A person can come to God at any age and in a variety of ways. Some people discover Him in early childhood and carry His grace from an early age; another person can live his whole life, commit many sins, sink to the very bottom and only there understand that without God he is nothing and no one.
Everyone has their own paths, but it is quite natural for believers to try to convey to their children the essence of the Orthodox faith as early as possible. Every parent hopes that through their example and their faith they can protect their child from many mistakes in life. So how can you tell your child about God? At what age is it better to do this and how to maintain interest in faith throughout your life?
Lack of time to answer, underestimation of the importance of questions
Giuseppe Milo
This applies not only to answers to questions about faith - modern parents in general are sorely lacking time to communicate with their children. There are sociological studies according to which a modern parent communicates with a child for about ten minutes a day, and most of this time is spent not on heart-to-heart conversations, but on the daily routine: “show me the diary,” “brush your teeth,” “did you do your homework?” Therefore, children have to look for answers to their questions from strangers who may not have teaching skills, may not have genuine knowledge, and may not even always wish the best for our children. And you shouldn’t entertain the illusion that it’s enough to talk to your child once a week, lecture him and tell him what is good and what is bad. No, not enough! The child needs daily attention to him and a daily answer to his questions.
Alas, in practice it happens differently. Parents say: “I’ll tell you later,” “You’re still young, you won’t understand,” “Ask your confessor about this in confession.” And then a child comes to confession, and there are 70 confessors standing there, and the priest came out of the altar to confess before communion. Naturally, he will not answer - he has no time.
This is why it happens that even in believing, church-going families, children grow up who, having already finished school, have no idea about the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century, but know only about the afterlife of the soul. Or, for example, a fifth-grader child from a very churchly family asks the question: “Where are the bones of Jesus Christ?” Or the children don’t know what the name Jesus even means. I can give many such examples. And the reason is that parents do not talk to their children about spiritual topics.
Meanwhile, parents need to understand from the very beginning that children’s questions can be any, not just about faith! - this is very serious, very important, it is absolutely necessary to answer them. No time? This means that you need to change something in your life routine and carve out this time.
Moreover, you need to prepare very seriously to answer children's questions. It’s even best to do this in advance - talk with other parents, with a confessor, read Orthodox resources devoted to this topic - for example, the online magazine “Batya”, which, by the way, I can recommend to single mothers raising sons. After all, it is difficult for such a mother to answer men’s questions; here she has to attract adult men - be it a confessor, a school teacher, or a relative. But you yourself need to know what to answer to a boy so that he develops his masculinity.
But it may also be that you heard a question from a child that you find it difficult to answer right away. In this case, you need to honestly say: “I won’t be able to answer now, but I’ll think about it, look for the answer and definitely tell you.” Naturally, you need to keep your promise, and do it as quickly as possible. If you return to the conversation six months later, the child will already remember that he asked and was not answered.
And, of course, you can’t push all children’s questions about faith onto a confessor or a teacher at an Orthodox school. By doing this, you thereby demonstrate to the child that the spiritual sphere is alien to you, that you do not know the Christian doctrine, that your affiliation with the Church is purely external, formal. Constantly about means instilling in the child the confidence that you have nothing to answer.
But there are, of course, questions when you can tell the child: ask your confessor
too The opinion of the confessor is very important, and it is necessary for the family to know what the child asked and what was answered. Therefore, as a confessor, I try to share children’s questions with parents. In order for children to ask serious questions, I set aside special time in my lessons. I turn on the music and wait patiently. Questions like these allow me to build an interesting lesson. And in order to remember them better, I started a box in the classroom where children put notes with questions. Of course, they ask verbally, but it is important for me that the questions remain recorded. I study the dynamics of issues over recent years, discover some trends, and tell the parents of our students about this.
