‘Bring forth fruit with patience.’ Luke 8:15 KJV
Here are five more teaching tips:
(1) Teach by experiment. Toddlers through ‘tweens’ can appreciate the time it takes a plant to grow, so involve them in planting a seed and watching it grow. Explain how everything in life takes time to change and develop. Teach the meaning of Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV: ‘To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under Heaven.’
(2) Make use of visuals. Younger children especially need visuals when waiting for an event to happen. If it’s 4:30 and dinner is at 5:00, use a timer. If it’s eighteen days until the family holiday, let them mark the days off on a calendar. Often their problem with waiting is not knowing when it will end.
(3) Don’t interrupt and don’t tolerate interruptions. Toddlers to teens—kids interrupt! Adults, too. Interruptions are usually a rude and frustrating display of impatience. Unless it’s an emergency, be clear: kids—and adults—are to wait their turn to speak. It’s more than good manners—it’s obeying God’s Word. ‘There is… a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.’ (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7 NKJV)
(4) Make use of board games. Most board games require taking turns, which means waiting. Your kids will hardly realise they’re practising patience! Chess and draughts are good for tweens. Scrabble educates teenagers and teaches them patience.
(5) Reward their patience. When your toddler waits for his sippy cup to be filled while you feed the baby, thank him for waiting so well. If your teen saves her money to buy a new phone, compliment her wisdom and reinforce it by perhaps donating the last few dollars to her purchase.
SoulFood: Jer 1–3, Luke 19:28–40, Ps 55:12–23, Prov 8:19–21
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright 2024
