Cultivating a Lifelong Love for the Bible: A Parent's Guide From Toddlers to Teens

Ever wondered how to cultivate a lifelong love of God's Word in your child, starting from their early years? That's exactly where we're heading in this enlightening episode of Parenting 2 Impressed. We share hands-on activities that can build a passion for the Bible and explain how teaching children to sit still and listen to God's Word can lay the groundwork for a lifelong love of scripture. Imagine your little one clutching their very own Bible, eyes sparkling with interest as you read to them - that's the kind of passion we're talking about!

Now, let's move onto the preteens and teens, shall we? This phase can be quite a challenge, but also an opportunity to further develop your child's relationship with the Bible. We give you strategies to provide resources that will help them engage with scripture in a way that suits them. More so, we explore the importance of creating an environment where your children feel comfortable to ask questions about their faith. We wrap things up with practical tips on helping your children develop a personal relationship with the Bible, including how to handle resistance. Join us as we navigate the delightful journey of guiding your child towards a fulfilling relationship with the Bible.

Helpful Links from this Episode:  Some linked items are affiliate links. This means that we receive an itty-bitty commission if you choose to purchase through these links.  

• From Pages to Hearts: Finding the Best Children's Bible for Your Child  Podcast/Blog Post
• Free Bible Worksheets
• ABCJesusLovesMe Curriculum
• My Learn to Read Bible
• Kay Arthur's Discover 4 Yourself Inductive Bible Studies for Kids
• YouVersion Audio Bible App
• Should Self-Help Books Be Used in Your Quiet Time? Podcast/Blog Post
• How to Have a Quiet Time with God Podcast/Blog Post
• Live Chat with Heidi

Episode Sponsor:  The Old and New Testament  Bible Curricula provides age-appropriate learning for children ages 3-10 years at home, preschool, or church (Sunday School).

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Thanks for listening!

Transcript

Melanie Simpson: 0:00

On today's podcast episode, we are going to get into the topic of teaching your child to read the Bible on their own. Now we have covered choosing a children's Bible, so be sure to reference that episode before you start into this one. Today we really want to hash out how do you begin the process of raising up a child or, starting in the middle, maybe teaching a child to read their Bible all by themselves so that they might become a lifelong lover of God's Word.

Heidi Franz: 0:32

Welcome back to Parenting 2 Impressed, your go-to podcast to learn practical ways to love God and love others and impress this on the hearts of your children. I am your host, heidi Franz, and I am joined by my dear friend, melanie Simpson two moms who have made a lot of mistakes but have found grace and truth along the way. Melanie, since my kids were little, I have been praying for them to have a love of God's Word. I want them to desire to read God's Word. I want them to love God's Word. I want them to see God's Word as their hope and their go-to.

Melanie Simpson: 1:09

Yes, I'm in agreement. How many times have I written a hunger for God's Word, a passion for God's Word, a desire for God's Word.

Heidi Franz: 1:16

But that is something that doesn't just happen. It would be creative if it did. It would. And obviously the Holy Spirit can work in our kids' lives and build that. But our goal is to start from the beginning, and what we're going to talk about today is activities that we can do with our children to build that love for the Bible and then for them to have that desire to read it on their own basically passing the baton, as with all things here on this podcast and part of ABC Jesus Loves Me, ministry and curriculum.

Melanie Simpson: 1:50

you're going to hear us say layers, foundations. And so, starting with the early years newborn into those preschool years, we just started reading the Bible to our kids.

Heidi Franz: 2:01

Clearly they're not reading yet. So exactly, Reading it to them, reading a quality children's Bible. And again, you can go and listen to that podcast where we talk specifically about children's Bibles and some of our favorites. Melanie, what did that look like in your home?

Melanie Simpson: 2:17

For us it was often around mealtimes. They would be sitting at the table and I would just be reading to them, or at bedtime, nap time even. A lot of times, Heidi, they would come out when I was having my quiet time and I would give them a board book version of Bible or a children's Bible, and they were often really excited to participate with me. Right, that makes them feel so big.

Heidi Franz: 2:39

Yeah, it's just like the process of them wanting to fold laundry, or them wanting to dust or vacuum or sweep because you are right. They want to mirror what?

