One of my main goals as a mother and Daniel’s wife is to teach my children to focus and participate during service and be a support to their dad as he is bringing the Word. It’s important to teach our kids to have reverence and respect in the house of the Lord, but they also have to enjoy themselves!
I learned from my mother-in-law, Cacilda, to keep them by your side during worship and let them dance, sing and participate actively. When they are around two-and-a-half or three years old, you keep them by your side during the word for twenty minutes and then leave. Keep them entertained with crayons and coloring books. Even if they are still quiet after 20 minutes, you take them to the nursery and let them play. Try this for several weeks and watch how they respond. If you feel they are ready, keep increasing the time to thirty minutes, then forty and so on. By the time they are four years old you might be able to keep them quietly by your side for one hour or more during a service. I tried this with my seven-year-old and I am going to train my 14-month-old when she is ready.
John Robert Stevens, the founder of this church, used to say that if a child is quietly coloring or having a snack during the word, her little spirit is still absorbing all that is being said and imparted. However, the best thing for training our children—as always—is our example. If we show respect and reverence when the Word is spoken in the service, they will too!
God bless, and aloha.
Posted in Pastor's Blog