Engaging Your Toddler in the Things of God

I had the opportunity to speak with some amazing moms @proaciveprayingmums over the weekend on how they can engage their Toddlers in the things of God. This is a community for moms who are passionate about God, building intimacy with the Holy spirit and who want to raise arrows for the Kingdom. Here’s a full recap of all my thoughts. Enjoy!

This article contains the following:

• The Foundation
• Building Blocks for Toddler Years
• Understanding Your Toddler
• Rules of Engagement (Practical Tips )

Let’s Lay the Foundation 

1. First, let’s dispel the thought that it’s impossible to raise a generation of children that Love God & honour him. There’s so much negativity around us. The news we hear on a daily, regular basis can make us go around with a heavy cloud of doubt. I currently stay in a country where 97% of the people deny or reject God. This is truly very scary BUT the God who did it for Hannah, the God of the ages past, the ANCIENT OF DAYS ” Arugbo Ojo” as my Yoruba people say is still at work today. Don’t back down mama. Don’t accept the lies of the devil. With the help of Jehovah, you are well able to level all mountains. In the words of Tasha Cobbs song – Mountains are still being moved, Giants are still being slain,strongholds are still being loosed. This is God’s Move and miracles happen when God moves! It is possible! There is a remnant, a 7,000 army. The Bible records that Hannah spent limited time with her son (1st Samuel 1:24) but was able to raise a prophet whose words the Bible records never fell to the ground. She had limited access to this child. The Bible didn’t give specific details but I personally believe she had between 0 to 3 – the toddler years, usually a period of weaning before she handed him over to Prophet Eli. With the little time she had with her son, she planted something in him. She engaged and maximised the Toddler Years! We can be like Hannah. God’s help is available to Us! 

2. You are the Fireplace, The Fire Starter, The FireCracker  – Let’s start with YOU! Are you as a Parent ENGAGED in the things of God yourself ? Or has the world taken over your heart? What kind of Music do you listen to? What words or conversations come from your mouth? What are the meditations of your heart? Can you boldly say you are on fire for the Lord? Is your altar burning? If you’re going to engage your toddler in the things of God, then you must be ENGAGED IN GOD yourself. You cannot give what you don’t have. A prayerless mom cannot raise prayerful children. Remember the movie – WAR ROOM? Until that woman caught the fire of God herself, nothing happened in her home! Until you catch the fire of the holy spirit, nothing will happen in the heart of your Toddler. Toddlers are copycats!  So how is your walk with the Lord? I understand we are all very busy but we can find a way around things. Look, I’m a mom myself so this is not a point of condemnation. From the moment my son wakes up till he sleeps I am up and about. Almost unable to catch my breath so I fully understand. We do not have 5 hours or that long to spend in Quiet time these days BUT we can practise simple daily habits to stay engaged in God so it’s easy to pass it on to our children. For instance – Worship songs, create an atmosphere for God’s presence in your home, Audio Bible, Listen Messages, Turn the Mundane activities into worship so your child sees you e.g – While you’re cooking, cleaning, getting dressed blast in tongues etc. Most times when I’m cooking, I’m listening to a message or a song or praying. I have turned my kitchen into an altar of Worship. In seasons when I’m busy or low, I also adopt the principle that If I  can’t cook it, I eat out. I find rich spiritual food from seasoned men of God and spend my Sundays eating and eating from them. Find a way to stay ENGAGED with your Father in heaven in the busyness of Motherhood and life THEN we can talk about engaging your toddler.

3. Your WHY is critical – From my years of working with kids and Parents, the honest truth is a lot of us Parents just simply love the idea of having kids who can recite scripture “so that” we can “low key” boast about it or so that at least nobody will say you’re not trying or so that no one calls you a bad parent. When I managed a Bible Club for kids along with my friends some year ago I saw a lot! So I know these things. For a lot of us Parents – It’s simply a “Nice to have”. Parents just send their kids to the Bible Club for the surface. Not many do it from a genuine place. Many of us are not actually interested in the HEART of the child. We just want them to “cram” scriptures to “cover face”. No!No!No! This is unacceptable! This is serious KINGDOM business here. It’s not about you. It’s about the Kingdom. God’s agenda of raising an army. Until we see it that way, we’re just scratching the surface. Until we see it that way, it will all just be routine withoutut power. As the Bible puts it “of the letter but not of the spirit”.

