Finding Meaningful Ways to Talk About Faith With Children

Finding Meaningful Ways to Talk About Faith With Children

Talking to children about faith can be tricky sometimes, even for people who think faith is an important part of everyday life itself. And that’s not necessarily because children aren’t interested, but instead it’s because they’ve got so many questions, and adults aren’t always prepared to answer them properly.

That could be questions about suffering, kindness, fairness, prayer, heaven, death, other religions, and more, and if you’re not in a place where you can really think about the answers, it’s going to be more difficult than you might have thought. With that in mind, here are some meaningful ways to talk about faith with children.

Children Respond Better To Honesty

One thing children always tend to notice pretty quickly is when adults aren’t being totally honest, and maybe aren’t giving spontaneous answers - they feel more rehearsed, for example. The fact is, conversations about faith work a whole lot better when they feel natural and open rather than too formal - children are usually less interested in perfect or impressive explanations, and they’re more keen to ask questions and feel like they’re really getting to the heart of it all.

Sometimes literally admitting you don’t know is a much better and more meaningful answer than pretending to have every answer and starting kids off on the wrong track.

Everyday Actions Are Important

A lot of what children learn about faith actually comes from watching how adults behave in real life rather than from lessons and conversations, so it’s vital to remember that and do things you want your kids to see and learn from, otherwise they’ll never really understand.

That means things like patience, kindness, generosity, forgiveness, and so on - those are all the things that can help a child understand faith so much more than anything else. And remember, children notice consistency quite quickly, so they’ll be paying attention to make sure you’re really following the teachings you’re asking them to follow as well.

Keeping Traditions Connected To Real Life Is Crucial

Faith can often feel more meaningful to children when they understand it as something connected to real people and communities rather than something existing just in books or religious ceremonies (that they might not totally understand anyway).

That’s why organisations like Melior Mundus is a good one to show them because they focus on supporting Christian communities in the Holy Land directly because preserving faith traditions also means supporting the people who want to carry out those traditions every day.

Questions Shouldn’t Feel Like Problems

Some adults get a bit nervous when children start asking questions about faith or certain parts of religion because they feel as though it means their belief isn’t quite there. However, the truth is that curiosity is basically part of understanding things, and children are naturally going to test ideas and thoughts to make sense of what they’re being told.

So don’t be afraid to answer questions your children might have - you’re not going to undo all the teaching they’ve learned, and you could well make their faith stronger as a result. Either way, children who ask questions tend to be more successful.