How to talk to children about God: five mistakes parents make
Photo: FunKa-Lerele
Children of believing parents often ask their moms and dads questions about faith. But parents do not always react correctly to such questions - and this is not only about the content of their answers, but also about their attitude towards such questions in general. What mistakes are the most common and how to avoid them, says Archpriest Andrei Bliznyuk, a teacher of the law at St. Peter's School (Moscow).
Lack of time to answer, underestimation of the importance of questions
Photo: Giuseppe Milo
This applies not only to answers to questions about faith - modern parents in general are sorely lacking time to communicate with their children. There are sociological studies according to which a modern parent communicates with a child for about ten minutes a day, and most of this time is spent not on heart-to-heart conversations, but on the daily routine: “show me the diary,” “brush your teeth,” “did you do your homework?” Therefore, children have to look for answers to their questions from strangers who may not have teaching skills, may not have genuine knowledge, and may not even always wish the best for our children. And you shouldn’t entertain the illusion that it’s enough to talk to your child once a week, lecture him and tell him what is good and what is bad. No, not enough! The child needs daily attention to him and a daily answer to his questions.
Alas, in practice it happens differently. Parents say: “I’ll tell you later,” “You’re still young, you won’t understand,” “Ask your confessor about this in confession.” And then a child comes to confession, and there are 70 confessors standing there, and the priest came out of the altar to confess before communion. Naturally, he will not answer - he has no time.
This is why it happens that even in believing, church-going families, children grow up who, having already finished school, have no idea about the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century, but know only about the afterlife of the soul. Or, for example, a fifth-grader child from a very churchly family asks the question: “Where are the bones of Jesus Christ?” Or the children don’t know what the name Jesus even means. I can give many such examples. And the reason is that parents do not talk to their children about spiritual topics.
Meanwhile, parents need to understand from the very beginning that children’s questions can be any, not just about faith! - this is very serious, very important, it is absolutely necessary to answer them. No time? This means that you need to change something in your life routine and carve out this time.
Moreover, you need to prepare very seriously to answer children's questions. It’s even best to do this in advance - talk with other parents, with a confessor, read Orthodox resources devoted to this topic - for example, the online magazine “Batya”, which, by the way, I can recommend to single mothers raising sons. After all, it is difficult for such a mother to answer men’s questions; here she has to attract adult men - be it a confessor, a school teacher, or a relative. But you yourself need to know what to answer to a boy so that he develops his masculinity.
But it may also be that you heard a question from a child that you find it difficult to answer right away. In this case, you need to honestly say: “I won’t be able to answer now, but I’ll think about it, look for the answer and definitely tell you.” Naturally, you need to keep your promise, and do it as quickly as possible. If you return to the conversation six months later, the child will already remember that he asked and was not answered.
And, of course, you can’t push all children’s questions about faith onto a confessor or a teacher at an Orthodox school. By doing this, you thereby demonstrate to the child that the spiritual sphere is alien to you, that you do not know the Christian doctrine, that your affiliation with the Church is purely external, formal. Constantly about means instilling in the child the confidence that you have nothing to answer.
But there are, of course, questions when you can tell the child: ask your confessor about this too. The opinion of the confessor is very important, and it is necessary for the family to know what the child asked and what was answered. Therefore, as a confessor, I try to share children’s questions with parents. In order for children to ask serious questions, I set aside special time in my lessons. I turn on the music and wait patiently. Questions like these allow me to build an interesting lesson. And in order to remember them better, I started a box in the classroom where children put notes with questions. Of course, they ask verbally, but it is important for me that the questions remain recorded. I study the dynamics of issues over recent years, discover some trends, and tell the parents of our students about this.
Outrage at the inappropriate form of the question
Photo: Khuroshvili Ilya
This also happens quite often: a child asks a question, putting it in words that seem insufficiently pious to the parents or somehow too naive, not to say idiotic. For example: “Will there be a giant strawberry in heaven?”, “Is it possible to baptize our cat?”, “Did Jesus Christ have a wife?” and so on. “How dare you say that?!”, “How dare you say that?!” - parents are indignant. As a result, the child develops distrust of them, he is afraid to ask them, so as not to run into reproaches.