Melanie Simpson: 2:50

you are doing. Yeah, and that's really the very first step of discipleship is just inviting that other person, no matter what age they are, into the process of this is how I do it. The first step is I read my Bible and I read it, sometimes in the morning, in the afternoon, at night, sometimes all three, and so you know, even when they're infants praying scripture over them, so they're still getting God's word, but it might just be in a prayer form. As they are getting older, into those toddler years, sometimes it was a matter of keeping little hands busy. So this is just a training where you are learning to sit still coloring a book or tracing letters, whatever it is, while you're reading God's word. But it's the first step in training to be still to hear God's word.

Heidi Franz: 3:34

Yeah, we used the Beginner's Bible, which is the one that I highly suggest in the ABC Jesus Lesomy curriculum, and that book had fantastic pictures.

Heidi Franz: 3:44

My husband, specifically, would read to the children every night before they went to bed from this Bible and they would read through from cover to cover. I don't know how many times they did this and he was very wise to only read as much as the kids could that night. There were nights where he could read three or four Bible stories. There were nights when one story was all they needed to do, keeping that fun for the kids while you're reading to them. And then what happens is, as they are learning those Bible stories, then they will take those Bibles and I can see so well my kiddos sitting on the couch looking through page after page after page, and they had learned those Bible stories well enough that they were telling the Bible stories to themselves while looking at the pictures. Bible became an exciting book for them just as much as the little blue truck and Corduroy and the Dr Seuss books. It was a book that they wanted to read on their own. The difference was that these stories we told them were true.

Melanie Simpson: 4:52

That can become kind of a differentiation for them is when you say we are going to read God's word, and it is true and I'm going to share a story with you. But I also love what you said because it's so clearly exemplifies sharing the joy and the love that we have for God's word. It's not a chore, it's not a punishment and it is at this age in particular. It is just drawing them in to see the goodness of God.

Heidi Franz: 5:21

I love that In the toddler and preschool age. I highly encourage that the kiddos have their own Bible, one that they can call theirs, that they can have during quiet time to read, that they can hold while you're reading, maybe an adult Bible to them, letting them have a quality Bible. And again, you can check out that podcast in the show notes.

Melanie Simpson: 5:46

And then as you begin to transition into early reading, elementary years again second layer of the foundation, and maybe you've got kiddos that are beginning to read themselves. What a joy it is to get to see them picking out words. Heidi has a great Bible called my Learn to Read Bible and it's so sweet because it has pictures. So like in the scripture if it says, and then Mary filled up the jars, instead of the word jars, it's a picture of a jar. How fun for a kid to be able to go jars. I just read scripture.

Heidi Franz: 6:16

Yes, absolutely, I love that this was a fantastic book. The kids really enjoyed doing this one and then they got to participate and in the elementary age. I want to encourage you not to just get rid of your children's Bible, because those children's Bibles are typically written on a second or third grade reading level, so you can use those with your elementary kids for them to be able to read.

Melanie Simpson: 6:40

They know the stories backwards and forwards, and what happens then is they begin to transfer the children's Bible version into the little bit more complicated text, and it gives them the confidence that they need to know God's word never changed. The underpinning of what I learned when I was four is the same as when I'm 10. Is this the same was I'm 100?

Heidi Franz: 7:02

popcorn reading is a great way to do the Bible time. That's where you read a sentence or a paragraph and they read a sentence or a paragraph or a page or however you want to do it. You're starting to give them more ownership of that reading time, yeah.

Melanie Simpson: 7:19

And we love to give our kids just blank composition books and called them their Bible journals and they could do whatever they wanted. In that we taught them the soap method, which is scripture, observation, application, prayer Heidi, I'm talking a word, two words I mean. Or when they were younger and couldn't write as well, sometimes I would write part of the scripture for them and they could trace over it. They do the rainbow right, like you teach in the ABC Jesus Les me curriculum. But it also offers them an opportunity to begin to make the connection between what I read in God's word A, I'm learning something about God, b, I'm learning something about myself, and then C, I have to do something with this. Like God's word changes me.

Heidi Franz: 8:01

It's not passive. The one difference that I do see between the toddler and preschool ages versus the elementary is that the questions that you ask started get deeper In toddler and preschool. My goal is for the children just to learn the facts of the Bible story, to know who God is, what God did, what did the people in the Bible do. And then in the elementary age we're going to start looking at some application. As they're reading the Bible with you, the questions are going to be what does this mean to you? What do you learn in this? How did Joseph feel we're getting into feelings and emotions? What did God think when the people did blank?

