How do you teach your children the true meaning of Easter when all they can think about is whether the Easter Bunny is real, and what he will bring?
We have tried to find both formal and informal teaching moments to testify and teach of Jesus Christ this Easter season. Both settings are good and help supplement the other. Formal teaching in a family is intentional, planned, and built in to the daily and weekly structure. For us, this occurs during daily family scripture study, and weekly family night lessons. Informal teaching moments happen more spontaneously; but they can occur most frequently when parents look for opportunities and seize them. Some of our best informal teaching moments happen when we are eating together or driving in the car. Often, a child will ask a question that shows they are eager and ready to understand something. This is where we jump in and teach. I love these conversations!
This week we have been reading each night from the New Testament about Christ's last few days, His atonement, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. Our children have been very interested and even quieted as we've talked about what Christ endured for us. We remind them often that this is the reason we celebrate Easter. This has been effective formal teaching. But alone, it is not enough to really instill within them a knowledge of Christ, and to off-set the commercialized Easter that surrounds us.
We can not talk too much about Christ to our children. I love this scripture about a family who unceasingly taught their children about Christ:
And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.
This is what we want for our children. We want them to really know who Christ is, and know Him on a personal level. When life gets complicated and hard, we hope they will turn to God and Christ for help.
As for informal teaching moments, we have had a few that stand out. As we dyed Easter eggs, I tried explaining how the Easter egg symbolizes new birth that Christ offers us; but it's hard for them to get it, because those eggs don't have chicks in them.
So the best way I've found to reinforce the idea of Christ's resurrection granting us new life, is to look to our spring garden. The kids have been SO excited the last couple weeks to see new flowers come up, in a flowerbed that just a few weeks ago was brown and dead-looking...
I have found this to be a perfect way to teach them what the Savior can do for each one of us, during this life and after. Some days our lives seem dark and hopeless, but we can find hope again through Christ, who is "the light, the life, and the way." And we know that because of Christ's resurrection, we will all be resurrected after this life. Death is not the end. We will see our loved ones again. And our current illnesses and physical pains will not last forever.
A couple years ago, I took an opportunity to try to teach this to our children while driving to preschool one spring morning. I pointed at the flowers and reminded the girls how they seemed dead, but then they came to life again. Our 2-year-old, Gracie, blurted out quickly, "Just like Jesus came to life again!" I was so happy. She got it!
Another teaching moment we had was on Easter morning as we visited the graves of my grandparents. We talked about their lives, and some of my fondest memories of them. We taught how one day they will be resurrected, and we will see them again. Our conversation was meaningful and sweet. I think it helped them recognize a real need for resurrection, so I could see my grandma and grandpa again.
Another teaching moment we had was on Easter morning as we visited the graves of my grandparents. We talked about their lives, and some of my fondest memories of them. We taught how one day they will be resurrected, and we will see them again. Our conversation was meaningful and sweet. I think it helped them recognize a real need for resurrection, so I could see my grandma and grandpa again.
What have been your most successful lessons about the meaning of Easter? Have they been formal or informal?
I've been thinking about this the last couple of weeks, because I'd really like to start some meaningful Easter traditions with my little family. I really like your scripture study for the week idea.
ReplyDeleteOne thing we used to do to offset the commercialism (but is hard now that we're close to family, and they want a joint egg hunt) is buy egg hunt stuff after Easter (on sale :)!), and have an egg hunt on some warm day, totally not associated with Easter.
But, I think the most important thing, like you said is talk about Christ whenever you can. One of my sons was being exceptionally good and kind today. When we asked him why, he said, "I'm trying to be like Jesus!"
That's the kind of answer we like :).
I love this idea of how to teach about Christ. In fact, this year I did K's first Easter basket, and I wanted to have something meaningful in it, not just candy and toys. Before I even read this post, I decided to put a watering can (a small one) and some seed packets in. Tomorrow we're going to plant them for FHE and talk more about Christ. I hope this becomes a tradition for us at Easter time.
ReplyDeleteGood ideas! Here's a few "true-meaning-of-easter" traditions we've started in our family: we've never done an Easter egg hunt, but for the last few years we've done a Spring egg hunt as close to the first day of Spring as possible. We invite friends and neighbors and have games and treats. It's a celebration of Springtime - which we all love - and keeps the eggs and candy completely separate from Easter. We were in San Diego one year and celebrated it at my parent's house. They invited some less-active friends and families in the ward and we all had such a fun time! We also started something new this year - acting out the Easter story, as is traditional with the Christmas story. A couple times throughout the week, the kids and I read through the Easter story and discussed how we could tell it, using pictures, props, facial expressions, etc. We had some family and friends over for dinner and the kids were able to share the story they had prepared. Aside from being pretty comical, it was a sweet and spiritual experience. Asher concluded with his testimony of the Savior. Definitely something we will do each year to come!
ReplyDeleteI love both of those ideas, Starlee! Having the children act out or tell the Easter story is a great idea. I hope we can remember to try that next year. Thanks for sharing!
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