Milestones – Toddler Time

When we first sat down to think about the major milestones in a child’s life, several people on our staff had recently experienced their children making the big step into toddlerhood. It’s one thing to have a newborn. It’s a whole different story when they start talking back, using the potty, and heading off to school. Parents are asking all kinds of questions in this season of life and the church should come alongside them and help.

Our first Toddler Time event is coming up soon. We’ll give away books (Sheperding a Child’s Heart by T. Tripp, Age of Opportunity by P. Tripp, and Stand Up by Dumas/Stinson), teach a 45 minute lesson, and have a panel of parents to do Q&A. The topics we will cover during the teaching time are: discipline, choosing a school option, family devotions, and the role of parents as the primary faith leaders in a child’s life. We are also giving parents this resource which outlines helpful points to parents for navigating the toddler years.

We also plan to show the importance of faith at home by using a simple illustration. We’ll have a display of 168 balloons on the stage with each representing an hour in a week (7 days * 24 = 168). 164 of the balloons will be orange while 4 will be blue. The blue balloons represent the number of hours, at most, that church leaders have with children. The other 164 orange balloons represent the number of hours that parents have with their children. It is critical that parents take the lead role in discipling their children.

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