Intentional Teachers

Learning From Our Example

As many moms do, I keep a running list on my phone of funny things my daughter says. Oftentimes, they’re mispronounced words or phrases. Occasionally, something makes the list that I find encouraging. A few weeks ago, she was playing in her room when I walked by and heard, “What does it mean to obey God, Tinkerbell?” My heart melted when I realized she was replaying a conversation we’d had at lunch earlier that day. I immediately added that sound-bite to my list. I was encouraged to hear that our discussion about God and obedience had not only made an impact on her but that she remembered quite a few of the points we talked about. “She’s listening to me,” I thought, “and she’s learning from me.”  

But that evening I found out just how true it was when I overheard her yelling at her brother. I was just about to pop in and shut it down when I heard, “Do you understand me??” and I realized she was repeating the same short-tempered tone and angry words I used with her earlier that week. Yes, she is indeed listening to me and learning from me always, for better or for worse. 

Teaching Opportunity

In Deuteronomy 6:6-7, Moses speaks to the always aspect of teaching our kids who God is. His commandments were to remain on their hearts, taught to their kids, talked about when sitting at home, discussed when walking along the road, and remembered when waking up and lying down. Any time they spent with their kids was a teaching opportunity. And the same is true for us. From sunset to sunrise, we are teaching our kids something. The question is what are we teaching them? Are we teaching them to value God’s Word, to love God and others, to show kindness and compassion?

Much of our time spent day-to-day will be filled with informal teaching opportunities. As moms, we often find ourselves in situations where we can model patience, kindness, gentleness, forgiveness, and repentance. Some of the most humbling experiences for me are when I need to apologize to one of my children and ask for forgiveness. Our kids are watching us and will learn from how we interact with them and with others in the seemingly insignificant moments of our day.

Moses’ exhortation directs us to be more intentional with our teaching, too. A common temptation for parents is to leave the Bible teaching to the church – to send their kids to Sunday School or youth group and let the church leaders take the driver’s seat to discipling their kids. But each of the passages we read today point toward a different truth. God has designed parents to be the main discipler in their childrens’ lives. 

Taking Every Opportunity

Honestly, it can seem daunting to know how to teach our kids, but over the years, my husband and I have gleaned ideas from older and wiser parents on different ways to be more intentional with teaching our kids about God. Memorizing Bible verses together as a family, praying for a different missionary family over dinner, reading through a children’s Bible or devotional together, using a pack of discussion cards over breakfast to spark conversation, reading through a catechism together – there are so many creative and intentional ways that we can help our kids learn and understand who God is and what He has called them to. 

Whether we know it in the moment or not, our kids are learning from us. What a blessing it is that God has created us to be teachers for our kids! My prayer is that we as moms choose to be intentional to teach God’s truth to our kids in the mundane, in the miracles, and in the messy of everyday life.