A trusting relationship with a child is the most important thing that parents should protect, nurture and develop. A child should always know that no matter what he asks, he will not be shamed, but will be supported.
Refusal to answer questions dictated by idle curiosity
Photo: Jaume Escofet
Sometimes parents feel that the child, when asking his question, is not very interested in the answer, asks “just like that” - and therefore refuses to answer. Maybe they refuse in a correct form, without reproaches, maybe they laugh it off somehow - but one way or another they do not maintain the conversation.
Meanwhile, this is a serious pedagogical mistake. Even if the question is caused by empty curiosity, it is still a signal for parents that the child is experiencing a lack of communication. Clinging to his parents, seeing their eyes, he begins to simply ask what comes to mind. But such “idle questions” can only be a prelude to a real conversation. With these questions, the child may be testing you: do you even hear him? And if we shoot him down with an “empty” question, he won’t ask the real question that worries him, which for some reason he can’t ask right away: he’s embarrassed, he’s afraid. Therefore, parents should answer even an empty question, while thinking about what will happen next? Where will the conversation go?
Let me give you an example from one book. The child saw a cat in the entrance and wanted to pet it, but his dad was against it:
- Don't pet her, she has fleas!
- Where did she get fleas from? - asks the child.
- From another cat.
- Where did she get it from?
And dad patiently explains:
- That cat got infected from a cat from another entrance, and so on ad infinitum!
And then the child says:
- Dad, only numbers can be infinite!
And dad understands that his child is a philosopher! A cat is just a pretext for conversation, the child is interested in life, the child already knows that there is an infinity of numbers, but there is no infinity of cats.
Child psychologists say that children ask the most interesting, deepest questions before the age of 13. And then adults’ “footballing” and social stereotypes ground the child and extinguish his philosophical interests. The child becomes “like everyone else” - he doesn’t stick his head out, is afraid of ridicule, and protects the boundaries of his personal space. That's why young children need to answer even their strangest questions. And these questions, despite all their outward naivety, can turn out to be incredibly deep.
I will give examples from my family life. When one of my daughters was five years old, she realized that all people are mortal, that this is inevitable - and she cried. I began to console her, told her about the Kingdom of Heaven, about God and eternal life. She calmed down a little, and then, already falling asleep, said: “Dad, I will miss you when you die!” I began to console her again, and she suddenly asked: “Dad, will you recognize me in heaven?”
This childish question is actually incredibly deep and spiritual. After all, here, in earthly life, a person often sees only the external, and what is stored inside, that is, the souls of even close people, are closed to him, and therefore already there, outside of earthly existence, he simply does not recognize these souls, he will pass by , they will remain an unsolved mystery for him. Only those who, during their lifetime, have grown together in souls and become akin will recognize each other. A five-year-old child, of course, cannot yet express this in an adult way, but he is quite capable of feeling it.
Another example, with another daughter. She then, it seems, was not yet four years old - and before going to bed she asks: “Dad, do I have a little one in my tummy?” I was taken aback, I answered: “What are you doing, daughter, go to sleep!” And she, not satisfied with my answer, asks: “Well, maybe like a grain?” I was somehow confused: well, I shouldn’t tell such a little girl about the reproductive system! He muttered something like, “Well, we’ll talk later...” And she somehow sighed: “It’s a pity... I would call her Tyoma.”
And here you realize that you’re simply not ready for such a conversation, you’re not ready for the fact that a child at that age can think and feel so deeply, that motherhood is already awakening in him, and you can’t just say to him, “When you grow up, I’ll tell you,” you need to prepare your answers in advance.
One-time response
Photo: Alston Huang
When a child asks and you answer, this does not mean that the topic is closed. The child received an answer from you - but this is only the beginning of the conversation. It is important that he receives an answer to the same question from other people. If a child asks his mother a question, she must then tell dad about it: that’s what he asked, and that’s what I answered him. It’s very good if dad comes up to the child and says: “You know, mom told me what question you asked her. It's very good that you think so deeply! And for my part, I could answer you like this..."
