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How to Have Meaningful Spiritual Conversations with Young Children w/ Crystal Bowman · 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids.

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to another episode of the Five Minute Parenting Podcast.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Karen Ferguson, wife, mom, grandmom, and children's book author with a background in K-8 education and a passion for equipping parents to raise confident and God-confident kids.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: In this podcast, we'll cover parenting practices for both a practical view and a biblical view.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Our goal is to help you raise kids with a positive, godly self-image so they can become all they were created to be.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: I know you're busy, so we'll keep it short.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let's take just five minutes and dive in.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to another episode of Five Minute Parenting.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Karen, your show host, and today we're talking with best-selling author Crystal Bowman on the topic of how to have meaningful spiritual conversations with our kids.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Crystal is a best-selling award-winning author of more than 100 books for children's and families.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: She also writes stories for Clubhouse Junior Magazine, lyrics for children's piano music, and Bible activity books.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Crystal has written books for popular children's series such as Little Blessings, Boz the Bear, I Can Read, and The Bernstein Bears.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: She also writes devotions for children, Bible storybooks, board books, and picture books.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: When Crystal is not writing or editing, she enjoys spending time with her eight huggable grandkids who are spread out over three different states.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Crystal and her husband live in Florida, so they can avoid snowstorms.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Crystal, thank you so much for being here.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: I am super excited to hear what you have to share today about meaningful spiritual conversations with our kids and just in time for Easter too.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: So please jump right in and share what you have with listeners.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much for having me here today.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I hope that my books are resources that parents and grandparents and teachers can use to help supplement what they're trying to teach their children.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: But I remember a long time ago when I was teaching preschool, I didn't have children yet, but I um I had a mother of a four-year-old come to me and ask me, um, when do you when do you start talking to your child about God?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I was so surprised at her question.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: And but I my reply, my my reply was, you know, children are never too young.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: You start now.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: You start, you know, and so I got thinking you start you start with the day they're born, you know, when you sing songs to them in a rocking chair and you pray over them when you put them to bed.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so it starts from day one.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: But when children, babies are very um aware of the world around them, but when they become grow into being toddlers and preschoolers, their world enlarges and they they become aware of of nature and outdoors, and they're fascinated with with birds and clouds and trees and animals.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: I remember when my granddaughter was not even two years old, she would just, she would love to go outside and look at birds.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: She got so excited about birds.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so those are so many, those offer so many opportunities for us to talk to children about who created these birds.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, God created these birds, he created them to fly in the air and and to sing beautiful songs, and he helps find their food and he takes care of them.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think, you know, when children are very young at that, you know, that toddler preschool age, that is such a great way for them to see God in creation, that he is the creator that created all these wonderful things that we see.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: And oh, it's raining today.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, God's sending the rain to help the grass to grow.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so you can incorporate these spiritual lessons into everyday life, and then reminding them how much God loves them.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, children, even though they don't necessarily comprehend uh concepts, they do understand love.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: They know what it means to love, they love their teddy bear, they love their animal if they have one, and they know mom and dad love them, and and so to communicate them that even though they can't see God, um, God loves them too.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: And as they get a little bit older, you know, maybe more that that preschool kindergarten age, you can help children see God again in his creation, that even though you can't see God face to face, you can't see see him, but you can see what he does.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Look at the sun rising in the morning, look at that sunset, look at the wind blowing.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: You can't see the wind, but how do you know it's blowing?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know it's blowing because the leaves are are are blowing and and the the trees are swinging.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so those again, those are opportunities to make children aware of their surroundings, of their creation and the God who created it all.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so, as we can also talk about other spiritual truths, um, maybe as they get a little bit older.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, children, we don't have to teach them to be bad, we have to teach them to be good.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, children know how to uh, you know, take that cookie when they're not supposed to.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, and so those are opportunities too when we can say, you know, mommy told you that you can't have that cookie right now after you eat your dinner, then maybe you can have it.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, God wants you to listen to mom and dad because we know what's best for you, and God knows what's best for you too.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: You can ask him to help you do what your mom and dad want you to do.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: You can ask him to help you because I I don't want to burden children with the idea that they are um you know on their own when it comes to their behavior, and that um, you know, because even adults, I mean, we we still make mistakes and we still sin and we still um you know make some bad choices, but we don't, we're not on our own.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: We we can ask God, we can pray, we can pray for God to help us do what pleases him.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and of course, prayer, you know, your morning prayers, your bedtime prayers, your mealtime prayers, that's a great opportunity and a great time to instill those spiritual truths into your children.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, God, for this beautiful day.