Stephen Jackson on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Sam Freney on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Marty Foord on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Dianne Howard on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!
Mike Bull on Daniel 2-7, Harry Potter and Narnia
The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel! by Tony Payne (4 comments). Regular Sola Panel readers will no doubt have detected a little slowness and quietness over the past six weeks or so. … more
Kids’ culture watch spot: Facing fear by Gordon Cheng (3 comments). By popular demand (two people asked), here is my next script for a culture watch spot I did with the kids … more
Daniel 2-7, Harry Potter and Narnia by Gordon Cheng (1 comment). It's a Sunday as I write this, and I'm speaking on Daniel 2 and 7 later this morning at a friend's … more
A constituent on same-sex marriage by Sandy Grant (34 comments). Last year, the Australian Parliament agreed that its Members of Parliament (MPs) should seek the … more
A tribute to John Stott by Sandy Grant (2 comments). Friends, I'm not ashamed to say I shed a tear when I opened up my computer on Thursday morning to read … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 3): On giants’ shoulders by Scott Newling (26 comments). This is the third post in this series; you can read part one, and more
Bible reading with kids by Sandy Grant (0 comments). I was asked for recommendations for resources that would encourage parents to read the Bible with their kids, especially … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 2): Stepping aside (not out) so others can step up (not in) by Scott Newling (3 comments). This is the second post in this series; you can read the first post, Unassuming … more
One more sip of the coffee by Tony Payne (8 comments). Sandy Grant is a man of integrity. Back in the early days of Sola Panel, I wrote a post … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 1): Unassuming generations by Scott Newling (30 comments). There is a model of ‘intergenerational theological decline’ that has been doing the rounds of late, and perhaps you … more
Paul is one of the Staff Editors at Matthias Media. He is married to Cathy and has three fantastic kids. He loves student ministry, reading, writing music and playing the saxophone, and is looking forward to meeting Jesus face to face.
By and large I’ve had my kids reading age-appropriate books *about* Scripture and Christianity, rather than reading the text itself. When I have had them read the Bible directly, it’s usually been paraphrases or graphic versions etc.
I am all for bribery. When my kids were little I’d give them $1 for reading through their catechism. It was kind of how they got their pocket money.
Interestingly, after a year or so, they stopped asking for money after doing their devotions. The habit had been developed…
I think the “bribery” is great! Better to bribe them to read God’s word (or listen to you read it), than not hear it at all.
My little girl is just shy of 3 - so chocolate serves well at the moment instead of money. And even then we don’t have to bribe every time. We’re focusing on the narrative type sections of scripture first (Genesis & Gospels) as they are more story like for her. So we mix it up a bit, some normal stories, some scripture and then we pray.
We also take her through “The Children’s Catechism” which is a simplified Shorter Cat’. She’s up to question 9 or 10 - What is God! and we make a huge deal when she learns one of the questions - so in that instance “praise” is the bribe and it works well as a motivator.
Charles ‘Tremendous’ Jones in his book, “Life is Tremendous”, mentions paying his son to read per page (I think). It’s a great way to develop a habit and hopefully a love for reading - esp God’s Word.
But the example of the parent and the application through prayer is probably the real best point.
Thanks for the encouragement Sandy!
Oh man. Normally I hate these stories. They usually make me feel like I’m not quite up to scratch as a parent, or even as a Christian. They can often be intimidating and turn me off reading further.
This one is no different. However, having been taught by MY parents the incredible authority of the Word, I realize that it’s not necessarily a bad thing, this time around, to be challenged to complete such a task.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to complete this particular task, but at least I can keep challenging myself to… well… keep challenging my kids to read the Word!
Will anyone give me five bucks to get started?
Good article.
I’m reading the bible with my eldest 2 children. We started at Luke (at the eldests suggestion) and have moved onto Acts. Your article has inspired me not to stop at the end of Acts but to try and get through the whole bible (and so what if it takes a few years).
The reason we started is that my eldest (in 2nd class) has to read something each night as part of his “homework”. We read other books and then he asked if we could read the bible. It has the advantage also of being the only book we have two copies of, so my eldest can read from his copy while I follow in my copy, and he can do the same while I read.
Commenting rules
If you would like your comment to be considered for publication, please observe the following rules:
Failure to adhere to these rules will result in your comment being quietly deleted.
If you want to give us feedback but don't want your comments to appear on the blog, DON'T use the form below. Instead, please send us an email or click on the button below.
Your Comment
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.