Teaching kids about spirituality isn’t easy y’all! Regardless of your religious background there isn’t a simple way to explain something that isn’t tangible. Besides weaning and potty training, I started to feel as if this was one of my biggest challenges as a mother. I must admit that until a couple of weeks ago, I presented religion in a very traditional manner to my daughter. I wanted her to take it seriously, this isn’t a game right? Well, wrong. My daughter who will be turning four in just a few weeks isn’t exactly used to reading books that are not filled with colorful pictures and characters and she loves games. So, her interest in my bible was pretty low. I started to feel helpless.
[Tweet “Inspiring kids using technology #InspiredMobility”]I didn’t know how else to approach the situation until I wrote the ways Iuse technology to stay inspired. That’s when a light bulb went off in my head, why not use technology to teach the Princess Fairy? I needed some resources to start, so imagine my excitement when I got the opportunity through AT&T to speak with Jason Caston, Creator of the iChurch Method, Social Media and Technology Director at T.D Jakes Ministries and Spokesman for the AT&T Inspired Mobility Campaign. More importantly, Jason is a husband and father and so I knew he would understand the challenges of teaching kids about God.
[Tweet “When approaching kids, keep in mind that they are visual and have very short attention spans”]
According to Jason, kids are visual and have short attention spans so it’s important to find and use technology that appeals to these needs. He explained that since our kids were born in an era where technology is widely used in everyday life, they use it instinctively. His family uses a few different children bible apps but he mentioned the YouVersion children’s bible so I decided to download it. My daughter and I started using the Youversion children’s bible for our morning prayer about three weeks ago and she loves this bible. It’s interactive, grabs her attention and tells the bible stories in language that a young child can understand. The images are bright and attractive but not over-stimulating. The kids can also answer trivia questions and collect rewards which reinforces the message.
Since, this generation will be using technology more than ever to remain inspired, I just had to to ask Jason if technology would eventually replace the brick and mortar church? According to him, while technology enhances the experience it will never replace the the healing, community building and relationships that are developed in person. He explained that we have spiritual needs that must be met in person.
I’m amazed and excited that we can use technology to keep our kids inspired. Stay tune as I explore more inspiring iTunes and Leapfrog bible applications.
How do you use technology to keep your children inspired?
