Tips for Parents of Toddlers Who Want to Raise Strong Christian Kids

How do we biblically raise our young Christian children in this rapidly growing secular culture? And how do we do it well, in a way that actually produces fruit in our kids when they are older? In this post, I share helpful tips for parents of toddlers who want to start teaching Biblical values and principles to their kids now. Tips to help moms who want to be prepared for the teenage years, when their kids will start asking challenging questions about their faith.

I am a mom of a toddler. My son is 2 and will be 3 in just a couple of weeks at this point. And I have to admit, I often worry about my son’s Christian future. I try not to worry, but how can I not when Christianity is coming under attack in so many ways.

And since he is so young, it can seem like there really isn’t much I can teach him right now. What can I do now to start him on the right path when he is too young to understand?

Well, there are definitely some things you can do NOW, even at this age, to start your kids off on the right path. And equally, as important, there are things you can do now to start preparing yourself for when they are older.

Christian Parenting Tips for Moms of Young Children

I’ve been a mom now for three years. So not a super long time. But it’s been enough time to learn that time flies by, and kids pick things up quicker than you think. And in the early days, I didn’t think teaching him about God and his faith so early would stick.

However, let me tell you! My son fell in love with prayer at the age of 2 and now reminds me that it’s time to pray. He loves his prayer books and will sing worship songs right alongside me (or tries to lol).

I was extremely surprised at how quickly he grasped these things. He may not fully understand what it all means and what it’s for, but he is involved and loving it. And that’s a great place to start.

So if you’re looking for some ways to start teaching your young kids about God, here are a couple of posts that will inspire you with ideas on where to begin:

How to Teach Toddlers About God

How to Train Up a Child in a Godly Way

The tips in these posts range from monitoring what your children watch on TV to teaching them about prayer as early as possible. 

In today’s climate, it’s so important that we are diligent, even from the very beginning when we aren’t seeing much fruit for our labor. Because that time will fly by, and your kids will be asking all sorts of questions soon enough. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be left scratching my head every time my kid asks me tough faith questions. I want to be a Christian mom who takes her role very seriously as it relates to teaching my kids about God.

Being a good Christian mom doesn’t have to be difficult. But it does mean you have to put in some work and be intentional. Here are a few posts that touch on being a good Christian mother.

How to Be a Good Christian Mother

How to Walk with God in Your Season of Motherhood

Call on God When Parenting Gets Hard

One of the best things we can do as mothers is to remember to lean into God. We can’t do it all. And I know it sometimes feels like we should. But God intentionally designed us to need Him in all seasons of our lives. 

It’s natural to be worried about our kids’ spiritual futures. The world is rapidly changing, and we can’t just wrap them in bubble wrap and hide them from the evil of the world until judgment day. But, we can make intentional parenting decisions that guide them and make sure to partner with God along the way. Here are a couple of posts if you’re worried about your child’s spiritual future and your ability to be a good Christian mom.

Are You Worried About Your Kids Salvation?

4 Ways Apologetics Can Help You and Your Family Grow Spiritually

8 Christian Apologetics Books for Kids

Call on God When Parenting Gets Hard

Ultimately, one of the best things you can do for your toddlers at this stage is to start getting ready now. Start teaching them now, and start teaching yourself now as well.

Courageous Parenting

There is pressure all around us as parents to make the best decisions for our kids. From whether or not to vaccinate, to choosing the right schools. It can be overwhelming and stressful to have to make so many important decisions for our little ones. 

As moms of toddlers, we’ve already been bombarded with a lot of decisions. And looking ahead into our kids’ future, we know there are many more decisions to be made.

With the world becoming increasingly more hostile to true Christianity, our parenting decisions might often look a little different to those not part of the Christian body. We might have to say no to some things that everyone else is saying yes to. We might have to pull our kids out of activities that leave others scratching their heads. 

As Christian mothers living in a secular parenting world, these challenges will come our way often. And we need to work on becoming courageous parents now, while our kids are still littles. We need to exercise our courageous parenting muscles and start mapping out now what things we will and will not allow as our kids grow.

Over the few years that I’ve been a mom, I’ve noticed that people automatically assume that you will make certain choices for your kids. Some things have become so normalized and expected that they’re just not questioned. And this can make saying no to certain things difficult because you know you’ll get some crazy looks from family and friends. It can mean not participating in certain events and getting questioned, and maybe even made fun of for your choice.

But it’s important that we stand our ground on certain convictions on behalf of our children and family, even if we receive backlash and pressure because of it.

The Bible calls us to be courageous. And that includes being courageous parents.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

Our courageous choices may make us look weird in the world’s eyes at times, but it’s really God’s eyes that we should care most about. How does God want me to proceed with these decisions? That should be the first governing factor when faced with a difficult parenting decision. 

And we need to start being courageous now, while our children are super young so that we set them on the right foot.

3 Positive Parenting Tips for Courageous Christian Moms

Standing for what we believe as Christian mothers can and will be challenging. The world does not always see things the way God does. Our choices might seem excessive, limiting, and even oppressive from a wordly perspective. But we have to know our why and keep that at the forefront of our minds.

