This is our last day of Teaching Them Diligently – a 5 day series of encouragement, tips and lessons we’ve learned in our family as we seek to raise our children according to God’s Word and parent with diligence.
Check out the other posts in the series below. There’s so much more I need to know and learn, so please, leave your comments and ideas so we can interact, learn and encourage each other!
Day 1 – Tips to Inspire and Help You Memorize Scripture as a Family
Day 2 – Encourage Your Children to Have Quiet Time
Day 3 – Teaching Kids About Money
Day 4 – Training Your Children to be Diligent
Day 5 – Cultivating Servanthood in our Children
Make me a servant, humble and meek
Lord, let me lift up those who are weak
And may the prayer of my heart always be
Make me a servant today
~ Psalty, Kids Praise
We want to teach our children to serve, putting the needs of others before themselves. The easier part is using examples from God’s word to show them how God would have us love others.
The hard part of cultivating servanthood in our children is putting God’s design for serving into practice. We know we should, but how?
Before we get to the how, let’s take a quick look at the why. WHY should we cultivate a heart of servanthood in our children?
1. It teaches them compassion. Looking out for the needs of another above one’s own desires. Seeing a need and knowing you are able to meet it, making the sacrifice to make that happen.
2. It teaches a godly work ethic. Working hard and with diligence, learning to have a joyful heart as they do so, is pleasing to the Lord!
3. It teaches new skills, tackling things they may have never done before, because they want to serve another.
Here are some practical ways to help our children learn to serve others.
1. Serve your Siblings
Encourage your little ones to look for opportunities to serve their siblings at home. Whether it’s volunteering to do another’s job or helping them with tidying up or a problem / Lego instruction they’re stuck on – there are so many daily chances to be a servant to a sibling.
Teach them to see a need and meet it by pointing it out and prodding them in the direction of responding with a soft heart.
2. Serving Moms
We have had so many meals brought to us over the years when we’ve had new babies born. It is such a blessing to not have to cook when you’ve been up half the night! Now we can bless others by doing the same for them.
When taking a family a meal, involve the kids in the preparation. There may have to be some sacrifices made from mom’s time, or they can help make parts of the meal, or a congratulations card.
Whether they’re directly involved in the meal making or not, take them with you on the delivery, and explain to them what you’re doing. Make them a part of the serving and give them ownership in being a blessing.
Another way my kids serve my mom friends is by being involved in the preparation for my monthly book study. Once a month a group of ladies comes over to my house. We meet in the basement and spend a fun time together discussing whatever book it is we are reading.
I heavily involve my kids in the evening by encouraging them to bless these moms in the clean up of the room that we are using, answering the door and greeting them, bringing the food and drinks down. The kids LOVE it and take such pride and joy in being a part of this.
Our kids can also serve our mom friends by helping out with babysitting. Whenever we have someone else’s child here whom we are watching, it really is the kids who are doing most of the work anyway ;D Why not teach them to see it as an opportunity to serve? Also, if the kids are around the same age, it helps them with the issue of learning to share.
3. Serving Your Friends
Whenever we have friends over at our house, our practice is that we will do the clean up after they are gone. Typically, we have moms with a bunch of younger kids at a time, and by the time everyone is leaving, the last thing they want to do is rally up the kids to do a major clean up.
So our way of serving our friends is to do the clean up after them. And we do so enjoy doing it because we know it is a blessing to them!
4. Serving the Community and the World
Whether it’s community garbage pickup, taking Christmas goodies and toy donations to the fire fighters, food donations to the food bank, collecting milk bags for sleeping mats, collecting jeans and making them into shoes for Sole Hope, or helping with the childrens’ program at church, there are so many ways our children can see us involved and get involved in serving the local community, and the world.
For more ideas on involving your children in serving, check out these posts!
Teach Your Children to Serve Others
How do you provide opportunities for and encourage your children to serve?
Thank you so much for sticking with us through this series. I hope you have been encouraged! I know I have by your comments and ideas, so thank you for sharing them.
