One year of blogging...

A year ago today...

I decided to put my thoughts out there. The "thoughts of a preschool aide" spurred from my very first job at a christian preschool. Working there provoked many things I'd never thought about before.

WHY? Well, at Cal State Fullerton my studies were NOT bible-based. All my creative thinking for kids went to making non-product art projects for kids, dialogic reading, literacy, activities to focus on fine & large motor skills. It went to making activities about shapes, numbers and letters.

Though wheels were still turning in those areas this Christian Preschool introduced a new dynamic: bible stories. Honestly, it was quite uncomfortable for me at first. I was more of an observer in that area because talking about Jesus to children made me a little nervous. As I observed I had questions:

What kind of language do we use when we talk about "scary" things like Jesus dying on the cross?

Should we tell children that they make Jesus' heart sad or happy with their actions?

What do I tell them about Satan?

These were hard questions for me because I understood the tenderness of the age while at the same time they are learning more during this period of their lives than they will the rest of their life. So I struggled:

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  What do I do when the truths of the gospel must be conveyed but when the truths are also "hard" for tender hearts?

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So thats where I was when I started this blog. To hear some of my thoughts on those things please read my very first post ever "Did they want to hurt or kill Jesus?"

However since that very first post, there has been a great deal of books and messages that have really helped my biblical understanding of children. If you are looking for the same, I cannot recommend the list below enough.

Children Desiring God: Finding quality biblical books for children, msgs on "self-esteem" from a biblical view point and teaching children how to understand the gospel is what can be found here. If you are a christian majoring in child development you will want to counter what you are learning with the information in this website.

Tedd & Paul Tripp: Tedd wrote Shepherding a Child's Heart. This book absolutely CHANGED my interaction & conversations with the children. It helped me to see that behavioral change comes from the heart and so when I talk to children I must show them what is in their hearts. Paul Tripp wrote Age of Opportunity and though I work with preschoolers it helped me re-evaluate a lot of what I learned in college.

Today...

Due to God's grace, I can now say I'm not just an observer when it comes to sharing bible stories and the gospel with children. In fact, it's one of my most favorite things to do at work now! I'm thankful to the Lord for the instruction he's given me about children so far. I know I have so much more to learn and I'm excited to reflect again next February.