A Question About Catechism and Very Young Children

[Raine]

For those of you who catechize your children, at what age did you start and what catechism did you use? If you tried more than one, which did you find they grasped best?

My son is almost 2 and talking some, so I know he won't be ready to memorize and recite with me yet, but I'm thinking about going ahead and adding a question or to to our morning devotions. Right now, I read him a Bible story, recite one verse of scripture per week [the same verse each morning, to get him used to memorizing as he grows older], and say a short prayer with him. I know they understand a lot more than they can say already at that age, but don't want to overdo things, either. I'm trying to decide mainly between the Shorter Catechism, A Catechism For Young Children (PCUSA publishes this as "Belonging to God: A First Catechism), and Keach's. I'm sort of leaning toward Keach's because it follows the London Baptist Confession, and because there are audio tapes of the confession set to music, which might make it easier for him to learn.

I'd be the one teaching him because my husband is not a Christian and has no preference and our church doesn't have any sort of catechism or children's classes. I do intend to teach him most of the major confessions and differences between them as part of our schooling when he gets older. Right now, I'm just looking for something that will be a good start.

 

[Miss Marple]

We used the Children's (not the shorter) for our littlest.

Q. 1: Who made you?
A. God!

They all knew this one before age one, and it was a fun game for them.

Q 2: What else did God make?
A. (God made) all things!

They'd just say "all things!" for several months, but it worked.

---------- Post added at 11:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:57 PM ----------

Pardon me, I should have said "Westminster" children's catechism.

 

[jwithnell]

We used the Westminster children's too and developed hand motions to help with communication. Several song CD can give you support.

 

[Iconoclast]

A Baptist Catechism with Commentary by W. R. Downing in Religion & Spirituality

A childrens catechism will be fine...But I would recommend this one for you...sort of as a teachers guide...you can study and break it down for your children....I think it is the best I have seen!

 

[Mindaboo]

When my children were around three we worked on the Creeds that our church recited during worship. I thought this was more important, because it allowed them to participate in worship. It always excited them that they knew the words. Of course they couldn't read, but they could recite it from memory. When my youngest was about 7 we started as a family Training Hearts, Teaching Minds which goes through the WSC. It took us about four years. Now we are finishing up the WSC memorization, and I am thinking of doing an actual study of the WCF. My youngest is now 11. We also read a chapter of Scripture, and I read from Dr. Sproul's In the Presence of God with them.

I think I probably started having them memorize Scripture when they were 3. My oldest two did AWANA, so we did a lot of memorization. I would think two is a reasonable age to start. They will catch a lot more than you think even if they cannot say it back fully. I'd give it a try.

 

[Jack K]

Much of the Children's Catechism will be understandable at even a very young age. But with any whole catechism of the sort we on this board tend to like, I've found with both my own kids and those I teach at church that they will not really be able to understand and follow well until they're about ten or so. Before that age, you can do memorizing (which certainly has some value) but not true catechizing.

If you want to start them memorizing, fine. And by all means start teaching them age-appropriate theology. You can use the Children's Catechism for that, or not. But serious catechism study will probably have the most benefit once they hit fifth grade or beyond. It's always good to have most of their biblical "learning" be not just rote repitition but learning that comes with understanding and appreciation of our God.

 

[Scottish Lass]

Westminster-based Children's (not Shorter, which used to be for children)---the one Miss Marple quotes above. Grace is two and can say the first three, but she doesn't speak much. I imagine most kids/early talkers would be further along.

 

[Bethel]

We use Starr Meade's Training Hearts, Teaching Minds: Family Devotions Based on the Shorter Catechism for our daily family devotion and memory work. My boys were older when we started using this book; it has been very beneficial to our sanctification process.

Amazon.com: Training Hearts, Teaching Minds: Family Devotions Based on the Shorter Catechism (9780875523927): Starr Meade: Books

We weren't aware of the confessions when our boys were younger, but we did have them memorize Scripture in AWANA starting at the age of 3.

 

[Raine]

Thanks for all the replies. The Children's Catechism that Miss Marple Quotes looks to be the same as the one I had listed as a Catechims for Young Children (it's also posted it A Catechism for Boys and Girls | The Reformed Reader, if it's the same). I do like that the questions and answers are very short and easy to understand.

I'll also check out the Baptist Catechism book that Iconoclast recommended for my own study (do you know if it's based on Keach's or another?), and Training Hearts, Teaching Minds. The Amazon reviews on that got me interested and I like the idea of combining devotions with the questions, especially once he is a little older and able to understand more. I'm also all for keeping simple and easy to understand books on theology around my home, because it makes it easier to explain things when people without a Christian background, or who haven't studied much theology, have questions.

I do realize that, at this age, anything he learns will be rote memory rather than understand, but I think memory itself can be valuable. If nothing else, as he grows older and begins to understand, he will be more able to focus on the meaning and relating the questions and answers to scripture, rather than still struggling to memorize them verbatim. I am trying to teach him theology as is appropriate, and I was thinking the catechism would be a good jumping off point for that. Go over the question and answer, then explain the reason for it. I try to do that some now by talking to him about Bible stories or talking about what we did in church and why on the ride home. I'm sure most of it is "over his head" now, but it beats driving around going "look at the red car, look at the doggie, where's your foot, etc" (I'm very big on talking, especially now that he's learning words). He already has some grasp of the first 2 questions - if you ask who made him, "mommy & daddy", the dog, the trees, etc he will say God, but I doubt he really "understands" or grasps the concept of God yet at his age.

 

[FenderPriest]

Our son is 15 months old. He's basically at the point and learn the word stage. I've started reading a page or two of First Catechism to him at night before bed. Of course he doesn't understand it yet, but I want him to grow up hearing the truth from the beginning. The catechism is super helpful and easy. Very basic questions, with the WCF being broken down into simpler questions (i.e. Smaller Catechism #1 is 2 or 3 questions). Owen doesn't get it yet, but it's not a major production. He's settling down for bed at that point (after a good long wrestle with daddy) and it's just a part of getting him settled, quiet, and down to bed. Anyhow, that's what we're doing for right now - First Catechism for a $1.50.

 

[Zenas]

My son does the first three questions of the children's and has for some time.

 

[Andres]

You might like this - Teach them the faith in song

 

[TexanRose]

I disagree that children can't really understand the catechism until after the age of ten. I think children can learn the basic essentials of Reformed doctrine by the age of seven or eight, and that the catechisms (accompanied with explanation and discussion, of course) are a useful tool to that end.

 

[Mertens]

Catachism For Young Children

Having a framework built for understanding profound truths like atonement (Q. 48) has been very helpful for my kids. They naturally want to know "where is that in my new bible??" and you can point them to the source (Romans 3:21-27 in that case).

 

[ClayPot]

We started around age 2 with our son using the Childen's catechism. He just turned four, and we started using the Shorter Catechism about a month ago. He's really doing well with it. The questions and answers take longer to learn, but the answers are much more complete.