Melanie Simpson: 8:44

And then I love how, as you begin to see your child maturing in their comprehension of not just reading but of the wonder and awe of God, that transfers over to what does Jesus do in my heart, the question what does it matter? What does it matter If you believe in Jesus and we're reading God's word together? Why does it matter to you, to your life? You can start teasing out those questions with your kids and elementary years. It comes personal, it does. And then, heidi, I know that you are also talked about beginning Bible studies at this age. Is this later, elementary, that you did?

Heidi Franz: 9:23

Yeah, later elementary we used the K Arthur Discover for yourself Bible studies and I loved these because one they were inductive, and so it introduced the children to getting deeper into the word. And then K Arthur did a fantastic job of letting the child feel like they're a detective. They got to find secret codes and they got to investigate, and so it made it very fun and age appropriate. There's several different options there and for the most part I did not do those studies with my children. They did them on their own and then I was available for help and I would provide the time for them to do it. I would encourage them hey, have you done your quiet time? Have you done your time in the word today? Have you done your devotional? It became more of an encouragement, it was not an assignment.

Melanie Simpson: 10:19

Yeah, I agree, we do Bible study, fellowship international. There are classes globally and they have a student program that literally goes from kindergarten all the way through high school and we found those to be really helpful in partnering with us to help our kids learn how to study God's word for themselves. We're just saying there are lots of really good, biblically sound options to partner with you, but you don't even need that. You can do this on your own, because the three basic questions, as you've heard Heidi and myself say so, what are we learning about God, what are we learning about humankind and what are we learning about what we're supposed to do with this information? How does this happen? Yes, the application, absolutely. But I heard you say something really interesting. When toddler years, we are sitting with them, we're doing it with them. Elementary years, we're kind of passing the baton, but we are still available.

Heidi Franz: 11:12

Yes, always available for those questions, always available for that encouragement and for that accountability.

Melanie Simpson: 11:21

But it's not a chore. We don't ever want to equate spending time in God's word as a have to. It's a get to.

Heidi Franz: 11:30

And it's also not a who you messed up. What does the Bible say? I just have great concern about using the Bible and reading the Bible as a disciplinary measure. Yes, kids need to see the Bible as the truth, but when you throw it in their faces especially some personalities when you throw it in their faces, it can be something that they disdain.

Melanie Simpson: 12:00

Yeah, and we're actually going to get to more of how to help your children apply scripture to their lives in another episode, so I think we can dig more into that. But we just want to be really, really careful to not become like the Pharisees and the Sadducees in regards to scripture, where we become legalistic about it, because what happens is then we literally stand between our child and the Holy Spirit. We somehow become the gatekeeper for the Holy Spirit to be working in and through them, and that is a really dangerous place to be. Yeah, absolutely.

Heidi Franz: 12:34

We don't want children to equate. If I read my Bible this will happen.

Heidi Franz: 12:42

If I, then One of the things that I want to encourage you in the preteen and teen years is to provide your children with tools, and it's not a case of every Christmas and every birthday you give them another devotional and another blank, blank, blank, blank blank, because that also can be this feeling of I have to do this, I don't want to do this, and we want to make it something that they desire to do. So my daughter especially she would come to me and say, hey, mom, I just heard about this new devotional, or I just heard about this new journal. Is it something that I could get? Absolutely, I immediately ordered it for her because I want to encourage that.

Heidi Franz: 13:34

So, provide tools for your kids. One of the things that I would encourage is, if you come up with an idea that you think would help your kids in conversation, say, hey, I just read about this, or I just saw this, is it something that you think you would be interested in? And if they say yes, then you can say would you like me to order it for you? If they say not, really don't push it back away.

Melanie Simpson: 14:04

I love that because, first of all, you're giving them ownership over their own faith, but also it goes back to that we are not forcing it down their throats. In our family we have a lot of boys. The boys outnumber the girls three to one. I don't want to make blanket statements, but I have found it to be the case that with our boys, reading their Bibles was hard for them. Whereas our daughter could sit down and read for hours, our boys found it a little more challenging. So I also want to recommend having the audio Bible. There's apps on your phone, you can do it. On your laptop, you can be in control of how that happens, but with their Bible open, so they are looking at the Word of God, reading it with their eyes, but also hearing it. Sometimes that it's just the bridge they need, so it's not quite so taxing. Or if you have a kid who's just not a great reader, it happens, it's okay. An audio Bible can be helpful, but I still recommend having scripture open in front of them as well, so they don't become dependent on hearing. It's both the seeing and the hearing. And then just remember, they help different personalities.