That is, it is important that the child has a three-dimensional perception of the world, and not a flat, monotonous one. After all, men and women think slightly differently, and will tell stories differently, and the result will be a stereo effect.
In addition, even if no one except you will answer this question for the child, it would be good after some time, when the child becomes older, to return to this conversation, to show him some other facets of the problem that may have previously been inaccessible to him. This, of course, primarily concerns ideological or theological questions like “Where does so much evil come from in the world?”, “Why doesn’t the Bible say anything about dinosaurs?”, “Why doesn’t God stop evil people from offending good people?” and so on. Such questions can never be completely exhausted; the older the child becomes, the deeper the answer he is able to perceive.
And, of course, if the parents answered right away - and feel that they do not really understand this topic, that their answer was too approximate, they need to delve deeper into this, read some literature, ask knowledgeable people - and as soon as possible talk about this with your child again and add to your answer.
Reassessing your knowledge
Photo: Swansea Photographer
It also happens, however, that parents are unshakably confident that they already know everything about Orthodoxy and can answer any question accurately. They answer the children right away - and they answer incorrectly, their answers do not correspond to church tradition. They answer based on some stereotypes that exist in the church environment, on some rumors, and mindlessly repeat someone’s words.
This happens especially often with questions of church life, which are especially acute now, exciting public consciousness. For example, what is considered heresy? Is ecumenism heresy? And parents who fight this heresy on the Internet answer their children accordingly, not trusting the opinion of priests.
Meanwhile, it is very important that the child understands: he has a family, but there is also a church, there is also a confessor, there is also a parish community, and there is no need to confine oneself (including with one’s questions) only within the boundaries of the family. Naturally, I mean a situation where there is an attentive confessor, a healthy community (and there are more and more of them).
If parents turn the child on themselves, then when he grows up, when he turns 14-15 years old, when parental authority falls, he is left alone with his questions. He no longer asks his parents - he doesn’t trust them, and there is no one else around.
Outrage at the inappropriate form of the question
Khuroshvili Ilya
This also happens quite often: a child asks a question, putting it in words that seem insufficiently pious to the parents or somehow too naive, not to say idiotic. For example: “Will there be a giant strawberry in heaven?”, “Is it possible to baptize our cat?”, “Did Jesus Christ have a wife?” and so on. “How dare you say that?!”, “How dare you say that?!” - parents are indignant. As a result, the child develops distrust of them, he is afraid to ask them, so as not to run into reproaches.
A trusting relationship with a child is the most important thing that parents should protect, nurture and develop. A child should always know that no matter what he asks, he will not be shamed, but will be supported.
Visit God
Priests advise coming to church with your baby as often as possible. Children under 7 years old do not need to be specially prepared for communion or deprived of breakfast. The children do not yet understand what is happening, but their souls absorb God’s grace. It is not necessary to stand through the entire service. Show your child beautiful icons and admire the burning candles. You can grab a children's Bible and look through it while sitting on a bench. When your baby is tired, go outside and let him run around.
Closer to 3 years, children begin to wonder who this bearded guy in a cassock is and why babies are dipped in water. How to tell your child about God and baptism so that he understands you? Avoid complex words and unnecessary details. Explain that the Church is the house of God. The ringing of bells means that the Lord is calling everyone who loves Him to visit Him. In the Church we can talk to God, and priests help us with this.
There is a cross on the dome of the temple that protects people from everything bad. Everyone who loves God wears the same cross on his chest. He is hanged during a special ceremony. That's what it's called - baptism. The babies are dipped in water and prayed for. This helps them grow up to be good people. And so that they become even kinder and stronger, the rite of communion is performed.
