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One day the kids and I were eating lunch and I was reading a devotion about giving God your first and best every day.
When we were finished, my 5 year old said “Mom, we should do Bible Time every morning before anything else.”
Yep, proud mama moment.
The not-so-proud part of that was that “Bible Time” was something we’d done in the past but I had let slide in recent weeks. When we did do Bible Time, it was an afterthought.
Well, the Holy Spirit has a habit of convicting me through my 5 year old. We open our Bibles throughout the day and I try to have my own time in the Word as well, but it was clear that “Bible Time” was important to re-establish.
So we are now back into our children’s morning Bible Time routine and expanding on it gradually to be the rich, time-with-Jesus space in our day that we long for it to be.
Here are the details of what we strive to do each morning. It may sound complicated, but implementing it is simple (not always easy, granted) and only takes about 30 minutes of total reading time.
One of our favorite video series happens to be fantastic for teaching your kids about the Bible! It’s a good solution for those days when sitting quietly to read is just NOT going to happen. Check out What’s in the Bible! We own the entire set.
Breakfast Reading
The kids eat while I read a devotion to them and usually a passage from the actual scriptures. What we read varies depending on our mood and what we have available. Sometimes it is related to a topic we are studying for school. Right now we jump around in these books:
- Keys for Kids (a free devotional that CBH Ministries will mail to you)
- Hero Tales: A Family Treasury of True Stories from the Lives of Christian Heroes
- Child Training Bible
- Children’s story Bibles
- Bible Time Basket: Have a basket of Bible-related books your kids can choose from when they get bored and fidgety. Occasionally rotate books out to keep it fresh.
- Set Rules: Make the rules clear and stick with them. My 2 year old can sit in my lap, with Grandma, or quietly on her own. If she goes ballistic, she has to sit upstairs in a pack and play until we’re done. I let them know when we’re moving on to the next thing and sometimes us a timer. Occasionally I’ll tell the kids to look for something specific in their Bibles, like pictures of families.
- Pray Beforehand: I just started doing this and it is a blessing. We invite Jesus to be with us, I pray over the kids’ time with the Lord, etc. Sometimes we pray afterward as well.
- Turn on Music: I try to put music on that is just for this time to make it special and soothing.
- Mind Your Attitude: Be enthusiastic and upbeat about Bible Time! If things don’t go quite right, end it early and on a positive note and just try again the next day. Start with 5 minutes and go from there.
- Read YOUR Bible! Even if you’re just staring at the page without reading (because it’s hard to concentrate while keeping kids calm) still set the example for them.
- Chat Afterward: This is something I want to do soon. After Bible Time, I’d love to talk afterward about what they saw and thought and felt during this time. Perhaps drawing would be good as well.
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by Stephanie, The Multi Taskin' Mom
This Post Has 8 Comments
I have to say your not the only momma that has had it pointed out before! Just this morning I was late getting started and my daughter let me know very quickly that I forgot Bible time… Kids are a great reminder 🙂
It’s nice not to be the only one! It’s also nice when our kids are so used to a GOOD habit that they miss it when it doesn’t happen! Thanks for stopping by.
Thanks for the push to start individual quiet time now. My kids are also 5 & under, and I kept thinking “we’ll start that once they can read.” But I love the time set aside for quietly looking at the pictures and remembering what we’ve read at other times. We do read all together, but I’m excited to add this component to our Bible time as well.
So glad it was encouraging to you! I can’t remember where I first heard examples of doing this for the youngest kiddos but I’m glad I did. I also lowered my expectations of what “quiet” meant during this time. 🙂
I have started doing that with my kids too once the baby goes to bed for her morning nap. My mom did that for my sister and I when we were little and it stuck. I was encouraged to know I am not the only mom of toddlers trying to do this. Thanks for this nice post.
-Mom of 10mths, 4, 5, 7 and soon to come home 3 yr old.
My son has been diligent to remind me to start our homeschooling with prayers! What a great accountability partner!
That is awesome! 😀
Thank you for this post.
I was very happy to ready this and to see parents are are taking the time to encourage their children on the importance putting God first. I have been doing this with my 5 yrs old daughter for almost 1 year, and she has developed morning, night and even car praying devotional routine time. She has memorized many scriptures and is able to speak and declare a word over many situations that arises. To God be the Glory!