Those Teachable Moments with Our Kids

52 SIMPLE WAYS TO TALK WITH YOUR KIDS ABOUT FAITH
by Jim Campbell

Relieving your child of too much pleasure

Faith Themes
God wants our faith, not sacrifice
Abraham's near sacrifice is a great lesson for us

Natural Teachable Moments

• After your child brings home a noticeably good or bad report card
• While driving your child to or from an athletic or artistic practice
• When your child shows interest in a hobby or discipline

The biblical story of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac is a frightening one. How could God ask this of him? But the ultimate lesson of the story is that God did not want a child to be sacrificed. He stopped Abraham's sacrifice to show the surrounding culture's practice of sacrificing children was wrong.

This Scripture story points to issues that we, as parents, can consider today. Although our culture does not condone the physical sacrifice of children, it does require more and more from them in order that they are seen as valuable in the world. What expectations do we have of our children? Do we insist on academic or athletic excellence beyond their capacity or interest? Do we insist that our way of doing things is the only way our children should follow? ...

One of the things that I hear parents talk about over and over is how best to guide their children toward a personal relationship with God and how to love their faith, not to mention how to live well in the complicated world we face today. Just to add to the pressure, we'd all like to do this without "preaching" or being ponderous about it. We want those moments to arise naturally. Of course, much of the time these opportunities often arise when we least expect it ... a sudden question that we aren't prepared for, an experience that slips by that we look back on with regret as a "teachable moment" or just those times when we were more awkward at expressing things on the children's level.

Most of us get by just fine but we'd probably get along better if we'd have read a book like this one by Jim Campbell. I admit that when I saw the title I rolled my eyes and thought, "Great, another self-help book." However, this is far from falling into that typical category. It is a simple set of topics, each discussed in three pages following the outline:

• Faith themes
• Natural Teachable Moments
• Starting the Conversation
• To Help You Listen
• To Support You: Suggested Bible Reading, What the Church Says about This Topic
• A Prayer Moment with Your Child

The topics covered are thorough and include such diverse subjects as:

• Sharing another person's company
• Seeing prejudice for what it is
• Making memories
• Living with a sense of awe and mystery
• Setting priorities
• Developing childhood heroes

One of the things that I like best about this is that it almost could be used as a daily guide for parental contemplation. Campbell doesn't talk down to the parents but presents his points naturally and simply in a way that invites our contemplation of the point in our own lives. During that contemplation, we also may see where our own relationships within the family can be expanded beyond boundaries we previously hadn't recognized. As you can tell, I really liked this book.

I think I have just found my new baby shower gift for new parents ... now if the expectant mothers I know can just wait until the August publication date.