{"id":423,"date":"2010-11-10T09:00:35","date_gmt":"2010-11-10T09:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/11\/talking-to-kids-about-god-or-doctrine-in-diapers.html"},"modified":"2010-11-10T09:00:35","modified_gmt":"2010-11-10T09:00:35","slug":"talking-to-kids-about-god-or-doctrine-in-diapers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/11\/talking-to-kids-about-god-or-doctrine-in-diapers.html","title":{"rendered":"Talking to Kids About God, or Doctrine in Diapers"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a new post on her.meneutics called “Doctrine in Diapers.” It begins:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n

For a few years now, we’ve begun our family meals with a blessing. We started with “The Lord’s Been Good to Me,” otherwise known in our household as “Johnny Appleseed<\/a>.” The song’s theology is pretty innocuous. It acknowledges God’s existence and says a basic thank you. Then we introduced “Thank you Father” (to the tune of “Frere Jacque”), which gets a little more personal because it introduces the concept of God as Father. Over the summer, my husband and I were getting bored, so one night we suggested the Doxology<\/a>. And ever since, our kids have requested what they call “Praise Father,” from the last line: “Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” We mix it up occasionally, but “Praise Father” remains their favorite. Somehow, Penny and William moved us from a vague deism to Trinitarian worship. <\/p>\n

\"childpraying.jpg\"<\/a><\/div>\n

In addition to asking God’s blessing on our food, we pray as a family. Our kids have started to add their own requests, which range from Penny wanting to pray for a boy from school who can’t walk, to William asking that we pray for him after he had an unfortunate run in with a pear that tasted yucky. We read “Jesus stories” from a picture Bible. We go to church. And we talk about Mom and Dad having “time alone with God” in the mornings. We hope the way we structure our family time will impact the structure of our children’s lives, that they will grow up with a sense that God is present and active, that God cares about and for their daily needs. <\/p>\n

But teaching our children the love of the Lord is more complicated than prayers and Jesus stories. To keep reading, click here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a new post on her.meneutics called “Doctrine in Diapers.” It begins: For a few years now, we’ve begun our family meals with a blessing. We started with “The Lord’s Been Good to Me,” otherwise known in our household as “Johnny Appleseed.” The song’s theology is pretty innocuous. It acknowledges God’s existence and says…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-family"],"yoast_head":"\nTalking to Kids About God, or Doctrine in Diapers - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/11\/talking-to-kids-about-god-or-doctrine-in-diapers.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Talking to Kids About God, or Doctrine in Diapers - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have a new post on her.meneutics called “Doctrine in Diapers.” It begins: For a few years now, we’ve begun our family meals with a blessing. 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}