Spiritual Foundations for Toddlers

• God made each child unique. Babies need parents who are “tuned in” to their needs and are willing to make adjustments to meet those needs.
• Basic values and concepts communicated to a child during this time of life largely determine the course of that child’s life. Moral and spiritual development is a process. Each experience the child has contributes to the process but no single event has a “make or break” influence.
• Spiritual development at the early stages hinges on how well basic physical needs are met. The spiritual is learned through the physical. The intangible is learned through the tangible.
• Basic feelings of security and a sense of trust that a child carries with him throughout life are established when basic needs are met in kind, loving, gentle ways.
• Having loving, caring adult males in his/her life makes it easier for the child to understand the love and devotion of a Heavenly Father.
• Toddlers are in awe of the things which God has made.
• Toddlers love to hear stories of baby Jesus and other important babies in the Bible.
• Through regularly attending Bible classes, infants and toddlers can:

• Experience happy feelings associated with God and Jesus.
• Discover God’s wonders through creation.
• Develop a sense of belonging and security in the familiar.
• Associate experiences at home with experiences at church.
• Develop relationships with others.
• Begin to understand the Bible as a special book.

• Receiving physical touch from mother and father is an essential way of learning what love is.
• Teaching babies to obey parents is the first step to teaching children to obey God. Cooperative and obedient babies tend to have sensitive, accepting, and cooperative parents.
• When parents model respect by treating their baby with appropriate respect, the baby in turn grows to respect parents, and later respects others - including God.
• Having the parents’ needs met is as important as meeting the needs of the child.
• Setting limits is an essential factor in moral development.
• Setting limits from the start is critical because babies are learning laws of nature – physical and moral. Limits help them figure out how the world works.
• For limits to be effective, they must be age appropriate, consistent, and specific.
• If given plenty of opportunity to meet the need for safe exploration and adventure, toddlers are more likely to accept limits put on them.