I want to preface this post with, we 100% do not have this figured out! Great, now that that’s out of the way, I wanted to share some practical ways we (my husband + I) incorporate faith concepts with our young kids in the midst of a full life. It’s really important for us that faith has an “every day” vibe. It’s not for special days or times, it’s for every day. It’s not a box to check off right before bed time, it’s for every time. For us to consistently engage with our kids around faith it absolutely has to be intentional + simple. Here are three areas we’ve decided are important and age appropriate for where our kiddos are at:

1. Generosity

Our kids are not yet ready for service opportunities or large financial contributions- we are their wallet! 💸 The ways we currently work out generosity in our full lives are through:

1. Sponsoring a Compassion child

2. Regularly donating items to a local charity organization we love like Helen’s Hope Chest.

Our kids engage with our Compassion child through writing letters, drawing pictures, learning about the country they live in and praying for the needs shared with us through Compassion. This makes their worldview bigger, and the needs of those around us more personal to their own lives. In addition they’re learning that there are kids right here in our own city that have real needs and would be grateful to have our toys that don’t get played with any more and clothes we’ve outgrown.

2. Gratitude

Not only is gratitude an important part of our faith, it’s hugely helpful in fostering good mental health so it’s something we reinforce a lot. We give lots of gentle reminders when “thank you’s” are forgotten and lots of praise when they’re remembered. We also have a nightly practice with our 5 year old where he thanks God for one thing everyday. Sometimes it’s mundane like “my LEGOs” but sometimes it’s profound and more than the object of his gratitude, we’re wanting to teach him to be on the lookout for things to thank God for every day.

3. Jesus

Since we’re Christian, we make Jesus a really big deal in our house. He’s cool, He’s our best friend, we ask Him for help when we’re struggling with behavior, we talk about Him when we’re driving in the car, we bring Him into conversations about “friend issues” at school, we bring Him up when characters in movies make good choices and bad choices, we pray for Him to heal us when we’re sick. Basically we find any excuse to incorporate Jesus into normal, every day, unforced conversation. Our hope here is that the reinforces with our kids that Jesus cares about the big and small things in life and He loves us no matter what.

Regardless of what big points you want your kiddos to grab onto the biggest thing to remember is, don’t over complicate it. There’s a reason Jesus reminds us to have faith like a child. Kids are good at faith! Keep it simple, relatable and practical and create building blocks that your kids can build on as they and their faith mature.