The reluctant storyteller

I found it a thrill to talk through the story of Christ's death and resurrection with my kids last week. It shocked me to learn that not all parents feel that way.

The day before Easter I had breakfast with some old friends. One said, "On Friday we drove past a big church near our house. There were about 60 kids and families marching outside with a big wooden cross. My five and a half year old asked what they were doing. I thought 'oh no; here we go.' So I had to get into the whole story about how they nailed Jesus to the cross." She rolled her eyes and said it with disdain, as if she was sorry that her little girl had to be burdened with the knowledge of this story.

This was such a great reminder to me that the kids in our church aren't necessarily getting a biblical foundation in their homes. This raises the stakes for me as I program for kids. I realized that I tend to err on the side of assuming that they've heard it all before.

It also showed me that we need to continue looking for ways to provide families with tools to help them talk about spiritual things with their kids. This year we sent an Easter basket home with each child on Palm Sunday. The basket was filled with a modified Resurrection Egg set and had an accompanying daily devotional for the family. In our house it worked really well. And I heard great comments from other families as well.

As we go through the rest of the year, what kinds of things can we do to help kids continue their learning and their thinking about spiritual things when they are in their homes? What resources can we give parents so that it is fun, accessible and non-threatening to have positive spiritual influence on their kids?