Teach

Values
Home and Family Life Lectures
From
“Ten Christian Values Every Kid Should Know”
by Donna Habenicht
 FOCUS ON THE VALUE
YOU WANT TO TEACH.
GRAB IMPORTANT MOMENTS.
Focus on one value at a time.
Choose a value for the month.

January – peace
February – kindness and
compassion
March – patience
April – humility
May - respect
June – responsibility
July – perseverance
August – loyalty and commitment
September – honesty and integrity
October – self-control
November – contentment and
thankfulness
December – faith in God
Grab the incidental
moments as situations come
up in your everyday
experiences.
Be gentle in teaching values
especially with teens. They
may appear unreceptive but
just keep on teaching
lovingly and consistently. Do
it with much prayer.
USE MANY DIFFERENT TEACHING
STRATEGIES
1. Stories. The best stories are
from your own childhood.
2. Questions. When you see a
teenager swaying the tail of a
cat, ask “What are you doing?”,
“How do you think the cat
feels?”, “What will happen if you
keep swinging the cat?” If it’s
your child: “What is our rule
about how we treat animals?”
USE MANY DIFFERENT TEACHING
STRATEGIES
3. Everyday situations can
make ideal teachable
moments. For example, as
you pass by the pier and there
are laborers carrying heavy
loads, you can point these to
your children and tell them the
importance of education.
USE MANY DIFFERENT TEACHING
STRATEGIES
4. Act-it-out or role playing.
If your child is being bullied
at school, you can help him
by role playing with him how
he should respond to the
bully. If your child is shy, act
out with her how she could
make friends.
 USE MANY DIFFERENT TEACHING
STRATEGIES

5. Making a drawing is a powerful way to

get children to express their feelings.
Ask him/her to tell you about the drawing.
Do not say it is good or ugly. When he/she
is finished telling about the drawing, make
a comment that reflects what you think
he/she feels about the situation. “You felt
frightened by that bully.” After that you may
be able to talk more about the situation and
help him think of ways to deal with it.
USE MANY DIFFERENT TEACHING
STRATEGIES
6. Use key guiding phrases to
reinforce your teaching. Post
them about the house where
everyone can see the message
many times a day. Select punchy
Bible verses such as “Even a
child is known by his actions”
(Prov. 20:11), “Do you see a man
skilled in his work? He will serve
before kings” (Prov. 22:29).
 USE MANY DIFFERENT TEACHING
STRATEGIES

7. Posters and pictures are valuable

teaching aids also. Every home with children
should have a good-sized bulletin board in a
prominent place. Children can display their
work; parents can post sayings about values,
lists of jobs to be done, charts to check off
jobs done, the family’s calendar of events,
school notices, etc. Also post a poster that
teaches your value focus for the month.
 MAKE YOUR
PROPAGANDA EARLY.
PREPARE YOUR
CHILD FOR THE
FUTURE.
If you want your child to
become a medical doctor, tell
him/her stories about successful
medical doctors, help him/her
develop good study habits, give
him lots of books to read.
If you want your child to be
helpful to the poor, bring
him/her along with you as you do
community service. Let him/her
do some projects to raise funds
for the poor.
HELP CHILDREN LEARN TO
THINK ABOUT VALUES

 Why is this value important?

 What are the consequences

of ignoring it?
 What are the consequences

of following it?
ADAPT YOUR TEACHING TO YOUR
CHILD’S AGE, UNDERSTANDING
LEVEL, AND LEARNING STYLE
Some children learn best through
hearing. Some through seeing.
Others through bodily movement.
Some want to see the big picture
first and then fill in the details
while others must have all the
details before they will even
consider the big picture.
During early childhood children
are learning what is right and
what is wrong. They need very
specific teaching with clear
consequences for doing what is
wrong and lots of practice doing
the right. Their thinking is not
mature yet, so reasoning should be
very simple and clear.
At this stage, be very careful of the models
you expose your children to. Even in
Christian homes today, parents are not horrified
to allow the television to influence their
children’s values. They allow their children to
view cartoon shows, programs, and movies
without careful and prayerful consideration.
Instead of being alarmed, parents are charmed
as their little ones dance and sing and act like
celebrities and even point to them as what they
would be like in the future.
During late childhood (6-12 years old),
children in school confront many different
sets of values. This is the reason why our
Church has made education as an important
component. During this period, the teacher
becomes the authority figure in the life of the
child. If the teacher is not a believer in God
and holds values different from those of the
parents’, the child is confused and will most
likely believe what the teacher says rather
than what the parents say.
Late childhood (6-12) is the time to really
focus on teaching values in a serious way. At
this stage, they can better understand what
values are all about. You can reason with them
and explain why we believe such. Since they
have developed love for the Lord and respect
for His Word, the phrase “The Bible says”
becomes a byword for them. If your children
enter adolescence with a strong set of principles
that can guide their decisions, you and they are
fortunate. Their teen years which are the
turbulent years will be much easier.
Adolescence is the time for loosening
emotional family ties. Teens work hard to
develop their own identity. This can be a
threatening period for the teens and the
parents. But if the love and respect between
the teens and the parents are strong, the
teens will still consider their parents their
most trusted adult counselors.
Since friends are very
influential to adolescents, it is a
wise decision of the parents to
surround their children with
Adventist friends who uphold
Bible-based values.
Parents, if you have been
faithful in bringing your little
ones to church, they will
find their way to church
when they become teens.
Also, enroll them to Adventist
schools where they can make
lifelong friends with those who
love and fear God and where
they can engage in faith-
building activities. This is a
decision that has eternal
consequences.