Refusal to answer questions dictated by idle curiosity
Jaume Escofet
Sometimes parents feel that the child, when asking his question, is not very interested in the answer, asks “just like that” - and therefore refuses to answer. Maybe they refuse in a correct form, without reproaches, maybe they laugh it off somehow - but one way or another they do not maintain the conversation.
Meanwhile, this is a serious pedagogical mistake. Even if the question is caused by empty curiosity, it is still a signal for parents that the child is experiencing a lack of communication. Clinging to his parents, seeing their eyes, he begins to simply ask what comes to mind. But such “idle questions” can only be a prelude to a real conversation. With these questions, the child may be testing you: do you even hear him? And if we shoot him down with an “empty” question, he won’t ask the real question that worries him, which for some reason he can’t ask right away: he’s embarrassed, he’s afraid. Therefore, parents should answer even an empty question, while thinking about what will happen next? Where will the conversation go?
Let me give you an example from one book. The child saw a cat in the entrance and wanted to pet it, but his dad was against it:
- Don't pet her, she has fleas!
- Where did she get fleas from? - asks the child.
- From another cat.
- Where did she get it from?
And dad patiently explains:
- That cat got infected from a cat from another entrance, and so on ad infinitum!
And then the child says:
- Dad, only numbers can be infinite!
And dad understands that his child is a philosopher! A cat is just a pretext for conversation, the child is interested in life, the child already knows that there is an infinity of numbers, but there is no infinity of cats.
Child psychologists say that children ask the most interesting, deepest questions before the age of 13. And then adults’ “footballing” and social stereotypes ground the child and extinguish his philosophical interests. The child becomes “like everyone else” - he doesn’t stick his head out, is afraid of ridicule, and protects the boundaries of his personal space. That's why young children need to answer even their strangest questions. And these questions, despite all their outward naivety, can turn out to be incredibly deep.
I will give examples from my family life. When one of my daughters was five years old, she realized that all people are mortal, that this is inevitable - and she cried. I began to console her, told her about the Kingdom of Heaven, about God and eternal life. She calmed down a little, and then, already falling asleep, said: “Dad, I will miss you when you die!” I began to console her again, and she suddenly asked: “Dad, will you recognize me in heaven?”
This childish question is actually incredibly deep and spiritual. After all, here, in earthly life, a person often sees only the external, and what is stored inside, that is, the souls of even close people, are closed to him, and therefore already there, outside of earthly existence, he simply does not recognize these souls, he will pass by , they will remain an unsolved mystery for him. Only those who, during their lifetime, have grown together in souls and become akin will recognize each other. A five-year-old child, of course, cannot yet express this in an adult way, but he is quite capable of feeling it.
Another example, with another daughter. She then, it seems, was not yet four years old - and before going to bed she asks: “Dad, do I have a little one in my tummy?” I was taken aback, I answered: “What are you doing, daughter, go to sleep!” And she, not satisfied with my answer, asks: “Well, maybe like a grain?” I was somehow confused: well, I shouldn’t tell such a little girl about the reproductive system! He muttered something like, “Well, we’ll talk later...” And she somehow sighed: “It’s a pity... I would call her Tyoma.”
And here you realize that you’re simply not ready for such a conversation, you’re not ready for the fact that a child at that age can think and feel so deeply, that motherhood is already awakening in him, and you can’t just say to him, “When you grow up, I’ll tell you,” you need to prepare your answers in advance.
First prayers
Not all adults understand how to tell a 3-year-old child about God. At this age, children understand all words literally, so the Creator will be for them a kind grandfather from the icon. That's enough for now.
At this age, all kids strive to imitate their parents. Teach them to pray like mom and dad. Just don’t cram the “Our Father.” The first prayers should be simple, understandable and extremely short. These can be requests (“God, make Anechka stop coughing. Amen”) or gratitude (“God, thank you for the delicious soup. Amen”). Teach your child to stand or sit with a straight back during prayer, not to play around or twirl. When God fulfills a simple child’s request, focus on this and thank the Creator.
