“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children…” Deuteronomy 6:5-7 a
I’ve often thought if parenting doesn’t put the fear of God into someone, nothing will. Raising a child (or two or ten) is a weighty task – we are charged with forming small, helpless little humans into well-rounded and well-adjusted individuals who contribute to their communities. For Christian parents, the monumental task of teaching our children to know and love God is added to an already overwhelming list of duties.
As a mom of two little ones (2.5 and 9 months), I spend most of my time just trying to meet the basic needs of my family – feeding, bathing, diaper changes, playtime, maybe a shower for myself. I desperately want to teach my little ones to know and love God, but I find that I’m often short on both time and energy.
As I searched for age-appropriate resources to help me in this task, I came up empty. While storybook Bibles are a great addition to my children’s library, I wanted something to go beyond Bible stories to actual theology.
That’s why I wrote Bible Basics: A Baby Believer Counting Primer – a counting book designed to familiarize young children with the core tenets of the Christian faith. Bible Basics is the first of the Baby Believer Primers, a series of concepts books to help parents teach their children foundational Christian beliefs.
Although small children are not going to walk away from repeated readings of Bible Basics with a thorough and robust theology of the Incarnation (or anything else), they will become acquainted with the vocabulary of basic theology. This vocabulary can function as a jumping off point for parents to have deeper, more meaningful faith conversations with their children. It can be a touchstone that parents return to in order to help their children develop a firmer grasp of their faith.
Her professional background includes communications consulting, radio production, event planning, and non-profit and church administration. Danielle is a graduate of the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University where she earned her B.A. in Humanities. She presently resides in northern Virginia where she loves enjoying a good story with her husband, local playgrounds, serving at her Anglican church, wine tasting, reading to her kids, and her adult coloring book.
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This book is on its way to me, and you’ve made me even more excited about sharing it with my 2 year old grand boy!