Teaching my kids about faith when I have doubts

3d ago·1 min read

So my 8 year old asked me why God let his friend's dad die in the accident last week. I froze. I gave him some answer about God having a plan but inside I was wrestling with the same question. How do you teach your kids to have faith and trust God when life throws you curveballs that shake your own foundation? I don't want to pretend I have all the answers but I also don't want to pass my doubts on to them. Anyone else dealing with this tension?

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Comments(3)

LLance K.Regular2d ago

That's such a heavy question for an 8 year old to drop. I don't think there's a perfect answer here, just an honest one. 'I don't know why bad things happen but we get to remember the good times with people we love' or something along those lines? Your kid will remember that you tried, not that you had perfect words.

MMarcoNew Dad2d ago

Man this is tough. I'm not even religious so I'd probably just tell him the truth that it's okay to not understand everything and we can be sad about it together. Grief doesn't need theology.

LLance K.Regular3d ago

I froze at something similar when my daughter asked about why her grandpa had to die. Ended up just being honest that sometimes people get sick and our job is to love them while they're here. Kids can handle more truth than we think they can.