Guangzhou Guangxiao Church held an online interview named “I Love My Family” which focused on family and parenting.
Live streamed on the evening of May 18, this interview mainly focused on child psychology aged 4-6, to learn how to communicate with them, and guide them correctly through the words of their parents.
Before the talk, Pastor Liu introduced the initial intention of opening the "I Love My Family" interview program. Then, Huan Li talked about child psychology aged 4-6 and parents' responses through three points: “great curiosity and always asking why”, “eager to learn” and “abstract thinking”.
Regarding the first part "great curiosity and always asking why”, Li said, "Children are no longer satisfied with the shallow answer but want to go deep and keep asking why.” When a child was curious about the world, it was the best time to guide them. Li gave some suggestions to guide children who have great curiosity: parents could read books with children, like the science book One Hundred Thousand Whys, to protect children’s curiosity and help them do further exploration in reality.
Eager to learn, children could get satisfaction through learning knowledge. Children aged 4-6 were good at using their hands and brains, such as calculating, making up stories, playing chess, and making crafts. Li suggested that parents should read more books to their children during this period of time so that they could feel the joy of reading.
The pastor continued that children have the ability to do abstract thinking, for example, they will put the pictures of apples and pears in one group since they are both fruits. Children may also ask why the sky is blue, where is the water out of the tap from, etc. Parents could play educational games with children like the logic dog, mathematical thinking training, etc.
“Parents should give children what they need based on their characteristics in different stages and help them to improve, in doing so, parents won’t have unrealistic expectations of their children.” Pastor Liu explained this point with Bible scripture and psychological knowledge.
"Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged." (Colossians 3:21) Pastor Liu exhorted parents with this Bible verse not to hurt their children's self-esteem, which would discourage them. Rather, they should be angels of blessing to their children.
Liu also corrected one mistake parents made often — they say words that hurt their children's hearts. Do not say to the children “You are so stupid” but say “you will improve soon if you find the way”. Do not say “You are so selfish” but say “You can try to consider others”. Do not say “You are a coward” but say “You still need to practice your courage”.
Besides child psychology, parents also needed to know the children’s personality types. Children with different personalities had different needs, and parents could help them accordingly. The four main personality types were dominant, influencer, stable and compliant.
“Parents need to constantly learn and renew their parenting knowledge. But it is Jehovah who changes people’s hearts. Parents should bring their children to God, which is the foundation of all methodology,” Li gave the final advice.
Pastor Liu also concluded, "As Christians, we should look to and seek the Lord even more so that we can raise our children according to His will."
- Translated by Katherine Guo
