born again Christian mums

[geekymummy]

Hi,

I wasn't brought up as a Christian, my DD is only 6mo, but am thinking of how to bring her up biblically. Any tips?

ooh geekymummy , join us on our prayer request thread and chat to some of the others who are much better experienced/knowledgable to advise than me

Hi geekymummy

Your local Christian bookshop will have loads of lovely books for babies and toddlers.

We've got a lot of board books which have been great. Our best book has been a toddler Bible which has a lot of the well known Bible stories in a lovely read aloud format with great illustrations. Both our dcs loved this from 9 months ish.

Dh and I always pray with our dcs at bedtime. It used to just be a thank you for various things that had happened throughour the day, but ds is 5 now, so we encourage him to say 'thank-you, sorry, and please". He's also keen to ask for Jesus' help when he has nightmares and he says He helps every time

He doesn't understand the concept of saying sorry to God yet - I'm not pushing that one at this stage, but he's learning about people's feelings and consequences which I think is important.

Other than that, get involved in a church which values children and childrens' work. I've been involved in a mum's Bible study which has been great for support and encouragement and prayer for our children.

Hope to see you around again

HI geekymummy

I echo everything mufti and bobsmum have said. I think going to a church where children are welcomed and valued is really important. OUr church periodically runs parenting courses, which I have found useful.

If you are not in a church maybe you could give an indication of whereabouts you are, someone might know of a good church nearby?

Also, that your children see you modelling some of what it means to live Biblically, so saying sorry to each other, a simple thanks before meals just being part of everyday life. Also our childrn know that first thing in the morning DH and I read our Bibles and pray together, and that is normal for us.

Come on over to the prayer thread if you want to, there are plenty of us trying to support each other in bringing up our children.

Thanks everyone!

heading to prayer thread

Sorry, geekymummy, but I just had a really silly thought - hope you have a weird sense of humour like me

I was just going to say you've left it 3 months too late to leave her in the bullrushes

Seriously though, I agree on the supportive church, makes a big difference to be with like-minded mums and dads.

When she's a bit older (3 or so), I can recommend "my first bedtime bible", because its got lovely pictures, has simple bible stories, but has chapter/verse where its from, and it has a prayer that "goes" with each story.

Like people have said, prayers at bedtime and at meals, thanking God for things that happen, praying aloud for situations that crop up in the day.

When my DD was 6, I got a copy of a children's translation of a (whole) bible, she loves that, and her biblical knowledge is excellent (who would have thought her mummy used to be RC )

Hi MaryBS... I do have a strange sense of humour, or so I'm told

Thanks for the tips

Glad I didn't offend you then! You can't rely on a Pharaoh's daughter passing by when you need one...

Returning to the bit I said about children being valued... when I joined our church, there was NOTHING for children, except a corner at the back. Well there weren't any children to improve things for. BUT we had a new vicar, who'd arrived about 6 months before me, and he seemed to want to improve things... 2 years on, we have a Sunday club with 20 children, about a 1/4 of the congregation, and lots of other things for them besides!