This anecdote always cracks me up, but proves the point that children often “hear” something different than what we intend…

A little boy was in a relative’s wedding. As he was coming down the aisle he would take two steps, stop, and turn to the crowd (alternating between bride’s side and groom’s side). While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and  roar. So it went, step, step, ROAR, step, step, ROAR all the way down the aisle.  As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing so hard by the time he reached the pulpit. The little boy, however, was getting more and more distressed from all the laughing, and was near tears by the time he  reached the pulpit.  When asked what he was doing, the child sniffed and said, “I was being the Ring Bear….”

We need to remember to keep this point in mind as we parent with Scripture.
Examples by age –

Young Children:  “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”  –  Little ones love this song and it’s motions.  Without explanation, they may be left wondering, “Who is He?” “Does God have hands that big?!”

Elementary Example:  “Crafty”  – If you have a copy of my book, Parenting with Scripture: A Topical Guide for Teachable Moments, you may remember the anecdote from the introductory pages of a mom using this topic in a teachable moment.  If she hadn’t defined the word using the helpful definition from the children’s dictionary included in the Parenting with Scripture topic, her son could have been thinking crafty, like arts and crafts, the whole time.  He would have completely missed the point!

Older Kids, Tweens, Teens Example:  “Die?”  – As we were singing Chris Tomlin’s version of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” titled “The Wonderful Cross” at church the other day, I wondered what was going through my kids’ head when we sang these lyrics…
“O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross, Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live.”
Even with a good understanding of Salvation, this abstract wording might be perplexing to children.

Let’s listen to ourselves with child-like ears as we Parent with Scripture and make use of teachable moments! 

 From my all time favorite movie, The Princess Bride –

 Have any funny misunderstandings of “biblical proportion” with your children?
We’d love to read them in the comment section.