Below are three positive parenting tips for Christian moms wanting to make more courageous parenting decisions for their kids.

  • Reference the Bible on parenting decisions and use that as your guide
  • Stay focused on your vision for your kids and family, not other people’s vision
  • Surround yourself with likeminded mothers for support

Our toddlers will grow to be grown men and women one day. Who do we hope they’ll become? It’s such a privilege to play a part in the shaping of these men and women of God. And although we should never want to control our kids, or pressure them to live life our way, we do want them to know what is right, good, and God-pleasing. If our young tots see us being bold and courageous now, they will hopefully one day remember that and it will encourage them to be the same.


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How to be a Good Mom to a Toddler

So, we’ve talked about being a courageous parent and some positive ways we can be bold in our decisions. But what else can we do to strive to be good moms to our little growing toddlers?

One thing I’ve learned with my son, who will be 3 in just a week, is not to underestimate his capacity to understand things. When they are this little, it’s easy to assume they won’t understand, and so we tend to put off teaching certain things. But as I introduce more and more concepts to my son, I am so surprised at how quickly he actually picks it up.

Toddlers love to learn. Their faces just light up when they are learning something new. In my experience, they find learning to be fun. They can quickly get bored with toys, but showing them something new and different, no matter how small, is always a win. I let my son help me wash the dishes the other day for the first time. He was so excited and so focused. Yes, he mostly played, made a mess, and slowed down the process. However, he was learning and he thoroughly enjoyed it.

So I think when it comes to being a good mom to a toddler, especially as it relates to teaching them the Word of God, one of the biggest tips is not to underestimate what they might understand. Introduce God early, teach them about Jesus early, show them the Bible early, pray with them early, worship with them early.

Let’s look at some more Christian parenting tips for toddlers below.

Tips for Parents of Toddlers from a Christian Toddler Mom

Here are a few more tips for parents of toddlers:

  1. Don’t underestimate their capacity to learn. Don’t wait until they’re older to start teaching them about God.
  2. Remember the entire day can be an opportunity to teach about God, playtime included.
  3. Find ways to simplify complex Biblical concepts into basic, fun activities.
  4. Introduce Biblical terms and names to them; Bible, Jesus, Angel, Prayer, etc.
  5. Ask them to lead prayer, even if it’s just jibber jabber at first.
  6. Buy them a kiddie Bible to familiarize them with God’s stories. I use this one: The Beginner’s Bible for Little Ones.
  7. Read to them from an adult Bible. They don’t have to get everything for God’s living word to penetrate their heart.
  8. Play them worship music; it’s so adorable when they start singing the lyrics.
  9. Teach them to give thanks to God.
  10. This last one is for you mom: be sure to regularly feed yourself spiritually so that you are prepared to teach, correct, and encourage them along their Christian walk as they grow.

Quick download these 10 tips below as a FREE printable!

Number 10 in this list is so important. It’s so easy to focus all of our energy and attention on our children, that we often neglect ourselves as moms. It’s a common challenge for mothers. We feed our kids first, bathe them first, make sure they’re entertained and are constantly looking after their well-being all around.

However, as they say, we cannot be our best selves for our families if we are neglecting ourselves. And this applies to our spiritual lives as well. If you look at the list above, most of those things can be transferred to apply to us moms as well.

  • Don’t underestimate your capacity to branch out and learn new things; Apologetics for example. Apologetics can be intimidating, but God wants you to grow as well. So why not try learning how to better defend your faith?
  • Use your entire day as an opportunity to spend time with God and grow spiritually. It can be difficult to find “extra” time to devote to God when you have toddlers. Here is a post with some tips on how to carve out time when you don’t seem to have time.
  • Find fun ways to simplify concepts you are struggling to understand. Join a Book club or Bible study (if you’re the social type.) Take a course, make a challenge for yourself.
  • Don’t neglect your Bible reading and prayer life in the name of parenting. Find the time, even if it’s not the exact same time every day. Commit to your spiritual growth.

More Helpful Tips for Parents of Toddlers

The more we do in the beginning to prepare for when our kiddos are older, the more ready we will be when the questions begin. Here are a few other ideas you can implement now while your babies are still little to get ready for those older years.

  1. Keep a journal of ready-to-go tough questions & answers.
  2. Take a free course. Biblicaltraining.org has some free Apologetics courses that you can take.
  3. Join a book club that focuses on topics that will excel your growth. Girl Talk Apologetics  is a great group of women who meet once a week to discuss an Apologetics book.
  4. Listen to fruitful podcasts. Alisa Childer’s podcast is a great one. 
  5. Join a community of other parents also seeking answers and ideas on how to prepare. Apologetics for Parents is a great Facebook Group for this.

Conclusion

You can probably find a ton of helpful tips for moms of toddlers online. But I wanted this post to be specific to tips that centered around growing spiritually for both mom and kids. The toddler phase is a busy and fun phase. It’s easy to let this time slip by and not utilize it to teach them about the Gospel. But we should work with our toddler’s creativity, activeness, and curiosity to really start engaging them with the Word of God.

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