5 Things To Focus On With Our Children During Easter

Much like a disorganized closet, our children’s journey of faith can look cluttered and messy. We would love it if our children came to faith in Christ as young boys and girls and lived to serve God all their lives. Unfortunately, this is not the reality in many of our homes.

We all have brothers or sisters, aunts and uncles, mothers and fathers that have walked away from the faith they once claimed as unshakeable.

What about our little ones? They may be small right now and the biggest decision they may have to make today might be whether to have Fruit Loops or Cheerios for breakfast. But ten years from now? Twenty? Where will their hearts be?

Providing our children a solid foundation in Christ when they are young is imperative. All we can do as parents is to remain faithful to the call of what Deuteronomy 6:5-9 says:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

What an awesome responsibility we have as parents, and a sobering one at that! How, as failed human beings who struggle with our own faith at times, can we grow little ones in the love and admonition of the Lord? It takes a lot of prayer and communion with the Lord ourselves.

Easter — the foundation of a child’s faith journey — is right around the corner.

If you’re wondering “where do I begin?”, teaching our children about Jesus’ sacrifice for us, His death on the Cross, and His resurrection is the place to start. If our children can grasp this amazing, mind-blowing part of the Gospel, it has the power to lay a firm foundation of faith for them. Jesus overcoming death and rising from the dead is everything! Without the resurrection, we wouldn’t have a living Savior!

We don’t want our children to think Easter is just baskets, chocolate bunnies, dressing up in matching outfits and taking that dreaded obligatory family picture before church! No, for believers it’s so much more! Our primary goal as parents is to keep the focus on Jesus’ death and resurrection. I pray that the Holy Spirit would prod their growing hearts and minds with the magnificent things of God!

5 Things To Focus On With Our Children During Easter

1. God’s Great Love For Them. One of the most important things children need to know is that God loves them. Isaiah 44:2 talks about how God created us and formed us in our mother’s womb. It’s so important that we stress God’s love every day in what we say and how we act.

2. Without the resurrection of Christ, there is no Christianity. Philippians 3:10 says it best:

That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death;

We must talk about the great power of Christ’s resurrection! Read and talk about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

3. Read books that explain about Easter. Really Woolly Easter Blessings is an adorable little story book that shares about the joy of Easter and spring! It’s filled with rhymes, sweet Bible verses, and prayer starters will make reading time a special moment for you and your child — to connect with each other and with God.

4. The commercialized things can become positive tools. We can’t escape the commercialism of this world. It’s everywhere. What we can do is use those things and moments as tools. We can choose to not be offended by them, but turn them into a teachable moment! A simple idea might be sending your kids on an easter egg scavenger hunt. Tell the story of the resurrection through each of the eggs they search for. Give a clue that will lead them to the next egg. Include a piece of candy and the following symbol and verse in each egg. Have your children read the verse before they search for the next clue/egg. You can find step-by-step instructions for making resurrection eggs here on our blog!

5. Have your child write the Easter story in their own words. After reading about Christ’s death, burial and resurrection in the scriptures, encourage your child to write his or her own interpretation of it. Have them write about how it makes them feel. They can even write it in the form of a poem. This is a wonderful way to see what’s going on in your child’s heart!

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Your Turn

What about you? What do you do as a family to keep Easter the foundation of your child’s faith journey? Come share with us on the blog!