Teaching my 4 year old about God?

Question

I do not belong to any specific church (this may change as we are moving to a new, smaller, community) and in an effort to honour diversity, religion is no longer taught in public schools. What is the best way to teach my child about God and the morals we are expected to follow as human beings. I have no formal upbringing, but did enjoy Aesop's Fables in Grade 6 Regligion (many, many years ago - lol). Are these stories still available or do you have any suggestions on other book sets that I can use to begin reading with my daughter that will start of us on our journey of learning about God and The Bible in general. Many thanks.

Answer 1

Many good children bible story books out there. Look in a christian bookstore. And of course example is the best teacher! Pray with her and let her say her little prayers. God bless your desire to take care of the child God has given you to raise. God bless

Answer 2

Aesop's fables are readily available in any major bookstore (like Borders, B Daltons, what have you) and most minor ones, for that matter.



But I strongly recommend looking up one or two Christian bookstores in your new community. They are usually easy to find in the yellow pages. They will have a kid's section with *lots* of good resources to choose from.



So will your new library, which is a source of free resources.



Let me recommend some excellent authors to look up at either bookstore or library:



Max Lucado: An excellent author for either kids or for adults. Three of his first have lond been his best:

*God Came Near

*No Wonder They Call Him the Savior

*On the Anvil

He also has great books for kids, like, "You Are Special"



Sigmund Brouwer: A Canadian author who writes great kids' fiction, and excellent books for grown-ups, too (including the best Westerns I've ever read).



Thom Lemmons: The Best writer of dramatizations of Bible stories. (He Who Wept -- about Jeremiah; its sequel, The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, about Daniel)



and. of course, anything by C S Lewis. You may have seen The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe -- That was one of his. He wrote many more: The Screwtape Letters (what correspondence between demons would be like), Mere Christianity (a good book for anyone who is or is not a Christian), A Grief Observed (Perhaps you've seen Anthony Hopkins in "Shadowlands"?) And he wrote many more, and they're all good.



Also, get in touch with BSF -- Bible Study Fellowship. It is a study program that runs all over the world. It is free to join, and has a great kids program. Check out http://www.bsfinternational.org/



I hope this is of help to you.



Barjesse37

Answer 3

I think one of the best ways is the way my parents taught me. Church is always important, and i hope you find the right one. But also i suggest every night when you tuck him or her in, to pray with him or her and for a bedtime story use a child's illustrated bible stories book like about moses and noah. Praying with them is so important. my parents everynight would say with me "now i lay me down to sleep, i pray the Lord my so to keep, if i should rise(or die) before i wake, i pray the Lord, my soul to take. amen" then we would add everyday needs to the prayer list and prayed for people. I still say the same prayer everynight 11 years later. I can thank my parents for the habit. Also, my mom played bible songs for children on cassettes in the car all the time. Veggie Tales movies are also amazing, and very entertaining. The bible will be too advanced but a good gift for them would be his or her very own bible, possibly a childrens bible with some pictures. good luck and God bless

Answer 4

My children loved The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. It also came with a cassette tape, probably comes with a CD these days.They wanted to go to sleep with the tape on at night. There are so many good children's books and videos... Gerbert, Veggie Tales, ETC. See what's available at your local Christian book stores. Sunday School is also important , although it's not all they need. They need to learn it from home also. Good luck and God bless!!!

Answer 5

Any bookstore probably carries or can obtain for you a copy of Aesop. What morals are we "expected to follow"? Just because words in a book put forth a certain "code of conduct" doesn't necessarily make it "right". The Ten Commandments (or the Two Great Commandments) should be enough to teach any child (or adult, for that matter). I'm curious what God you would teach them to believe in, the one described by men in a book written to manipulate and control the populace, whose own biases/prejudices were the model for God?

Answer 6

Personally, i would focus on the message of scripture, as opposed to the actual stories, espically in the bible. Stick to Aesop's fables and other books of myth. Just try and show her how she should generally act (namely with compassion towards all people, etc). Try and make the morals as clear as possible Stay away from the parables of Jesus, most 4 year olds, and, hell, most 4 year old's parents just can't grasp the symbolism and the contextual meaning of the stories, and the deeper philosophical mean of, for example 'God has a personal relationship with you.' As I say, stick with life lessons as opposed to religious philosophy.

Answer 7

I learned about hell when I was little and it didnt scar me. That is really an absurd assumption on the part of unbelievers.



I became a teenager and since I really didnt have any good influences in my life, and my dad wasnt able to help in that regard, I descended into atheism.



My best advice is to teach your kids Biblical principles both on paper and in real life. Discuss them. And provide a model to your daughters. And make sure your boys if you have any, have a good male role model. Because if you dont, then theyre going to grow up with no idea how to apply Christian principles to their lives.

Answer 8

If you want to teach your son about God, do not raise him as a Xian.



Look at what the Xians do to their kids. They tell the kids about God and Jesus and Santa and the Easter Bunny. As the kid grows up, he realizes he got lied to about Santa and the Easter Bunny, but his parents keep insisting Jesus and God are real. If the kid is smart, he will figure he was lied to TWICE so why not a third or fourth time? If he is stupid, he will buy the whole Jesus and God story. Either way, the kid is a loser.



Teach your kid there is one God and forget about all the other fantasy creatures.

Answer 9

Most book stores and library's have some good books. Another idea is a children's story bible. My uncle use to read to me from my mom's. Its one of my few memories of him.

Answer 10

The Bible discusses hell. If you really want to permanently scar your child with fear of something that does not exist, be my guest. I feel sorry for the poor kid already. You don't need religion to be a moral, good human being. You can teach your child right from wrong without resorting to religion. Since you have already made up your mind, I thank you anyway for giving me the opportunity to express my opinion, and for the 2 points (bfd).