FROM GREG & WENDY BURGESS
Developing spirituality in children is a tough but an extremely rewarding undertaking. While there are no guarantees with respect to the outcome of parenting, we found a number of parenting principles to be very helpful. These included:
- Cultivating a regular family devotion time which was relevant to the kids;
- Having the children memorize Scripture;
- Encouraging children to think critically of the culture from a biblical perspective;
- Making theological discussion and debate common place;
- Helping them to cultivate friendships with a wide variety of children, both Christian and non-Christian
Over and above these we found that it was critical to understand the different developmental stages of children and our role as parents in each stage. That is, when the kids were 0-5 we were their disciplinarians, teaching them biblical morality. When they were 6-12 we were their teachers. When they were 13-18 we tried to be their coaches. Now it’s one of our greatest joys to have all our children as our friends. Parents often go awry by trying to be ‘friends’ with their children way too early.
God bless
Greg & Wendy