It Can All Start with a Boo-Boo
Young kids by nature are egocentric – everything is about them. When kids are little they struggle with sharing and may throw tantrums when they don’t get something they want. We’ve all see the “bad” kid in the store who screamed at the top of his lungs in the checkout lane because he didn’t get that sugary piece of candy that would only send him and his mother into an orbit of uncontrollable chaos. He appears to be completely out of control and we wonder if his parents know the meaning of the word “discipline.” The truth is, many kids aren’t being bad in these moments, they are just acting their age. When we view their world through their age and experience it doesn’t look so abnormal.
It is in these young years that we must start the prayer training process in our children. They won’t understand our adult-like long prayers, full of big words and flowery speech. They won’t understand why we are praying for someone they don’t know, and much less, for another nation of the world; they don’t even know what a nation is. What they do know, is their little world which is full of toys, snacks, and boo-boos. To adults, these things may not seem important enough to pray over. Rarely do I see an adult praying over a scratch that they can hardly see, over a puppy dog, or over fish crackers and juice boxes. That is not “our world,” yet it is theirs.
If we expect little children to learn to pray then we need to enter their world and look for the opportunities they have around them. Teach them to pray over a snack. Teach them to pray when their doggy isn’t feeling well. Teach them to pray over that finger they just smashed with a toy, or the knee they scraped on the playground. Then, as they get older, you can guide them into bigger prayers and ones that include others.
The other day in my Kids Prayer class I asked the kids if they had any prayer requests. We always pray for others and world needs, but this day there were more young kids than older ones. Immediately the little ones came forward and started showing me invisible boo boos on their fingers and toes. They acted like they were in extreme pain and nearly dying. Those things were important to them, and so, we prayed for “their world.” The point is, get them praying young and as they get older they will keep praying, and they will pray bigger and bigger and bigger.
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