4. Understand the Power of the Toddler Years – When the purpose of a thing is not known abuse is inevitable. The toddler years have been scientifically proven to be one of the most significant phases of a Child’s life. According to scientists “Between conception and age three, a child’s brain undergoes an impressive amount of change. At birth, it already has about all of the neurons it will ever have. It doubles in size in the first year, and by age three it has reached 80 percent of its adult volume”. So you see! This period is a POWERFUL SEASON! It is the time for serious indoctrination, programming, seed sowing and nurturing. This phase is like laying the Foundation of a house. It is the first layer and one of the most powerful areas that eventually sets them up for success. The foundation you lay here determines a lot. It’s like programming. Programme stuff into them that it’s difficult for them to forget or unlearn. In this season, you are their superman, their super hero, their everything. Whatever you say in this phase is Law. Make the most of it because another phase is coming when they will ask questions and disagree with you sometimes. They will say “Why? No., But..,” etc. Don’t forget that by the age of 18 (in some places 14) they are out of the house. In fact, in a recent research, 75% of the time we spend with our kids in our lifetime will be spent by age 12. So we have limited time. The earlier the better. Squeeze the Juice out of  this toddler years / early years. Today, my Dad remains my super hero because he understood this principle. He made the most of my early years and I remember so much of the playing, jumping around, learning to cook with him, following him around. SINGING OF HYMNS! (I remember those hymns in the most critical moments of my life). In the words of my GenZ friends, I can’t “call him out”  because he is my SuperHero. He maximised my early years by being the “Fun Dad”! #daddysgirl.

Building Blocks for Engaging Toddlers 

There are 5 Core areas that can be addressed when trying to Engage your Toddlers. I call them Building Blocks for Engaging Toddlers 

1. God’s Love – Stamp it into their DNA that they are loved completely, wholeheartedly, fully, unconditionally. Use every opportunity to let them know this – while dressing up in the morning, first thing when they wake up, while standing in front of the mirror etc. This is such a good way to get it in. Give Hugs and Kisses generously. The more you show them love, the more they can understand and accept that God also loves them too. Say it as many times as possible. Find scriptures that speak to this and say it to them.
2. Identity – This is critical. The earlier we get them to understand WHO & WHOSE they are, the better. Start using simple songs and scriptures that speak to this e.g Sinachi’s I know who I am. You can download this list of scriptures here and click Here to see the list of songs on Identity.
3. God’s Family – It is important that they understand the concept of God’s Family. We didn’t fall down from the sky. God made us for Family – God’s Family at home and in a place called Church. God’s Family could also include extended family members or other Christian Godly Family Friends. Every Sunday morning at my home, my husband explains to our son where we are going. The conversation goes like this: Question – Dad “Where are we going? Answer – Dad & Son say together – “We are going to Church”. Every Sunday. #programmeitin. We have a good relationship with his Uncle and Aunties, I bully them to call him through video calls as many times as possible. If you don’t have a good relationship with your extended family, find other Believer families and connect with them so your child begins to understand the concept of Family – God’s Family includes – Mummy Daddy, Aunties, Uncles + other believers. #Weareneveralone
4. Body Safety and Awareness – Given the times we are in, speaking to Toddlers about this has become mandatory. There are age appropriate ways, books and resources to speak to them about their Body. It can be tricky at times and we want to just keep them innocent but speak to them we must! The world had become a really dark place. Check out Books like No Don’t touch me there by Pastor Nomthi Odukoya, God made Babies, God made all of me, etc
5. Values – A people without values will be completely lost! This is closely connected to your Family Values. Once you have identified your values as a family, begin the process of pumping it into the kids. You can create something simple for your Toddler. E.g – If your family places value on Integrity & Honesty above all else, then you can get your toddler to always say “In this home we speak the Truth Always”. You can download this Family Values Guide Here if you haven’t created your Family Values yet.

Part 3 – Understand Toddlers. 

Understanding the power of Toddlers and Appreciating their uniqueness helps you manage them better + You can use the knowledge about them to your advantage! It helps you to use effective strategies to reach them. Here are some characteristics of Toddlers. They are:

1. Copycats – They are watching you! Your every move. Infact “between 19 and 24 months children start to copy many things they see in others. They imitate their parents, their older siblings and also those people they can watch on TV. Dr Moritz Daum, a pyschologist from the University of Zurich, thinks that imitating people enables children to feel part of their social groups and gives them a strong sense of belonging: one of the essential needs of human beings” So be careful what you do. You can use this to your advantage – Let them see you Lifting up your hands in worship. Let them see you, praying. Let them see you reading your Bible, let them see you joyful and dancing because God is fun to be with.
2. Explorers – They want to try new things.
3. Adventure Lovers – New things, yes I want it
4. Restless always wanting to move around.
5. Dare “Angels” – because they are testing your limits they will attempt to do everything you say they shouldn’t do is what they will attempt to do. This helps you realize no child is innocent. They all came into this world with sin so the prayer for early encounters with God should begin like Samuel had an encounter with God in his early years.
6. They thrive on Routines – To get the best out of your Toddler, put them on a routine. It helps when they know there is a time for everything including time to pray, time to read the Bible, time to worship as well as time for eating, sleeping, bathing etc.
7. Repetition is the only way to make it stick. Don’t get offended if they forget what they learnt yesterday. You will say it more than 50 times before they finally master it. I can’t count the number of times I had to teach my son to use the Magic Word – Please and Thank you. Thank God he is now getting it…
8. Full of Energy! – Whew. Those little humans have ENERGY! Before you say jack, they have wriggled into the bathroom to spill water or use the tissue lol. Use that energy to your advantage.
9. Colour and Fun! – They love all things Big, Bright, Bold, Fun and Colourful! Use colourful resources

