymns to her. My mom has a little book of hymns with one or two for each day of the week. Everyday until my little brother was two or three, she would sing to him the hymn of the day. It was amazing how much he was able to pick up just by the weekly repetition of the hymns. We've sung with Kathrynne ever since she was very little. She now loves to sing. Oftentimes, she will go and get the hymnals off the shelf (we have them down on her level so that she can get them out for us during family worship) and sit on the sofa and sing for quite a long time. It is so precious. Another great way to pass on hymns to your children is to have them playing often in your home.

4. Hang Scripture on your walls. Even when children are very young, they can start understanding that the wall hangings "say" something. Kathrynne discovered this in the last few months and very often when we pass one, she points and asks us to read it to her. What a great way to be reminded of Scripture!

5. Read good books to your daughter. There are a lot of silly little fluffly books out on the market to read to a child, but I highly encourage parents to consider giving their children more wholesome reading material. It's okay to "read above their level" sometimes. Kathrynne and I read through the entire unabridged original reprint of Pilgrim's Progress before she was six months old. We just did it in little snippets everyday. Of course, I got the most out of it, but she listened right in as well. We are now reading through How to Be a Lady. We have "tea time" every afternoon when she wakes up from her nap. We have a cookie and some tea and she sits on my lap and I read a few pages to her. Once she's finished her cookie, I stop reading. The cookie keeps her still and attentive and makes it a really special time that she looks forward to everyday.

These are just some really basic ideas, maybe a few will work for you, or maybe they will get your creative wheels turning to come up with other ideas! Ask the Lord for His guidance and wisdom. Also, most importantly, seek to constantly be loving the Lord with all of your heart and engrafting His Word into your heart. As you do this, God's love and God's Truth will readily flow forth to your daughter.

For more thoughts on this subject, here's a post I wrote some months ago on discipling young children.

Anyone else? I'd love to hear what you are doing to teach your children about God and to train them in the ways of the Lord. Feel free to comment and share with us what you have done or are doing!

13 Comments:

Anonymous said...: My baby is 9 months and the only ting I really do is try to fold his hands when we pray before meals and I always sing the old fashioned hymns to him.
-Lela; 6:39 PM
Anonymous said...: Thanks for the ideas. As I begin to prepare for motherhood, I have been earnestly praying that God will help me to bring up our children to know love and follow Him. These are wonderful ways to start.For me it will be harder because my husband is not saved.

My sister has 4 boys (twins 4 yrs, 3 and 1 yr). She emphasizes to them God's hand in everything from creation to how to treat siblings. "We share because God asks us to. It makes God happy when we share." She also says that patience and repitition of the basics are important.
It is amazing to see the patience God grants her with 4 boys :)

Jenn; 8:08 PM
Anonymous said...: Sadly I cannot remember the titles of 2 books I "might" still have; if so, they are packed and stacked from a move. They were something on the order of "teaching young children about Jesus". They were purchased at a local Christian bookstore in the section where one would find hands-on materials for young children at home or in a fellowship setting. They involved crafts and outreach projects; if titles are remembered or seen on eBay or another used venue, they will be sure to be shared. Joyce :-); 7:54 AM
Anonymous said...: Found one; with a little more searching of my memory bank, it was recalled the other read was given to a new mom several years ago(still can't remember the title, though am thinking wording included preschoolers...we've moved and she's moved so can't easily ask)!

1001 Ways to Help your Child Walk with God by Kathie Reimer

She also authored: "1001 Ways to Introduce Your Child to God" and "1001 Ways to Introduce Your Child to the Bible". They all would include idea sparkers! What is most valued a thought is that children often "catch" what we least consider they do. So ~ enjoy "being" a believer while enjoying time with children God places in our path(at home or elsewhere). Sharing that God made the beautiful flowers if setting some to a vase is a teaching moment while other times the teaching is more involved. Infants and toddlers love songs, stories, and rhymes...and tangible expressions(fingerplay, healthy cookies or bread cut in shapes to correspond, or even inexpensively cut felt shapes put on a homemade board covered with flannel...out of reach for very wee ones but visually encouraging). How about even Cheerio-type cereal arranged like shapes and a song, story, or rhyme to go along? Well, you get the idea and by now might have many ideas rolling around in your minds. Hope this helps! Kisses and hugs to the wee ones from this Mum! Joyce :-); 9:16 AM
Jessica in NYC said...: Crystal,

While I don't have any helpful advice, I do want you to know that for some reason, this post made me cry (at work, nonetheless.) Perhaps it's because I'm getting even more emotional than usual with my wedding so soon, but just reading your suggestions and imagining that I might use your methods with a daughter some day (oh Lord, please let it be so!) brought tears to my eyes. (Also, I LOVE the line from Scripture that you drew from - that one always moves me tremendously!)

In short - good suggestions, I love them, I pray I may put them to use myself.

