Christmas has become many things. Christmas is commercial & religious. Christmas is a contradiction after contradiction and often hypocritical. I am a Christian and I cannot deny these things. So what do I want my children to learn about christmas? So how do I teach my children about something that is all these things? How do I teach my children the good and the bad? Or do I? Do I sugar coat the holiday? Should I just give them the Bible? Do I just repeat what preacher after preacher might tell us?
No. I believe in my children being well rounded. I believe in them choosing for themselves and being educated in that decision and I believe that when I say educated in that decision it does not mean just educated in Christianity. It means a well-rounded education, other religions, other world views, other politics, etc.
So what will I teach my children?
1. I will teach my children that I have faith that Christ died for my sins
2. I will teach my children that I believe there is a God and he loves us
3. I will teach my children that Christ’s birth is to be celebrated
4. I will teach my children that Christianity IS FLAWED
5. I will teach my children that the Bible should be read and studied
6. I will teach my children that the Bible is written by man and by extension is flawed
7. I will teach my children that Christmas is about giving, not just receiving
8. I will teach my children that it is important to count your blessings
9. I will teach my children that we are blessed
10. I will teach my children that we are privileged
11. I will teach my children that it is important to help others
12. I will teach my children that not everyone is Christian and that is okay
13. I will teach my children that other people believe in other religions
14. I will teach my children to always be respectful of other’s beliefs
15. I will teach my children what I can about those other religions and encourage them to learn more about them
16. I will teach my children about paganism and how Christmas has many traditions that originate from it
17. I will teach my children they are loved
18. I will teach my children they were fearfully and wonderfully made
19. I will teach my children they are strong and important
20. I will teach my children that Santa is historically important
21. I will teach my children origins of Santa
22. I will teach my children that Santa is not significant to the true point of Christmas
I will teach my children that they have a choice in what they think and believe and I will hope they make an educated decision. I will teach them to be loving and compassionate people no matter differences, and I will teach them to be themselves, genuine and unique through and through.
Merry Christmas!!
Sarah
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GREAt! I believe it is important to teach them many things and give them a choice. Brainwashing never helped anyone. God created us to be unique ans individuals, not robots, right? Good job mamma
Good for you for wanting them to understand multiple perspectives and to choose what they believe rather than forcing one point of view or another. I agree wholeheartedly with your approach! I agree there are so many contradictions with Christmas. I just tried to emphasize giving/kindness this Christmas instead of the gifts. That was more important this year, and it made the season so much fun! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
-Ashley, lookforlittlehelpers.com
Now days Christmas just feels so commercial. I love that you’re teaching your kids it’s more than that.
I admire and love that you want to teach your kids that theres many aspects to Christmas and everyone celebrates in different ways. some religious, some not. some merely commerical, and some not.
It’s so great that you are teaching your kids how Christmas can have many different aspects to it. It everyone celebrates it the same way but that’s ok. I want my daughter to have the same understanding.
nice and wonderful info.
thank you so much for sharing…
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Lots of great things to think about this holiday season. It is good to teach kids about the holidays and not just focus on presents.
This is so sweet! These are all such wonderful lessons to learn!
Love these lessons because they’re very beneficial as they grow up. Teaching them these things prevent them from being entitled spoiled brats lol
These are all important lessons. This is how you raise aware and wise children. I hope to also be able to give my own children these very lessons.
I think it’s good for (older) kids to understand the history. I love your list so much as it’s very important to find the true meaning of giving and not to be cheesey by the reason of the season. Way to go, mama, for taking a stand in your faith! For us, we really focus on creating lifelong connections and memories with our kids. Christmas was always a big deal for my husband and some of his most positive memories (that outweigh a lot of the negative).
There are a lot of great lessons here! I also teach my children it isn’t all about the gifts, but about the time you get to spend with family and about giving back to not only those you love but to people you don’t know as well. We usually get some toys together and give them to a family in need every year.
It is so important to teach children these things, especially about other religions and how different faith’s celebrate during the holiday season.
I love that you focus so much on keeping Christ at the center of Christmas. It can be so easy to fall into the consumer side of the holiday, or even the “magical” part, and forget the real reason behind it!
As a fellow Christian, I find all of these so important! It’s so important to not ignore differences of other religions, and to educate instead. Well said!
I like the part about wanting to teach your kids about other religions. I think that definitely helps build respect for others when you can learn more about them. Which also then leads to more kindness. I’m a Christian too and really hope my kids know that Christmas is about both giving and receiving. The giving of Jesus to us and the receiving of his love. We love because he first loved us.
So many important lessons here. It’s essential that we teach our children solid values. The last thing anyone wants is entitled children who don’t appreciate what they have or care about others.
[…] 22 Lessons I Want My Children to Learn About Christmas […]
There’s so much in here I agree with. Christmas as a holiday seems to get farther and farther away from its religious roots. We have this interesting kids’ book about all kinds of holidays and traditions (including ones I don’t know about) to help explain things a little better than I could to my daughter.
[…] 22 Lessons I Want My Children to Learn About Christmas […]
I think it’s important as parents to teach our kids about what Christmas is about. I plan to do so this year with my daughter.
Absolutely a great list of things that every parents should teach their kids to make them realize the importance of these kinds of stuff. Definitely, an awesome reference that parents should follow.
Love that you are faith-based in your Christmas tradition. I hope to apply these things too.
These are all really great and important lessons for children to learn.
I LOVE this post! I couldn’t agree more and wholeheartedly believe in teaching our kids about things (like Christmas) from as many angles as possible so that they can make their own informed decisions and form their own beliefs.
This is a great read. I agree with you that Christmas has become many things and it is just right that we teach our children the true meaning of the celebration. I am lucky to grow up knowing what it truly meant while my parents kept alive the “magical” side of it with Santa, North Pole and the santa elves.