One-time response
Alston Huang
When a child asks and you answer, this does not mean that the topic is closed. The child received an answer from you - but this is only the beginning of the conversation. It is important that he receives an answer to the same question from other people. If a child asks his mother a question, she must then tell dad about it: that’s what he asked, and that’s what I answered him. It’s very good if dad comes up to the child and says: “You know, mom told me what question you asked her. It's very good that you think so deeply! And for my part, I could answer you like this..."
That is, it is important that the child has a three-dimensional perception of the world, and not a flat, monotonous one. After all, men and women think slightly differently, and will tell stories differently, and the result will be a stereo effect.
In addition, even if no one except you will answer this question for the child, it would be good after some time, when the child becomes older, to return to this conversation, to show him some other facets of the problem that may have previously been inaccessible to him. This, of course, primarily concerns ideological or theological questions like “Where does so much evil come from in the world?”, “Why doesn’t the Bible say anything about dinosaurs?”, “Why doesn’t God stop evil people from offending good people?” and so on. Such questions can never be completely exhausted; the older the child becomes, the deeper the answer he is able to perceive.
And, of course, if the parents answered right away - and feel that they do not really understand this topic, that their answer was too approximate, they need to delve deeper into this, read some literature, ask knowledgeable people - and as soon as possible talk about this with your child again and add to your answer.
Let's play
How to tell children about God if they still don’t understand words well? The best solution would be to play. After looking at the children's Bible, use toys to dramatize the story. Build an ark out of boxes and place animal figures in it. Grab some dolls and play the birth of baby Jesus. Remember God during role play.
Let the bunny and the bear thank the Creator before eating imaginary porridge. When putting your doll to sleep, say a short prayer. It is good if you can find children's religious songs accompanied by movements.
Reassessing your knowledge
Swansea Photographer
It also happens, however, that parents are unshakably confident that they already know everything about Orthodoxy and can answer any question accurately. They answer the children right away - and they answer incorrectly, their answers do not correspond to church tradition. They answer based on some stereotypes that exist in the church environment, on some rumors, and mindlessly repeat someone’s words.
This happens especially often with questions of church life, which are especially acute now, exciting public consciousness. For example, what is considered heresy? Is ecumenism heresy? And parents who fight this heresy on the Internet answer their children accordingly, not trusting the opinion of priests.
Meanwhile, it is very important that the child understands: he has a family, but there is also a church, there is also a confessor, there is also a parish community, and there is no need to confine oneself (including with one’s questions) only within the boundaries of the family. Naturally, I mean a situation where there is an attentive confessor, a healthy community (and there are more and more of them).
If parents turn the child on themselves, then when he grows up, when he turns 14-15 years old, when parental authority falls, he is left alone with his questions. He no longer asks his parents - he doesn’t trust them, and there is no one else around.
Specifics of education
The child is guided, first of all, by his feelings; only with age does he develop a strong-willed beginning. Young children are usually obedient and easily comply with numerous parental prohibitions. But, as they grow up, they begin to feel the need for more freedom, they do not take everything that their parents say at face value, and they begin to be capricious and “rebel.” In this situation, adults have to reconsider their education system.
Some choose the path of physical punishment of a child, which has a number of negative aspects:
- the child does not realize the value of good deeds and does them solely out of fear of punishment;
- Constantly subjected to such humiliations, the child will grow up embittered towards the whole world.
The reasons are weighty enough to abandon this way of influencing a fragile mind. And religious education comes to the rescue, allowing you to teach the child to do the right thing based on his inner convictions. A believing mother can easily explain to the baby the reason for the ban on this or that act - God does not allow people to commit such acts, he can punish those who disobey. And if a child accidentally gets burned while playing with matches, he will have a stronger feeling that he was punished by God for disobedience.
Advantages
Raising a child in Orthodox traditions has a lot of positive aspects. Let us outline the main ones.
- Parents cannot be around all the time and control every step of the baby, so he can break the ban when no one sees him. But if a child lives with the conviction that God is constantly in his sights, that you cannot hide from him, then the risk of eating the “forbidden fruit” will decrease significantly. The baby will not lose the feeling that he is not alone.