Rules of Engagement – Practical Tips

Now that we know who we are dealing with here are some of the Best ways to catch their attention

Music – I cannot begin to describe how important this is to your Toddlers. It is through Music and Rhymes that they learn so many skills. This is why it is included in the early years curriculum in schools. There’s is infact a whole concept called – Body and Movement which all Early Years child care facilities must include when teaching toddlers. Turn everything into a song. There are tons of YouTube Videos, Music Ministries for Kids that you can use. So many. Use it. Click Here to read one of my old articles on this. It contains a list of songs that you might find helpful.

Books – This is by far one of the most powerful ways to engage your toddler in the things of God! Get colourful, Impactful Books! Books that give life. Dramatise as you read, make sounds, dress up to show the characters, create scenes with toys you have as you read. Books open up your child to a world of possibilities. Way beyond what you can imagine. So Read! Read! Read!!! If possible every single day! Follow @inlushmeadowkids for reviews and recommendations

Affirmations – Get Bible Based affirmations and get them saying it as often as possible. Remember they thrive on repetition. So say it over and over and over. 

Learn Scriptures in a Fun, Colourful Way! – Toddlers love fun, Colourful and bright things so the best way to help them learn scripture is to use colorful resources.  Here, I highly recommend you go slow but be very steady. The goal is not to cram the scriptures. The goal is to get it into their hearts. My personal approach is to use 1 scripture over a period of 3 to 4 weeks depending on the capacity of your child. You say it over and over to the point that if you wake them up in their sleep and ask about the scripture months and months later, they can say it without even blinking. I also suggest the use of colourful scripture cards. 

Engage through Nature –  Nature speaks about God! I mean look at the trees – Green, The sky – Blue, fishes in the ocean, the Birds of the air, the squirrel that runs on the streets. God is everywhere. Help your child see it. You’ll be shocked about all the amazing things you can teach your child about God as you Go to the Park, visit the ducks by the river, Visit the Zoo. Conversations like “Do you know God made this?” The practicality of Bible stories can come to life as you engage through Nature – E.g Genesis 1 – God made the Heavens and the Earth, the Birds of the sea, the fishes in the ocean, etc etc

God is in Everyday places too! – God is in the Museum, in the Kitchen, On the Road. God is everywhere! People look at me in an awkward way when I say take your toddler out to play & explore. They wonder how that’s part of “training a child in the way of the Lord”

Mamas, it is!!! It’s part of it! It is a way of engaging them in God too. Toddlers love adventure and exploration. Use that desire for good! Until we stop segregating or compartmentalising our lives, we haven’t begun the work and walk with God. How do we show our children that God is interested in everything including the mundane things of life if we limit it only to just “cramming scripture and Church”. God is everywhere and wants to be a part of our everyday life including the mundane things. Our toddlers can catch the vision too. E.g – Before we eat, we pray. When we finish eating we clean the table so the next person can use it well = Do unto others what you want them to do to you, We get a gift for a friend at their Birthday – Kindness & Love = Fruit of the Spirit, We wait when the traffic light says Stop = Patience, We apologise when we hurt someone= Forgiveness, We use the Magic Word Thank you when we are given something = Gratitude.

Whew! Isn’t it just beautiful?

So you see!

My prayer is that God will enable us and help us to see the big picture and the assignment he has called us into. Maybe step into it fully and Parent with him in mind I.e Parent for the Audience of One! After we have done it all, may we receive mercy from God. For by strength shall no man prevail.

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Morolake Ojuola is the Lead Impact Strategist at Inlush Meadow. A platform committed to nurturing the beautiful flowers in God’s Garden – Children and those who carry them in the womb of their spirits and hearts – Moms. She is a Wife and Mom who loves God and seeks to daily cultivate a flourishing walk with her Lord and Saviour – Jesus! With over a decade of experience working with Children and Moms in various capacities, she strongly believes in giving Children, Teens & young people generally a solid foundation in God. She loves to dance, sing, paint, and roll on the floor doing messy play with her son!