Melanie Simpson: 15:09

Some kids love to journal and they want all the highlighters and the pens and the things. They want the journaling Bible. That's great. Some kids want just the bare bones scripture. They don't want all the notes and everything. That's too much information for them. And then some kids really want a study Bible. They want all of the extra help and the information. So, just like Heidi said, maybe just asking them in their teen years hey dad and I would love to gift you a new Bible.

Heidi Franz: 15:36

What do you think would be helpful to you Involving them in what they want instead of what you think they want, so providing those tools. The second thing about teens that I encourage you to do is to ask questions, and it's not probing questions, trying to find out this deep amount of information from them, but it's instead of just coming alongside and saying, hey, what are you learning in your quiet time right now? Can I share what I'm learning right now? And asking those questions as a brother walking alongside a brother, as a sister walking alongside a sister. Yes, you're still in the mom child relationship, but you're starting to pass that baton.

Melanie Simpson: 16:27

Yeah, especially once your child has accepted Christ and really is your brother or sister in Christ. We need to be, I think, mindful to not be condescending. Scripture talks about the youth and what they are capable of in the church and in the community of believers. That gives them something to be called up to, which is to don't let your youth be a detriment to you, but also as your older brother and sister in Christ.

Melanie Simpson: 16:51

I can ask questions that I look in my X amount of years here on planet Earth, god has really taught me this. What do you think about that? I don't know that if you walked in our house you'd be like, oh, they're having Bible study together or they're doing a devotional together. What's happened is now at the dinner table. The conversation is much more conversational, it's. You know, man, I had this issue at work and the Holy Spirit really convicted me to leave that room because it was gossip or whatever the situation is. And then, talking about what Scripture has to say about that issue, it really becomes more a friendship, fellow believers, and that is such a sweet, sweet time.

Heidi Franz: 17:30

Absolutely. The last point that I want to say about preteen and teen is make it really easy for them to attend youth group and to meet with the cool people those youth group leaders make it really easy. I had a wise older mom tell me that her answer was always yes to the things that would further her child spiritually. So it was always yes to youth group. It was always yes to purchasing some devotional tools. It was always yes to meeting with a youth group leader. Those things were easy decisions for her and while I can say the exact same thing as their youth group leader, their youth group leader has more power. It's just the way it is, because they have the cool feature and you don't compare it.

Melanie Simpson: 18:29

I'm just thinking about some churches maybe don't have a thriving youth program, but even if you have them in the pew next to you, sometimes just hearing the same words from a pastor yes, heidi, you're so wise Just being sure that we have a community of believers other than mom and dad who can say the same things and that also just is a good reminder to our kids that we do belong to the capital C church, the global church, also helping them navigate good resources in terms of podcasts and book that can be AIDS resources, but still always reminding them that God's word is the first, that's the foundation. Those other things are wonderful tools, but we have to be able to be dependent on God's word first and foremost.

Heidi Franz: 19:14

Yeah, we have an entire podcast on using self health books in our devotional time, so you can check that one out as well. Okay, melanie, there's two last things that I want to cover, but the first one is we cannot talk the talk and not walk the walk. Right, we can talk to our kids until we're blue in the face about how the Bible is important, about how does God's word that? It is true that we must go to it, that we must read it, that we must spend time in it, but if our child, even preschoolers, if they don't see us in the word, they will see it as a lie. Yeah, we must go to the word, we must be in the word if we want our children to see it as an importance and this is a theme that goes throughout almost every podcast we talk about. We have to walk the walk.

Melanie Simpson: 20:12

We lose authority when our children see us as hypocrites. Yes, it's that simple, and so if you want to have any authority, any voice in your child's life, it requires that we do what we say Absolutely.

Heidi Franz: 20:26

Now for the parent who is listening, who goes I did not read the Bible to my toddler. I have never sat down and read with my elementary child. I want to tell you it's not too late, Just jump in and if you don't know the word, not a problem, become a student of the word with your child. But here's the question what if my child doesn't want to read the Bible? Let's start with toddler and preschool and elementary. Let's put all those together, Melanie, and let's talk about a child who does not want to sit down and read the Bible. How would you handle that? And then we'll go into the teens.

Melanie Simpson: 21:12

Anybody who's listened to this podcast probably knows where we're going, but it's training first. My first question is do they not sit for anything? Absolutely? Are they allowed just to roam free, regardless of what the task is? And so if that's the case, then start with just training.

Heidi Franz: 21:27

Yeah, that's where the training of this child doesn't want to do anything Right?