- With the help of religion it is easy to teach a child to do virtuous acts. So, you can tell your child that each of his good deeds will certainly be noted and rewarded by God, moreover, the reward does not at all represent any material value.
- The child will learn to understand that God's help awaits him on the path of good deeds, so he will try to be a worthy person.
- Knowing that God is always watching over him and is ready to help, the child, growing up, will not feel alone even in the most difficult situations. The thought that the Creator loves him will give him strength and will not allow him to fall into despair. For the same purpose, you should tell your child about the Guardian Angel, who is always nearby and helps to avoid life’s mistakes.
It is very important to teach the baby not only to pray, that is, to ask for help, but also to thank the Creator for the mercy shown, in this case the child will grow up grateful.
What to watch out for
We figured out how to tell a child about God when he is small. Now let's talk about the problems that parents may face:
- If you raise a child in Orthodoxy, then you yourself will have to deal with issues of faith and build your life in accordance with the commandments. And this requires serious effort from parents.
- Kids, like adults, don’t always want to work on themselves. It is easier for them to turn the icon to the wall and steal the candy than to cope with their desire. It takes a lot of patience and tact from parents to encourage their child to obey and teach them to fight bad thoughts with the help of prayers.
- Sometimes children are forced to behave well by frightening them with the wrath of God or by telling them about demons. As a result, the baby does not so much love as he fears the Creator, and at night he has terrible nightmares with the devil in the leading role. Protecting your child from bullying is an important task for loving parents.
- Attempts to guide comrades on the right path can lead to conflicts in kindergarten and school. Therefore, we need to talk to children about tolerance. The cross cannot be shown to anyone. Faith is a very intimate matter; it is wrong to flaunt it in front of other people, to flaunt it, to boast about it.
Independent choice
Orthodox parents think a lot about how to tell their children about God. They themselves went through a difficult path to get there. They want faith to be given to the child by default and accepted with gratitude. But this doesn't always happen. Rebellion often begins in adolescence. The kid who put the icon under his pillow and played priest suddenly refuses to go to church. According to the priests, this is natural. If previously the child obeyed his parents, now he moves away from them to begin an independent life. He needs to build his own relationship with God. Any pressure on him is unacceptable. The best thing parents can do is to stop controlling their teenager's religious life.
How to help a rebellious child How to tell children about God when they refuse to listen to their parents? In adolescence, it is easier for them to hear other people: a priest whom the child trusts, peers from an Orthodox club. If a child tells his secrets not to you, but to his confessor, rejoice. This means that he has a personal space in the Church. Unobtrusively instill in your teenager that you can come to God with any problem and find support. A dangerous mistake is made by parents who tell their children that they can’t come to church with a mohawk or after using drugs. On the contrary, it is here that a confused person can get help and will always be accepted. How to tell children about God? The main thing in such conversations is your sincerity. Children acutely sense falsehood. Avoid it, and trust the Lord for everything else.
Who is God?
Children grow up quickly. How to tell a child about God at 4 years old? Psychologists and priests are confident that it is at this age that serious conversations can be had with children. They are already able to understand that God is invisible, that he is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere. Of course, the words need to be chosen as simple as possible.
Explain that God is a great power that created our entire world, heaven and earth, seas and plants, animals and humans. He is invisible, but we can feel His love in our hearts. If we feel bad, we ask God for help, because He is very kind and responsive. When we feel good, we thank Him, and He rejoices for us. God wants all people to do good deeds and be happy. As a sign that you are under the protection of God, a cross hangs on your chest.
When it is put on a baby, the Lord allocates one angel for him. Angels are his helpers. They are also invisible, but they are always close to a person, protecting him from diseases and dangers. If a child listens, helps adults, shares toys, his angel rejoices. And if the baby behaves badly, the invisible protector gets very upset and cries.
