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The Challenge of Teaching Children

¹ Teaching children is a challenge. You Christian parents can surely agree with this. It is a vital part of your ministry. The lives of your children depend on it. And, when they “set their confidence in God” because of what they have been taught, it is evident that all the time and effort put into it are worth while.​—Ps. 78:7.

² What factors are involved in the challenge? Many! Finding time for family study is one. It means setting aside an evening or an afternoon and using other opportune times as necessary. Regularity is essential. There are time wasters such as TV and other interests that would make claims on your precious time. One family whose children are all serving Jehovah faithfully was determined to let nothing interfere with their study program. If friends came to the home they were invited to join in or asked to wait until the family was finished if they preferred. Is your family study that important to you?

³ The study time should be enjoyable to all. Not just a rigid, formal study, but, rather, a relaxed time for learning. There is nothing wrong either with making this the same evening the family has its favorite meal, or including also some time for family fun. Perhaps this could be as simple as singing songs together or playing a game that all enjoy.

⁴ What program of study should be followed? This is best determined by you parents yourselves. Many families work together in preparing for congregation meetings. This is excellent! When helping children to prepare for these meetings, part of the challenge is to teach them so they are able to give comments, putting these in their own words rather than reading them. Coming right from the heart, such answers show that the children have benefited from the study, making the truth their own.

⁵ In regard to your family study, have you considered their special needs and interests, both in the time spent and the material covered? If you have teen-agers you may find that a family discussion of certain appropriate articles from The Watchtower will be strengthening. In their case the challenge comes in embedding principles in their minds deeply enough to combat the temptations of immorality, drugs and worldly associations, which they face in school. If your teen-age youngsters can talk to you frankly about the problems they face, knowing you are interested in them and their problems, it will make your teaching efforts much easier.

⁶ Another factor to be considered in teaching is how to hold the interest of children of different ages and with varying abilities to take in knowledge. It is good to have a family study in which all can participate, though some may need to have additional help. When children are very young and are at home with their mother during the day, she can help them to get a good start in serving Jehovah by regularly studying with them the book Listening to the Great Teacher, possibly covering some material each day.

⁷ If your children sometimes lose interest, ask yourself, Why? Would it be helpful to you to consider again some of the suggestions in the Theocratic Ministry School Guidebook, such as those found in Study 10? If more variety in material is needed, or you need to get the children more involved, then you might give them a little assignment to work up during the week. One might be asked to consider some subject in Aid to Bible Understanding, or to consider “Make Sure” topics such as “Celebrations,” “Conduct of Christians,” “Evolution,” “Neutrality” or others, and then to discuss how the material applies in his life and can guide him in regard to school activities and teachings. Other children might be asked to relate what experiences they have had in relation to the subject. You could as parents try assigning a question of interest for research during the week, to be discussed at the weekly study. Or, let one of the children prepare a subject from Sermon Outlines for presentation to the family with a view to answering questions on the subject by others in the family. This would make for even more thought on the subject and help the younger ones to find the answers to their Bible questions.

⁸ If you are a family head, will you accept seriously your responsibility, meeting the challenge of teaching your children? If you are a youth, will you accept the responsibility to prepare well and to participate fully, thus contributing your share to the family study? All of us owe our existence to our heavenly Father and we want to show him our appreciation for the spiritual provisions he makes for us, ‘that we may be rooted and established on the foundation’ he provides and ‘in order that we may be thoroughly able to grasp mentally’ the tremendous scope of his Word and its application in our lives. Will you parents help your children to do this? They will thank you for it, if you do.​—Eph. 3:14-19.