Melanie Simpson: 21:33

I'm guessing that kid doesn't sit still for dinner or all the things.

Heidi Franz: 21:36

And so when you see it across the board, then you go, okay, this isn't just a Bible issue Right Now, when you say, no, heidi, actually the child will sit for books, the child sits for meals, the child sits for the different things in an age appropriate way. It's just every time I get the Bible out, then we've got to step back and parents and go what are we doing during Bible time? Or is it the book that I am using? Am I using a children's book that the child is not relating to? Or am I trying to read to them in a version that they're not understanding? Am I not involving them in the Bible time? So maybe what we need to look at is the ABC Jesus Loves Me Old Testament and New Testament curriculum and get them involved in the Bible story.

Melanie Simpson: 22:28

Just kind of piggybacking off of that is what are you requiring of the child in your Bible's time that you don't require of the child at any other point in time? And I'm not saying that we don't have high standards, that is not what I'm saying. But what I'm saying is if when you do story time just regular reading books it's five, 10 minutes tops, and now you're sitting down with the Bible and you're expecting 30 minutes to an hour, and right before bedtime, when they're exhausted, or before nap time, exactly.

Heidi Franz: 22:58

So we've got to look at what are our expectations on timing.

Melanie Simpson: 23:01

So once you have given that some thought the next thing would be if they are literally associating the cover of that Bible that you've been using and they have now become trained to run the other way when they see that pick something else and give them something to hold while you're reading to them these are the younger children obviously. Give them a board book Bible or a beginning Bible and say we're going to try something new today.

Heidi Franz: 23:27

Completely reset and start over. I would encourage you to talk to some older, wiser women in your life and explain what you're doing. I'd be happy to talk to you on the ABC Jesus Love To Me website. Come and live chat with me and let's brainstorm some ideas to reset Melanie. Let's go to the preteens, these kiddos who are starting to make their own decisions, and you have given them the tools. You have read the Bible stories to them. They know God's word, but yet they don't want to read it on their own. What do we?

Melanie Simpson: 24:05

do. That's so hard because, of course, our heart is aching for them to have that personal relationship with the Lord and to have a hunger and a passion for God's word. In my experience, it is a hard road to walk if you begin to force this on your kids.

Heidi Franz: 24:27

You can't make a child love the Bible. You cannot make a child see the Bible as their truth.

Melanie Simpson: 24:35

And I can't save my kids, so at the end of the day, I'm trying to be the Holy Spirit for my child and it doesn't work. It absolutely cannot work. Without getting too personal, we definitely have been in this position where we are walking alongside children who say they love Jesus, have given their lives to the Lord, but are finding it difficult, challenging, to connect that relationship with God's word. I think that's the best way to say it. They know the value. They've been raised to see God's word as truth. But to be compelled on their own to want to dig into God's word, it just hasn't clicked yet.

Heidi Franz: 25:18

Yeah, and I would also say to mamas we have four kiddos in our home and those four kiddos each have a different relationship with the Bible. Those four kiddos were raised the exact same way as far as Bible stories. So I'm not going to get prideful about the child who is reading through the Bible and is almost done with the Old Testament. I mean, most adults don't survive the Old Testament and he's reading it word for word. He loves his Bible and I'm going to say that's not me.

Melanie Simpson: 25:58

Right, and likewise you don't get hopeless over the one who is like yeah, I read it at church and that's the last time I touched it.

Heidi Franz: 26:06

And that is letting go and saying this is between the child and God. I can't force this Right.

Melanie Simpson: 26:15

Absolutely. We cannot force a love of the Lord on our children, and that's hard. That's a hard place to be. But what I love about this conversation, heidi, is not only have we given really practical tips for walking through from infancy to later teens, it's also applicable to an adult who's coming to Christ for the first time. You know you want to start just with the basics, just reading scripture and taking your time, but remembering that any time you spend in the Word of God it's a joy, it's a privilege, it's a blessing, because you are meeting the Creator in those pages. And it takes time.

Melanie Simpson: 26:54

We don't read the Bible cover to cover ago. I'm done, I'm finished. I never have to read the Bible again. No, walking with the Lord is a lifelong journey and you can read your Bible a hundred million times over and you will get something new every time. We just are so grateful for this conversation. Thank you for joining us as we chatted about how to teach your children to read the Bible on their own, and we hope that you'll come back and listen to the other podcast episode, which is going to get into helping your children apply scripture to their own lives.

Announcer: 27:25

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