Why it is important to teach children faith

People often ask me, how come my children are so strong and stable, at such young ages? My answer: they have faith in God, in the family and in themselves.

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Today, I went to a yoga class for the first time in two weeks. I felt nauseous and giddy in the stuffy airless room. 90 minutes! How will I survive the torture chamber? I was very close to excusing myself there and then, but I thought to myself, “OK, one more shot. I’m going to try concentrating on my breath for the next 10 minutes. If it doesn’t work, I’ll leave.”

It became a lot easier, and the rest of the 90 minutes went by uneventfully. So perhaps I will learn to trust my breath as much as I trust God. (And we learn to trust our breath through meditation).

From Buddha Doodles.

Teach children faith in themselves. 

When children were young, they were told a long list of things they cannot do. Like use matches, climb up tables, descend stairs backwards, eat after brushing their teeth at night, etc, etc, etc. Things (and people) are out there waiting to hurt and harm you.

As teenagers, their emergent selves tremble uncertainly on the brink of adulthood, weighed down in part by the stones of their childhood NO’s and fears inherited from their parents. They were told, via relentless subtle messages throughout their growing years, that the world is a hostile and dangerous place.

Playing into the hands of Fear, helicopter parenting comes into force and removes the opportunity for children to naturally explore the boundaries of what they can do. They lose the vital opportunities to learn about challenges and difficult paths.

Thus, they run. They do not face down challenges that they come across. They turn tail at the first fright. They make excuses to justify the urge to run away, becoming great storytellers in the process.

If you don’t show your child that life WILL get better, how would he or she know the art of perseverance? Thus teach faith.

For faith is the glue that  keeps you there, grounded and strong, whilst the storm hits you, again and again in life, because such is the nature of life.

My children’s father and I consciously brought our children up to believe that they can do it. So, scissors at 3 years old. No one cut themselves. Climb trees. OK, a few scraped knees and once, a broken arm. Boil an egg. Ouch, nasty burns.

But no worries, because when things go wrong OR when you can’t manage, your family will be there for you. And if nobody else can help you, then God will.  But you need to believe that you can first and foremost, because that’s what being a person is all about. (Note: this is our personal belief).

Like my daughter said so succinctly, “I am like a Gactus, all the good stuff is inside me” ❤