PS: I do know from experience with my that singing and having sacred music playing frequently ABSOLUTELY helps children to learn and appreciate the Lord. My 3 year-old future niece "played" on her keyboard and sang 5 children's hymns with me last weekend, and when I suggested she tell me her alphabet, she sang it, and even paused to ad-lib, "Stands for Jesus and Jessica," when she got to J. Priceless!; 1:24 PM
Anonymous said...: Being a mom with a first born dd born with specific needs - and soon after diagnosed with SMS - I would like to comment that all the suggestions listed so far are fantastic! We read, talked, listened to music that pointed our child/family to God since she was born! And now 12 years later - she worships and glorifies God in her own special way! We help her read the simple sight words she knows from the Bible when our family reads - and love to hear her spontaneously humming or singing the words to a hymn or other praise song (or recently making up her own tune).

Oh how she reminds us that God is good and his mercies endure forever!

-Lisa; 1:33 PM
DollyMama said...: One thing you can do is get the Bible on CD or cassette tape and play it in the background when she is playing, resting, or even napping. There are some really nice ones that even have some soothing quiet music in the background. Even if she is not actively listening, her mind can get ahold of the message. It's not a bad idea for the whole family, actually. :)

Also, there are some lovely music CDs out that have scripture that you can sing along to. Steve Green has some "Hide Em in Your Heart" and there are more that I can't think of the name of. It is an easy way to memorize scripture.; 3:05 PM
Anonymous said...: Hi Crystal,

I'd really like to know the title of your mom's hymn book. That sounds like something I've been looking for.

My 4 children range from 10 to 2 yrs old. Somethings that I have done are to sing lots of children's choruses or Scripture songs. I had different songs for different times of the day. Picture books of the Bible are great. Praying together, and just trying to be an affectionate attentive mother I think are the most effective ways to convey the love and knowledge of God to our young children.

The Lord Be With You,
Betty; 6:37 AM
Martha A. said...: Sometimes when you are a mom with more than one little one at a time it is hard to get everything done with them you would like! I find it easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of things other mothers do with their young children when I was able to do more with my first, but after that, it got harder and harder. Still some things I do and my parents did was listening to the bible on tape and bible story tapes. My children love bible stories! All the time people are amazed at their knowledge of the bible. I like Your Story hour bible stories as they are accurate and do not change things so they get mixed up. When I was little when I went to sleep, I listened to Alexander Scourby every night reading the OT. I did not enjoy Judges very much ever, but my favorites were the 1&2 Samuel 1 &2 Kings, and the book of Genesis. We practically memorized them! I did not know you learned while you are half asleep except that I knew stories that I had listened to while sleeping!
Anyhow, in case any of you other mothers wanted a tip from someone who is busy alot......; 5:30 PM
Darcy said...: I am a mother of 4 almost grown daughters and my husband and I have learned that the first thing in teaching our children about the Lord is His Word. Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." Reading the Bible to your child or having her hear it how God speaks to us. The second thing is your own relationship with the Lord and the joy you have in Christ. Darcy; 9:26 AM
Angela said...: Thank you for taking the time to encourage other young moms as you did today. I wanted to add a couple of thoughts to your answer to the sweet young mom teaching her daughter. I second your advice about the Bible on CD. When our children were very young, we would have them fall asleep listening to the Bible on tape. I was utterly amazed at the things they
picked up. They would mention something the next day that would give me pause..."where did they learn that?" I would wonder. They would tell me they learned it from the Bible on tape! What a wonderful way to hide God's Word in their heart. We are planning on getting the Bible on CD for the family this Christmas. Time to upgrade! lol

I also thought she and her daughter would enjoy watching the Cedarmont Kids videos. My almost two year old daughter LOVES these. Young children love watching other children. She will "sing" along, dance and try to mimic the
motions. She is hiding these words in her heart...what a wonderful thing!; 9:28 AM
Teresa said...: Thank you for your constant reminders to me about Biblical Womanhood ... motherhood ... mentoring! I'm a grandmother now, while still raising young children myself (my children are ages 32-7, and six grandchildren ages 10 & younger). I've part of the homeschooling world since 1985, and find myself mentoring many young mothers. I appreciate the wisdom & insights you share with me ... I can pass them along!

As for reading materials. Please encourage your readers to heed the advice given by the folks at Keepers of the Faith. We don't need *worldly
classics* for our children. The books available from Keepers, from Lamplighters, from Rod & Staff ... are the best books for our children.

I have to love the Rod & Staff reps at our state conference. They always want me to look over their books before I buy them to make sure they meet my standards! LOL I have to tell them that their books are simply about my life! We live on a small family farm in much the same way as their books represent. LOL

Good Bible study materials are available from Child Evangelism Fellowship.

Get science books from Institute for Creation Research & Answers in Genesis! And history books from Vision Forum & FACE.net & Mantle Ministries.; 9:28 AM
Katie said...: Signing would work with a special needs child, too. If the mom is singing, reading, signing and talking to this babe, the Lord's word will GET IN. It may take longer than a traditional child but the Holy Spirit is still in the
miracle business. There are lots of good signing videos out there that my boys really liked. Now they both have LARGE vocabularies.

Katie in Ohio
Mom to Ozzie, 3
Mom to Nolan, 1,
Mom to Baby Sprinkles, due ANY DAY NOW *(Nolan's full sibling); 9:29 AM

Monday, September 18, 2006

In the nurture and admonition of the Lord

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