One powerful tool we have as church workers, parents AND role models for children and youth in our lives is validating all feelings as good and godly!
We have also have so much fun exploring the wide range of God’s emotions throughout scripture and thinking about what it means for us to be this feeling god’s image in the world. Jesus, too, shares a wide breadth of human emotion in our gospel stories, from weeping to shouting, to sorrow and disappointment, to joy and frustration.
This morning, I wanted to shout-out a wonderful resource from Building Faith out of Virginia Theological Seminary. to quote their 2021 blog post:
Creating safe space for children and families to express their feelings isn’t just a good mental health practice, it is a faithful Christian practice.
Rachel Doboney Benton (she/her/hers)
Including in the piece are activities to engage children in conversations around emotions as well as practices for emotional regulation. Create your own “Peace corner”, make a feelings/scripture card flip book, or print off simple prayer sheets for families to use at home.
We love the work Building Faith is doing so be sure to check out other great content they’re putting out.
