Feel the weight of the price Jesus paid for your salvation. Do your egg hunts, host your parties, eat your candy, and read your stories out of an overflow of that.
Easter bunnies, egg hunts, and pretty outfits aren’t bad, but how do I help my young child celebrate a serious, most holy holiday with age-appropriate TRUTH, not just fun?
1. You can be vague and honest.The story of Easter could be called gruesome. As adults, we can understand the depth of Jesus’s pain and how it deeply affects us as part of the Gospel. But these little minds we are fostering may not be ready for the whole story quite yet. I grew up in a very “Passion of the Christ” era and attended a rather realistic Easter program as a child. While I can point to that experience as deepening my understanding of Jesus’s love for me in the long run, I was scarred for quite a while. We want our kids to have a desire to read the Bible and learn more about it. So we can be age-appropriate and honest. We can say things like “Jesus went through terrible things” and “people were more unkind to Him than we will probably ever experience” without talking about spears, nails, and vinegar just yet. And you know your children best. At some point, they will be ready for those parts of the story, and you should add them in. This might be your year to get out the vinegar and smell it or to share the practicalities of how a cross was used as a death sentence. We want to be truthful at all levels.
2. Death is tricky, but it is a reality.Many of us have already had to walk the hard road of grieving while parenting. Our kids may already know about death and the pain it brings on Earth. No matter what you have had to tell your kids about death, it is important that they know that Jesus died. No more breath, no heartbeat, put in a tomb - DIED. It is a huge part of the story that we must share every time we tell it. Because here is the display of His power: Jesus is alive! He was only dead for three days - I would describe this to my kids as “three sleeps” - and then He came back to life and walked around here on Earth. This is a miracle: a thing that ONLY God can do. It is a moment of darkness and then endless hope; don’t leave that part out. Did you think George Lucas invented telling a seemingly hopeless story just to have the good guys save the day at the last minute? You have to know the death before you can appreciate the resurrection, even as a child.
3. Your kids have a sin nature.I don’t know if this is news to you, but your kids were not born perfect or sinless. They were born of the flesh, and many parents reading this don’t have kids who have accepted salvation yet. They are just running around and sinning like it’s their job - because it basically is. They’re living in their flesh until they come to know Jesus and ask for forgiveness. Go ahead and talk about sin in your home if you aren’t already. Not to guilt them into telling you the truth or obeying. But in neutral moments, call sin out. Plenty of Bible stories can illustrate that for you just fine. An important distinction in the resurrection story is that Jesus had NO sin and died FOR sin. So where did this sin come from? Help your kids see that the Gospel is deeply personal because of their sin (the sin that you have already been defining in your home).
4. Celebrate the truth without guilt.Jesus came for you and your kids. Celebrate it! However, in this idea-soaked Pinterest and reels era, the parenting comparison trap is easy to fall into. Your littles may not sit still for you to read the whole Jesus Storybook Bible story, or your preteen may roll their eyes at making resurrection rolls again this year. Just celebrate. You don’t even have to tell Instagram you did anything! (gasps) We have to trust that if we do our best to celebrate the Savior with our kids, God will honor that. Remember that we don't get to choose when or if our kids accept salvation. Our job is to be obedient to plant these little truth seeds and trust that He will do the work in them that He already has planned.
No matter where you sit today, celebrate that Jesus came for you. For your family. Feel the weight of the price Jesus paid for your salvation. Do your egg hunts, host your parties, eat your candy, and read your stories out of an overflow of that.