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Help us today in whatever, you know, whatever we have to do, help us to do our best.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and then praying for others, uh making children, you know, a little bit more, you know, focused on on the people they love, the people that are in their their immediate world, but then also as they get a little bit older, we can teach them um to pray for those who we might never meet, for the children far away, for, you know, and then and then if you know there's a hurricane and people have lost their houses.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you don't want to burden children with with too many heavy topics, but these are things that we can do.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, did you know that, you know, they had really bad storms in in in North Carolina and now there's people that don't have homes.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Let's pray for those people.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Let's let's ask God to help them.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so there's so many ways where you can incorporate these spiritual truths um into your everyday language, your everyday activities, and it just solidifies um that knowledge that that children can have of God, and then also that he's your friend.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, children love having friends, and as they get older, they will develop more friends when they're little.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes their sibling is their friend or their pet is their friend, but we can also teach them that God loves them so much and he cares about them and he is your friend.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: And you, you know, that you can talk to him if you're sad, if you're happy, if you have a problem.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: You can talk to God just like you can talk to a friend.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's really important that we teach children how to pray, how to talk to God.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have to be, you know, this fancy language.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's just praying from your heart.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so those are those are things that I try to incorporate into my into my writing, into my devotions.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, of course, Bible story books.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: I love retelling Bible stories.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: I always try to stay really true to scripture, but then just use language that children can understand.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm really excited about my newest picture book that just came out with Tyndale.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's called R is Risen.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure you know uh what holiday this addresses.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's an Easter book.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: And it's an alphabet Easter book.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: But unlike other alphabet Easter books that just assign, you know, a random uh a random uh name or event to the letter, um I and my daughter Terry McKinley is my co-author.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: We write the story in chronological order.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: So as you go through the alphabet, it doesn't teach the alphabet, it just uses, you know, most children by the time you're going to be reading this book, they probably know their letters.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it is just it's just a creative and engaging way to tell the Easter story by using the alphabet.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: So A is for arrived.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus came to Jerusalem, people were everywhere, arrived with his disciples, excitement filled the air.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: B is for branches.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: A crowd stood by the roadside, they laid their branches down, they shouted out, Hosanna, our king has come to down.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then on every page, we also have the scripture verse to show where um where that's found in the Bible in case they want to, you know, dig deeper and go to scripture and get the stories from scripture.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it was very challenging.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we also, years ago, we wrote a book called Amos for Manger, which is the same concept.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's the Christmas story told in chronological order.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: So we're uh we're really excited about this book.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Tyndale has, you know, great illustrators and a great editorial team in their children's department.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: So it's I I'm just humbled and honored.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel that, you know, I've written more than a hundred books, but this one is near and dear to my heart because it clearly communicates to children um the gospel message and that Jesus came to die for us.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that's a heavy topic, but the the beauty of the Easter story is that it has a happy ending.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus came back to life.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: And someday we will see him face to face in heaven.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that is great news.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this sounds like a wonderful resource for families, and thank you for just being here and sharing these ideas.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: I know they'll be a blessing to many families this Easter and even in other seasons too.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I just love how you you put a focus on really just keeping it natural, you know, just keeping it as natural as possible and getting out in nature and sharing that with our kids.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that opens up a lot of room for conversations about the Lord.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, listeners, be sure to check out the links in the show notes and order your copies for your kids and grandkids, your nieces, nephews, and neighbors.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I will ask, Crystal, is there a best place to go to access the book?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Any place that you know, buyers go, you know, if it's Amazon, Christianbook.com, uh, their local bookstore.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what your bookstore can order any book, even if they don't carry it.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: All they need is the title and the author.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes the more information you have, the better.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, um, you know, bookstore, if if you know, for those who want to support their local bookstores, which is wonderful, um, any bookstore can order any book.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um, if if shopping online works better for you, then you've got Amazon and Christianbook.com.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: You can also go to the Tyndale website and they have it on their page as well.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, wonderful.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we'll have access to your web, your links to your website as well as uh multiple links to get the book.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: And Crystal, thank you again so much for being here and sharing today.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And listeners, thank you for joining us.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to come back next week for another episode.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: And until then, have a blessed week.