If you’ve been reading This Outnumbered Mama for a while, you’ve probably heard about what a Bible newbie I am. It can be really intimidating trying to raise kids in a faith that you’re so new at yourself. This can be especially difficult when tackling topics that not even all Christians agree on, like whether to use only Christian homeschooling curriculum or to swear off yoga pants.

With Easter coming, I’ve been seeing a lot of people asking how to explain the Easter story to their kids. I completely understand the fear that parents have. The Easter story is confusing for adults that are new to the Gospel! I mean, Jesus is God’s Son and he DIES? Yes, Jesus didn’t stay dead, but how confusing is that for preschoolers? Especially preschoolers who are struggling to understand the concept of death in the first place. It’s a bit overwhelming. So here are my top tips.

Raise Your Kids in the Faith as a Bible Newbie

Learn Together

Let it be okay that you don’t know everything. Mr. C is always asking me questions that I can’t really answer. It definitely challenges me to find the answer for us both, so that we can both learn more and dig deeper into our faith. Let your child see you dig into your Bible to find answer, and they will follow your actions more than your words, and soon they’ll start looking in their Bibles for answers too. An easy way to learn together is to use children’s Bible study curriculum. I love the Bible studies from Cullen’s Abc’s for making it easy to teach the boys about Jesus, and I always learn something new myself. I also love The Jesus Storybook Bible for making the Bible stories come to life and be truly easy to understand.

Have Some Grace

You don’t understand everything about the Bible as a Bible newbie, but I’ll let you in on a secret. Pastors and people who grew up in the church don’t know everything about the Bible either. I don’t think anyone truly knows everything about the Bible except for Jesus, so have some grace! No one expects you to have all the answers, so it’s okay to not know the answers. Your kids are young, and I’m sure that they will get a well rounded knowledge of the Bible before they turn 18 and move out. Breathe, it will be okay!

Find Concrete Examples

Whenever possible, find a concrete way to explain something to your child. One of my favorite ways to do this is at Christmas time. We bake a birthday cake for Jesus, and we make it a marble cake. We talk to the boys about how Jesus is God and man, just like our cake is chocolate and vanilla! A sweet friend of mine makes “Resurrection Rolls” with her preschoolers. She bakes rolls with marshmallows in them and as they bake the marshmallow bakes into the roll and “disappears”. The empty roll represents the empty tomb. If you’re trying to tackle a really tough subject try searching Pinterest for ideas to explain it in a visual or concrete way. It’ll stick with you and your child longer [plus it might be tastey!]

So how do you raise your children with your faith when you’re still such a newbie? Any tips for a Bible newbie mom like me?

About Kaylene

Kaylene George is an autistic self-advocate, author, and mother of five, including one autistic child. She realized her own autism as an adult shortly after her son received his initial diagnosis. Suddenly the parts of her that seemed so “weird” to society had an answer. Since then, Kaylene has passionately shared about her experiences with autism from both sides of the great divide between parents and autistic self-advocates on AutisticMama.com.