Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Psalm 34:11
“Start small and start practical. Kids as young as four and five years old can make their own beds. They may not make them exactly the way you would like them to, but they can put their sheets in decent order and their stuffed animals in place. By owning responsibility for their bed, they are not just showing you respect but also learning to respect those things within their care, like the bed they sleep in — this is stewarding their gifts…
So learn together about how to steward by being honest with yourself, as well as by valuing your children, trusting them to do their best with small and then larger things. Other best practices grow from those beginning steps of value and trust. Children can make responsible stewardship decisions at a young age if we spend the time working with them on it. I don’t mean that one talk with the kiddos will result in a responsible young steward — it needs to be ongoing…
Your children have value and something to offer. Let them surprise you! Let God surprise you through them. Trust that God is working through all of us — young and old — and keep the conversations going. Faith formation is an ongoing, never-ending, always-practicing, never-perfect lifestyle. How proud you and your children will feel as you practice stewardship together!”
Janelle Rozek Hooper in “From the Heart” in Giving: Growing Joyful Stewardship in Your Congregation, volume 20 (Richmond: EMS, 2018) 26-27.
I just spent a restful weekend with friends in Sydney. They have a small child, Sam, so this article on teaching stewardship to children got my attention. I appreciated the practical nature of it. Little things and ordinary conversations on a consistent basis builds responsible young stewards.
I depart Sydney with a prayer of gratitude to God for Sam’s parents, Tom and Jaime (and other parents out there reading these Daily Meditations), for their willing to do the little things coupled with conversations over the long haul to help their children grow into responsible stewards. God bless them.
And I have just arrived in Brisbane (sunset skyline pictured above with the downtown skyline) to speak this week.